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Issues Affecting the Future of the U.S. Space Science and Engineering Workforce Interim Report (2006) / Chapter Skim
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3 Science And Engineering Workforce Demographics
Pages 16-21

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From page 16...
... NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION STUDIES ON ENROLLMENT AND GRADUATION TRENDS The National Science Foundation (NSF) has a long history of tracking data on science and engineering enrollment and graduation trends, and Joan Burrelli, Senior Analyst in the NSF Division of Science Resources Statistics, discussed some of those data from the perspective of aerospace science and engineering.1 She noted that cyclic trends in aerospace engineering employment are among the most pronounced in all of the natural science and engineering fields.
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From page 17...
... Second, the number of foreign students in the United States as temporary residents has been declining since September 2001, although the number of permanent residents still has been growing. Third, enrollments tend to be very sensitive to employment opportunities, with first-time enrollments in a field declining in response to rising unemployment in the field, but with graduate student enrollments tending to rise when the employment picture softens.
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From page 18...
... The occupational classification system used for the Current Population Survey was relatively consistent between 1979 and 2000, so that rough assessments of the past success of the projections can be made. For five BLS projections issued between 1979 and 1988, the committee compared the percentage change projected by BLS with the actual change in employment over the period for three occupationsaerospace engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering.
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From page 19...
... As with the two prior studies, certain specific skill areas, such as systems engineering, optical design engineering, and software engineering, were identified as being particularly critical and difficult to fill.3 In summarizing the workforce assessment aspects of these studies, Williams noted that while he saw no immediate crisis, there are problems present today, and the longer-term trends are disturbing. He pointed to the volatility of the national security space market as a particular obstacle to predicting the skills demand beyond the near term.
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From page 20...
... INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVES ON THE FUTURE AEROSPACE WORKFORCE Arnold Aldrich, Director of Program Operations at Lockheed Martin Corporation, provided a view from industry as seen from the Lockheed Martin. The overall aerospace workforce fell by 48 percent between 1990 and 1995, and it remained flat from 1995 to 2004.
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From page 21...
... citizens and permanent residents who can obtain security clearances.
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Key Terms

  • space science
  • aerospace engineers
  • natural science
  • degree holders
  • aerospace workforce

  • aerospace industry
  • permanent residents
  • bls projections
  • graduate enrollment
  • graduation trends

  • engineering fields
  • electrical engineering
  • space scientists
  • engineering enrollment
  • total employment

  • labor force
  • industrial base
  • foreign students
  • security clearances
  • overall aerospace

  • states aerospace
  • space industrial
  • workforce issues
  • employment projections
  • base study

  • percent growth
  • degrees granted
  • allen hamilton
  • nsf data
  • receive security


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