HOW ABOUT 'MIDNIGHT ROCKETRY'? Here we go again, another report "addressing" the problems in the aerospace industry, this one from the Commission on the Future of the United States Aerospace Industry.

The Administration and Congress should reaffirm the goal of stabilizing and growing the U.S. aerospace workforce.

Why is this a goal in itself? Isn't this something that would naturally happen if the industry were allowed/encouraged to thrive independent of government? Independent of something for the industry to do, beyond just feast-or-famine boondoggles that result in massive hiring and equally massive layoffs, stabilizing the workforce demographics is impossible -- you'll continue to see a two-peak distribution, one peak being the young workers not yet disillusioned enough to leave the industry and the other peak being the greybeards financially trapped in the industry by their proximity to retirement age.

And how would you folks grow the workforce? Ah, let me guess: another boondoggle project!

The Administration should create an interagency Workforce Task Force from the Departments of Labor, Commerce, Education and other government agencies, as required, to respond to long-term industry workforce and training needs.

...because, you know, nothing produces concrete, measureable, real-world improvements like a bunch of disconnected, agenda-driven bureaucrats with no knowledge of the topic at hand sitting around a table talking at each other and producing content-free encyclopedia-length reports that no one will ever read.

The Administration should develop the Aerospace Industry Promotion (AIP) program for schools and community colleges to attract public attention to the importance and opportunities within the aerospace industry.

Again, I ask, why is this even necessary? This is something which, in a rational ordering of things, would be undertaken by the industry itself as a goodwill/recruitment effort. If at all. Why not devise some market-oriented reforms in government policy which will allow the industry to become self-sustaining, and then let it handle this sort of work on its own?

Besides...what opportunities, exactly?

Congress should propose tax credits for employers who invest in the skills and training of the workforce for employees enrolled in registered apprenticeship programs and other occupational training that meet the needs identified by industry.

And so you end up with a glut of trained aerospace workers, with nothing to do.

No no, guys -- the horse goes before the cart...

The Administration and Congress should make long-term investments to keep the American aerospace workforce "pipeline" filled.

Talk about missing the point. The problem with recruiting to the aerospace industry is not that there is a shortage of engineers or technicians or craft workers (I seem to recall a sudden surge in the supply a few months back, don't you?). The problem with recruitment is that the feast-famine nature of the aerospace market as currently constituted scares away anyone who values job security and career-building over the "gee-whiz" aspects of working (for a little while anyway) on something really cool.

What needs to be stabilized is the whimsical nature of next-big-project government procurement, and what needs to be grown is an independent, private-sector space business. The above proposals do nothing to address the real problems.

Posted by T.L. James on June 27, 2002 08:12 PM