United States
2009 – Top-level Trends – Snapshot
As nations around the world increase investment in both space activity and space human capital infrastructure, traditional models of space education and workforce development are increasingly being supplemented by newer approaches. These approaches emphasize the potential for international space education cooperation and focus on engaging student interest in space at an early age.
2008 – Demographics
Women constituted a majority of students who received post-secondary degrees. In 2006, some 58% of all bachelor’s degrees were awarded to women, up from 51% in 1986. In degree fields critical to the space industry, however, women are still woefully underrepresented.
2008 – Degrees Awarded
Note: This exhibit is from The Space Report 2009. Please refer to this year’s exhibits for the most current data as numbers may have been revised since this edition was published.Between 1986 and 2006, bachelor’s degrees awarded in these three space-critical fields fell by 8%, dropping from 141… Thank you for visiting The Space Report!…
2008 – TIMSS
To gauge how U.S. elementary and middle school students compare with other students in math and science, the results of a test administered by the U.S. Department of Education, known as Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS) provide a standardized global measure. The most recent test was administered in 2007.
2008 – NAEP
Starting at the 4th grade level, only 39% of students tested proficient or higher in mathematics in 2007, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), also known as the Nation’s Report Card. . .
2008 – Top-level Trends
“Many young people today with a technical bent are more entranced with the Internet or biotechnology than space exploration. Space travel, after all, was a fascination of their parents’ generation,” noted a February 2003 Wall Street Journal article on recruiting challenges confronting NASA.
2008 – Official U.S. Workforce Statistics
The Space Report 2009 identifies nine occupations particularly relevant to the U.S. space industry. They are shown in Exhibit 4i. These ## occupations not only comprise a diversified set of skills required to create a foundation for space activity, they also reflect the need to build space-related human capital through postsecondary education.
2008 – U.S. Space Industry Salaries
As Exhibit 4e shows, the combined average annual salary across the six core U.S. space industry sectors analyzed was $## in 2007, nearly double the average salary of U.S. professionals in the average private sector overall. For the first time on record, professionals in the federal space research and space vehicle manufacturing sectors earned an average salary above six figures, more than $##, or 2.3 times that of the average U.S. private sector worker.
2008 – U.S. Space Industry Employment
Employment in every sector of the U.S. space industry analyzed in The Space Report 2009 grew between 2003 and 2007 with the exception of satellite telecommunications. The end of the telecom bubble in 2000 and 2001 prompted restructuring within the satellite telecommunications industry, including consolidation among operators.
2008 – Trends and Events Affecting U.S. Employment
The estimate of U.S. space industry core employment calculated in The Space Report 2009 is derived from the total of the most recent workforce numbers from the ## North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) codes in Exhibit 4b, below. As Exhibit 4c shows, ## Americans worked in the space industry in 2007.