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Revitalization of the Aerospace Workforce

A highly skilled and robust aerospace workforce is essential to our national security and economic prosperity. Yet today the industry faces impending retirements and a shortage of trained technical graduates, which is a situation that is forecasted to worsen within the decade. Some companies address this issue by outsourcing work around the globe. In aerospace and defense, however, security requirements dictate that most design work on military systems must be done by U.S. citizens. Thus the need for U.S. developed technical talent is particularly acute to ensure a world-class aerospace workforce ready to lead in a global economy.

The Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry recommended "that the nation immediately reverse the decline in and promote the growth of a scientifically and technologically trained U.S. aerospace workforce..." adding that "the breakdown of America's intellectual and industrial capacity is a threat to national security and our capability to continue as a world leader." The Commission also recommended that resolving the crisis will require government, industry, labor and academia to work together.

AIA is urging Congress, industry trade associations, education institutions, and other stakeholders to acknowledge the need to develop a highly-skilled and robust aerospace workforce and to demonstrate a willingness to address these issues through policy, programs and investment.

As an industry, AIA and its member companies are facing this issue through engaging education and workforce development programs, supporting initiatives that improve our nation’s education and innovation systems, and campaigning to raise awareness of our workforce needs and opportunities.

AIA Workforce Projects
Facts In Focus
  • Aerospace industry employment totaled 630,000 in 2007, the third yearly increase in a row following five consecutive years of decline. (AIA)
  • Aerospace had shed some 704,700 jobs – more than 52 percent -- since its 1989 peak of 1.3 million.
  • A total of 86,100 workers, or 13 percent of the aerospace workforce lost their jobs between the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and February 2004. (AIA/BLS)
  • The aerospace workforce is aging and 26 to 27 percent of aerospace workers are eligible to retire by 2008. (Aerospace Commission)
  • The average age of the aerospace worker was 45 in 2006. (AWST)
  • Only 15.7% of the aerospace workforce is composed of 25-34 year olds. Nearly 60% of the workforce is 45 years and older (AIA).
  • In a survey of 500 U.S. aerospace workers, 80 percent said they would not recommend their children pursue aerospace careers due to workplace instability. (Aerospace Commission)
  • Aerospace engineers are expected to have 10 percent growth in employment through 2016, about as fast as the average for all occupations (BLS, 2008) Aerospace engineering and operations technicians are expected to have 10 percent employment growth between 2006 and 2016, about as fast as the average for all occupations (BLS, 2008)
  • By 12th grade, U.S. high school students' math and science performance ranks near the bottom internationally. A shortage of math and science teachers compounds the problem as do fewer engineering and science students earning degrees – from undergraduate to doctorate – at U.S. colleges and universities. (Aerospace Commission)
  • A total of 50 percent of students now earning engineering and science doctorates are foreign and often return to their native countries or cannot work on sensitive defense programs. (Aerospace Commission, NSF)
  • Approximately 68.5 percent of US middle school students were taught by math educators who had no major or certification in mathematics. For science, the proportion was 57.2 percent. (DoED)
  • In a recent survey of more than 270,000 college freshmen, only 7.5% said they intended to major in engineering -- the lowest level since the 1970s. (UCLA)

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