Aerospace Engineers

Nature of the Work
Employment
Job Outlook

(D.O.T. 002.061 and .167)

• Nature of the Work

  Aerospace engineers design, develop, and test missile, spacecraft, and commercial and military aircraft, and supervise manufacturing of these products. They develop new technologies for use in commercial aviation, defense systems, and space exploration, often specializing in areas like structural design, guidance, navigation and control, instrumentation and communication, or production methods. They also may specialize in a particular type of aerospace product, such as commercial transports, helicopters, spacecraft, or rockets. Aerospace engineers may be experts in aerodynamics, propulsion, thermodynamics, structures, celestial mechanics, acoustics, or guidance and control systems.

• Employment

  Aerospace engineers held about 53,000 jobs in 1996. More than two-fifths worked in the aircraft and parts and guided missile and space vehicle manufacturing industries. Federal Government agencies, primarily the Department of Defense and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, provided more than 1 out of 7 jobs. Business services, engineering and architectural services, research and testing services, and electrical and electronics manufacturing firms accounted for most of the remaining jobs.
  
  California, Washington, Texas, and Florida—States with large aerospace manufacturers—have the most aerospace engineers.

• Job Outlook

  Those seeking employment as aerospace engineers are likely to face competition. The decline in Defense Department expenditures for military aircraft, missiles, and other aerospace systems has caused mergers and acquisitions among defense contractors. Federal Government funding for research and development of new systems has also declined. Growth in the civilian sector is projected to increase due to orders from domestic and foreign airlines that need more aircraft to accommodate increasing passenger traffic, and to replace the present fleet of airliners with quieter and more fuel-efficient aircraft. Consequently, employment of aerospace engineers is expected to grow more slowly than the average through the year 2006. Future growth of employment in this field could be moderate because a higher proportion of engineers in aerospace manufacturing may come from the materials, mechanical, or electrical engineering fields. Most job openings will result from the need to replace aerospace engineers who transfer to other occupations or leave the labor force.
  
  
  (See introductory part of this section for information on training requirements, earnings, and sources of additional information.)
  

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