JOHNSTON COUNTY — Last December, Brian Stevens was laid off from Caterpillar after 17 years on the production floor. But two weeks later, he was already training for a job in Johnston County’s other labor staple: biotherapeutics.

“If you’re not building tractors, you better get some pharmaceutical experience,” Stevens said. “It’s the only other industry in this area.”

Stevens, of Clayton, is in the middle of a semester-long “BioWork” course at Johnston Community College. The 17-week class covers the essentials of working at companies like Talecris and NovoNordisk — from clean-room policies to microbiology.

About a dozen former Caterpillar workers are in the “BioWork” program this semester, a telling sign of economic times. The program has had a surge of interest lately, with its information sessions booked to overflow for the first time in its eight-year history.

“We have seen a large increase in our enrollment into the program, mostly due to the economic situation,” Leslie Isenhour, the program’s director, wrote in an e-mail. She said she gets hundreds of calls and e-mails about the program each week.

Ninety students finished the program in 2008, and Isenhour expects even more this year.

The trainees come from all walks of life, though many were laid off from manufacturing jobs. Their ages are widespread, too.

“We’ve got 18 all the way to six-o,” Darryl Heuser said about the Tuesday and Thursday morning class he teaches. Just two of the dozen-plus people in his class have full-time jobs, he said, and both already work in the industry.

Mike Mangione joined the program after leaving Catalyst Manufacturing Services, an electronics company in Morrisville.

“I seen on the news that manufacturing was taking a big hit; you could feel it,” he said. “There’s nothing for manufacturing; it’s all pharmaceutical.”

Graduates of the program are in a good position to nab jobs at the area’s growing pharmaceutical companies.

“They know we won’t be virgins to the field,” Stevens said. He already has some experience, anyway; he’s an award-winning amateur beer brewer, so he knows about septic seals and processing tanks.

The classes include lectures and hands-on lab work, white coats and all. Most students finish the 136-hour program in a semester, but the college offers an extended two-year program.

Chuck Heft came to the program after being laid off from a printing company at almost 60 years old. “I’m not quite ready to retire,” he said. “Pharma seems to be something that’s not going away.”

Chris Creech, meanwhile, joined BioWork at 18 after graduating from Clayton High School. “I’m just trying to get a better job,” said Creech, who works at Lowe’s.

As this economy goes, his chances might be better than average. A survey of the program’s 2007 graduates showed 59 percent were employed in biopharmaceuticals.

Talecris is the largest private employer in the county, Annie Clifford, a communications officer for the company, wrote in an e-mail.

Stevens guessed that local companies were posting three or four jobs a week and that hiring would only pick up.

Clifford said Talecris is hiring to sustain its workforce while it expands production. The company works closely with JCC to tailor custom courses for its needs; 220 of its employees have BioWork certificates. “Training and hiring locally saves significant dollars as compared to relocating an employee from another state,” she wrote.

Hugh Britt, another former Caterpillar worker, said he had had already had an interview with Talecris. “I am excited,” he said. “It’s a new door for me to go through.”

Donna Piedra started the program last June and landed a job at Talecris. She works in the production area making immune globulins, which help people with immune-system problems. She credits the Triangle’s schools for drawing in the companies.

“We have a well-trained workforce here, a lot of colleges and well-educated people,” she said. “They’re moving into this area to use those resources.”