Aerospace Engineering Overview - Preparation - Day In The Life - Earnings - Employment - Career Path Forecast - Professional Organizations

Employment
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, aerospace engineers held about 66,400 jobs in 2019.

Most aerospace engineers worked in the aerospace product and parts manufacturing industries. The largest areas of employment are: aerospace product and parts manufacturing at 36%, the Federal government, excluding postal service at 16%, engineering services at 15%, navigational, measuring, electromedical, and control instruments manufacturing at 10% and research and development in the physical, engineering, and life sciences at 8%.

Aerospace engineers are employed in industries in which workers design or build aircraft, missiles, systems for national defense, or spacecraft. They work primarily for firms that engage in manufacturing, analysis and design, research and development, and for the federal government. Aerospace engineers now spend more of their time in an office environment than they have in the past, because modern aircraft design requires the use of sophisticated computer equipment and software design tools, modeling, and simulations for tests, evaluation, and training. Aerospace engineers work with other professionals involved in designing and building aircraft, spacecraft, and their components. Therefore, they must be able to communicate well, divide work into manageable tasks, and work with others toward a common goal.

Employers
The following is a partial list of employers of Aerospace Engineers:

3M Company AAI Corporation Advanced Products Corporation Aerojet Air Liquide-Medal L.P. Allfast Fastening Systems, Inc. American Pacific Corporation Analytical Graphics, Inc. Angeles Composite Technologies, Inc. Argo-Tech Corporation Armor Holdings Aerospace & Defense, Inc. ATK Aviall, Inc. B&E Precision Aircraft Components B.H. Aircraft Company, Inc. BAE SYSTEMS North America Barnes Aerospace Brek Manufacturing Company Celestica Corporation Click Bond, Inc. Cobham Aerospace Systems Group Computer Sciences Corporation Crane Aerospace & Electronics Cubic Corporation Curtiss-Wright Corporation Dassault Falcon Jet Corporation Doncasters, Inc. DRS Technologies, Inc. Ducommun Incorporated DuPont Company Eaton Aerospace LLC Eclipse Aviation EDO Corporation EFW Inc. Embraer Aircraft Holding Inc. Erickson Air-Crane Incorporated ESIS, Inc. Esterline Technologies Exostar LLC Federation Inc. Flight Safety International Inc. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. General Dynamics Corporation General Electric Company GKN Aerospace, Aerostructures Goodrich Corporation Hamilton Sundstrand Harris Corporation HEICO Corporation Hexcel Corporation HITCO Carbon Composites Honeywell

IBM Corporation ITT Industries Defense and Electronics Kaman Aerospace Corporation Kistler Aerospace Corporation L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. Laser Technology Inc. LMI Aerospace Inc. Lockheed Martin Corporation Martin-Baker America Inc. McKechnie Aerospace Structures Group MOOG Inc. NASA Natel Engineering Co. Inc. National Machine Group National Technical Systems Northrop Grumman Corporation NYLOK Corporation Omega Aerial Refueling Services, Inc. Oracle Orbital Sciences Corporation Parker Aerospace PerkinElmer, Inc. Pratt & Whitney Proficiency Inc. Raytheon Company Remmele Engineering, Inc. Rockwell Collins Rolls-Royce North America Inc. RTI International Metals, Inc. Science Applications International Corporation Shaw Aero Devices, Inc. Sikorsky Silicon Graphics, Inc. SITA SM&A Smiths Aerospace Actuation Systems Space Exploration Technologies Corporation Stellex Aerostructures, Inc. Suntron Corporation Swales Aerospace Teleflex Inc. Texas Instruments Textron Inc. The Boeing Company The Purdy Corporation Titan Corporation Triumph Group, Inc. Turbine Engine Components Technologies Corp. United Defense United Technologies Corporation Vought Aircraft Industries, Inc. W. L. Gore & Associates, Inc. Woodward Governor Company

Note: Some resources in this section are provided by the US Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics. Photos are courtesy of NASA.