Workforce
2013 – U.S. National Security Workforce
Space activities are supported throughout many areas of the U.S. military, and thousands of members of the military are considered part of the space cadre. However, the National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2012 repealed the requirement for the military to track and report to Congress the number of space personnel within the Department of Defense.
2013 – NASA Workforce
In 2012, NASA was ranked the best place to work in the federal government based on a survey of civil servants across federal agencies conducted by the non-profit Partnership for Public Service. In its annual survey of federal employees, the United States Office of Personnel Management found that NASA was a top performer across all four of their primary indices: leadership and knowledge management, results-oriented culture, talent management, and job satisfaction, and it was the highest-scoring agency in terms of job satisfaction.
2013 – U.S. Space Industry Employment
Understanding the current size and historical shifts in the U.S. space workforce is a complex task. Occasionally, organizations will conduct reviews of the space workforce, providing a snapshot of the industry at one point in time. For example, the U.S. Department of Commerce’s U.S. Space Industry Deep Dive Assessment, released in 2013, estimated that in 2012 there were nearly ## full time employees involved with current U.S. government space programs.
2013 – U.S. Space Industry Outlook
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that demand for many space-relevant occupations will grow from 2010 to 2020. Though encouraging, this does not necessarily translate to predicted growth within the space industry, as individuals in these occupations work in a wide variety of industries.
2013 – Space Foundation Survey of U.S. Companies
In 2012, the total civilian U.S. space workforce represented by the six NAICS codes mentioned previously included approximately ## individuals working in more than two thousand establishments. Exhibit 4c provides a snapshot of space employment of some of the organizations likely included in this total.
2013 – Workforce
Trends in the global space workforce continue to be mixed, with the U.S. space workforce contracting for the sixth year in a row while space workforces in Japan and Europe saw further increases.
2013 – U.S. Space Workforce
The U.S. space workforce has decreased in size each year since 2006, bringing the current workforce to ##. NASA’s civil servant workforce has remained relatively stable over this period, even as its budget has declined. NASA employed ## civil servants as of the beginning of fiscal year (FY) 2014.
2013 – U.S. Space Industry Salaries
Given the requirements for advanced skills and education, it is not surprising that space sector jobs command high salaries. In 2012, the average space sector salary was about $##, more than double the average private sector salary of $##. It is also greater than the average annual salary for STEM occupations.
2013 – Trends and Events Affecting U.S. Employment Snapshot
Analysis of trends in the individual industry classifications making up the total U.S. space workforce shows decreases across all sectors over the past year, though losses were not evenly distributed. The greatest percentage decline from 2011 to 2012, ##%, occurred in Other Guided Missile and Space Vehicle Parts, representing a loss of approximately ## jobs.