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Worker Shortage Looms for Defense Sector
Tuesday March 4, 2:24 PM EST
WASHINGTON (AP) — The aerospace and defense sector is bracing for a potential brain drain over the next decade as a generation of Cold War scientists and engineers hits retirement age and not enough qualified young Americans seek to take their place.
The problem — almost 60 percent of U.S. aerospace workers in 2007 were 45 or older — could affect national security and even close the door on commercial products that start out as military technology, industry officials said.
While U.S. universities are awarding two-and-a-half times more engineering, math and computer science degrees than they did 40 years ago, defense companies must compete with the likes of Google, Microsoft and Verizon for the best and the brightest.
"It's about choices," said Rich Hartnett, director of global staffing at Boeing Co. "There are so many more options today with a proliferation in the kinds of degrees and career paths that people can follow."
Industry leaders are doing their best to emphasize the allure, and growing importance, of jobs linked to national defense.
Aerospace Industries Association Chief Executive Marion Blakey said the U.S. could be facing another "wake-up call," similar to the 1957 Soviet launch of Sputnik, the world's first satellite. China's success in shooting down one of its own satellites last year, as well as the upcoming retirement of the U.S. space shuttle fleet, signal that the country cannot afford to take its technological and military superiority for granted, said Blakey, the former head of the Federal Aviation Administration.
In addition to fierce competition for a limited pool of math and science experts from all corners of corporate America, contractors working on classified government programs are hamstrung by another factor: restrictions on hiring foreigners or off-shoring work to other countries.
"The ability to attract and retain individuals with technical skills is a lifeblood issue for us," said Ian Ziskin, corporate vice president and chief human resources and administrative officer for Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp.
Ziskin estimates that roughly half of Northrop Grumman's 122,000 workers will be eligible to retire in the next five to 10 years. The trend is the same at Lockheed Martin Corp., of Bethesda, Md., which could lose up to half of its work force of 140,000 to retirement over the next decade. At Chicago-based Boeing, about 15 percent of the company's engineers are 55 or older and eligible to retire now.
http://finance.myway.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt.jsp?section=news&feed=ap&src=601&news_id=ap-d8v6q54g0&date=20080304
Tuesday March 4, 2:24 PM EST
WASHINGTON (AP) — The aerospace and defense sector is bracing for a potential brain drain over the next decade as a generation of Cold War scientists and engineers hits retirement age and not enough qualified young Americans seek to take their place.
The problem — almost 60 percent of U.S. aerospace workers in 2007 were 45 or older — could affect national security and even close the door on commercial products that start out as military technology, industry officials said.
While U.S. universities are awarding two-and-a-half times more engineering, math and computer science degrees than they did 40 years ago, defense companies must compete with the likes of Google, Microsoft and Verizon for the best and the brightest.
"It's about choices," said Rich Hartnett, director of global staffing at Boeing Co. "There are so many more options today with a proliferation in the kinds of degrees and career paths that people can follow."
Industry leaders are doing their best to emphasize the allure, and growing importance, of jobs linked to national defense.
Aerospace Industries Association Chief Executive Marion Blakey said the U.S. could be facing another "wake-up call," similar to the 1957 Soviet launch of Sputnik, the world's first satellite. China's success in shooting down one of its own satellites last year, as well as the upcoming retirement of the U.S. space shuttle fleet, signal that the country cannot afford to take its technological and military superiority for granted, said Blakey, the former head of the Federal Aviation Administration.
In addition to fierce competition for a limited pool of math and science experts from all corners of corporate America, contractors working on classified government programs are hamstrung by another factor: restrictions on hiring foreigners or off-shoring work to other countries.
"The ability to attract and retain individuals with technical skills is a lifeblood issue for us," said Ian Ziskin, corporate vice president and chief human resources and administrative officer for Los Angeles-based Northrop Grumman Corp.
Ziskin estimates that roughly half of Northrop Grumman's 122,000 workers will be eligible to retire in the next five to 10 years. The trend is the same at Lockheed Martin Corp., of Bethesda, Md., which could lose up to half of its work force of 140,000 to retirement over the next decade. At Chicago-based Boeing, about 15 percent of the company's engineers are 55 or older and eligible to retire now.
http://finance.myway.com/jsp/nw/nwdt_rt.jsp?section=news&feed=ap&src=601&news_id=ap-d8v6q54g0&date=20080304
