How can there be a "shortage" if every opening has 200-2000 applicants?  Only unrealistic job requirements make for a shortage of "qualified" applicants.  Take a close look at some of the job adds.  The job requirements have become shopping lists of what used to be "nice to have" additions, that have now all of a sudden become "minimum entry" requirements.  The companies are refusing to grow their own talent.  They lay off talent at the drop of a hat, and then expect the government of all places to fund maintenance of their "capabilities" until work orders picks up.  The taxpayer should not trust any company or industry trade organization figures about manpower education shortages.  Only people who haven't been in the business long enough to know better, respect their claims.

The aerospace/defense industry has become a poor choice for engineers.  I am one of the recently retired baby boomer engineers, and I became frustrated with the ever increasing emphasis on administrative tasks, i.e. "value added" tracking mandated by management with no engineering background.  The actual engineering tasks have become secondary.  I found myself discouraging my children from entering the engineering fields.

Earlier in my career, my management rose through the engineering ranks, and learned management skills required to carry out their new responsibilities, but they were first and foremost technical people.  Late in my career, I had to deal with management who had no idea of what I did, and simply believed in management marked by arrogance, ignorance, and intimidation.

New STEM grads don't stay away from aerospace and defense because its not interesting, or not sexy enough.  They stay away because the pay is below-market, and the company cultures are awful.  Read the reviews online from STEM grads who were hired into Big Defense in the last several years.  They all complain about the same things: Worthless management, no chance to grow, and when layoffs come, the managers are kept while the STEM grads doing the day-to-day heavy lifting are laid off.
 

When Defense companies, like high-tech companies, actually start looking inward, the United States population has a chance at becoming a world-class workforce again. What's often forgotten is that as long as politicians cater to the whims of companies who want the cheap and easy solutions provided by lax immigration policy, no one needs to promote the US education system, the US job market, the US work force--it's selling out the future of the country.

There is no shortage of STEM graduates.  There have been several studies over the past decade from major universities and engineering professional organizations debunking that myth.  There are more STEM graduates than there are STEM jobs.

Companies and their lobbyists use this STEM shortage myth to get more HB1visas so they can hire cheaper foreign workers and offer less benefits.

Second, anyone that takes a catagory as large and broad as STEM and says that there is a shortage in that field has no idea what they are talking about.  I graduated in a STEM field of Civil Engineering yet half of my graudating class didn't have a job after they graduated and of the half that did field a job in Civil Engineering, half of those are now out of the field of Civil Engineering after 5 years.  The STEM career field is poorly defined in most studies since it can encompass IT, RN, Civil Engineer, Biologist, etc. 

How many major aerospace companies are there in the U.S.?  Boeing? Lockheed?  That's about it.  There are only a handful of aerospace companies compared to 30 years ago when the baby boomers were getting into the field.  So the retirement of Baby Boomers will have little effect on the demand for STEM graduates.  That and technology has increased the productivity of engineers.  Just look at Civil Engineering.  Back when the Baby Boomers, there were drafting by hand using pencil and scales and doing calculations by slide rule and primative calculators.  So it took months to draft anything and a room full of civil engineers doing calculations.  Now one, civil engineer using spreadsheets and AutoCAD can do in one week what it took baby boomers weeks to do. So you don't have to replace retiring baby boomers one to one in STEM fields.

Lastly, the government doesn't pay engineers what they are worth and don't mentor talent.  You have engineers starting out in the $30k to $40k range while in the private industry you get $10k to $20k more than that and much more after you get your P.E.  That and you are treated like professionals in the private industry while in the Federal government you have Office Assistants without college degrees that have been in the Federal government for decades treating you like crap and always trying to get you in trouble.  You see people getting hired into engineer positions in the Federal government that don't have engineering degrees because they are related to someone that have been in the Federal government for decades.

"In the defense sector, leaders have to counter the perception that the work involves dull, dirty factory jobs", said Linda P. Hudson, president and CEO of BAE Systems at a speech at the Atlantic Council. What is that? A "let's drink our own bathwater" convention?
Most engineers and scientists I work with are passionate about their work and no engineer whom I work with thinks aerospace is dull. Aerospace sadly, is FULL of VPs who just have no clue why scientists quit, and this MBA culture of ignoring this has resulted in many loosing businesses.

The title of this blog posting is completely misleading.  A more correct title would be; "Highly Compensated Defense Executives With Hidden Agenda to Depress Labor Costs: Shortage of Engineers Willing to Work for Low Pay, Soul Crushing Bureaucracies, and No Job Security Is Not a Myth."

I think if the premise of the piece were more honest and accurate, the subsequent statements would form a more coherent position that could be recognized and supported by both management AND labor...

The Defense Industry now costs taxpayers $1 TRILLION per year, and you want more.  Well the fact is that that is not happening.  The Defense Industry is going to have some serious budget cuts in all sectors.  If you are in one of the sectors that expands, you can simply locate talent from the agencies that have layoffs or are simply shut down.  I have to admit that are some places where Defense Industry jobs are jobs where the employee simply does no work. However, there are some employees who will be laid off that actually have some skills. So find them!  You claim to have some intelligence.  Use it. Locate some workers in the soon to be laid off Defense Industry.

wow im so glad that i found this thread, i was thinking of going into aerospace engineering but ive changed my mind. i love airplanes and very good with math.