Carol L. Cook
The Aerospace Industry is one of the most powerful industries in the United States. It encompasses a worldwide complex of manufacturers who produce airplanes, helicopters, military aircraft, missiles, rockets, spacecraft and satellites. These manufacturers employ a vast number of supplier firms that make a variety of products ranging from avionics and hydraulic systems to rubber gaskets and adhesives. It is most interesting to study the effects of such a powerful industry on the U.S. Economy.
I want to begin by looking into the history of the Aerospace Industry from its inception to the present. The history of man’s efforts to fly show us how his thinking developed through the ages.
The Aerospace Industry as it stands today supplies five basic markets: military aircraft, missiles, space, commercial airliners, and general aviation. I want to explore these markets individually as to how they developed, what each one entails, and how each affects our economy. Included in this will be a discussion of the deregulation of the airline industry.
There are great fluctuations from half a million to nearly one million workers in this industry. Thus, it is important to study the kinds of jobs that are included in the Aerospace Industry and how these fluctuations affect these workers. I will also review the forecasts for the 1990’s in Aerospace.
The Aerospace Industry Association has predicted a moderate decline in sales in the 1990’s, because of cuts in United States military spending as East-West tensions ease. The trade group said in a year-end report in 1989 that civilian and military aerospace sales were expected to grow in 1990 by 5% to $120.6 billion, but that industry profits would fall by 13% to $4.3 billion. They do not minimize the impact on the industry of the defense spending cuts they know are coming and they are braced for “heavy weather.”
It appears as if in the 1990’s, sales will rise to $137, but there will be a decline in military spending in the next decade that will be only partly offset by increasing civilian sales. The Association does not expect an impact of catastrophic dimension but rather a moderate decline in real inflation adjusted sales volume, with gains in non-defense business off-setting to a considerable degree the indicated reductions in defense business.
How does this Aerospace Industry affect our U.S. Economy? How does the U.S. Economy affect the Aerospace Industry? Is an aerospace career a good choice for the young people? What are aerospace careers? How can the Aerospace Industry affect the economy of a city or state? These and other questions are going to be explored in this unit on the Aerospace Industry and the U.S. Economy.