U.S. Aerospace and Defense Industry Supported Almost 2.8 Million Jobs in 2015

The economic and employment contributions from the U.S. aerospace and defense (A&D) industry are felt throughout the U.S. economy; increasing employment, economic growth and local, state and federal tax revenues, according to a new study by IHS Inc., the leading global source of critical information and insight.

The aerospace and defense industry supported a yearly average of nearly 2.8 million jobs between 2013 and 2015, close to 2 percent of the nation’s employment base during that span. Those same years saw a yearly average of $301 billion in total economic value, 1.8 percent of total nominal U.S. gross domestic product (GDP), produced by the industry.

Other key findings of the industry’s economic contributions in 2015:

• The A&D industry directly and indirectly employed 1.7 million people within businesses producing end-user goods and services and within the industry’s supply chain.
• About 531,000 of those jobs were in the industry’s commercial aerospace segment (e.g. civil and general aviation aircraft, helicopters and space systems) and about 511,000 were in the defense and national security segment (e.g. military aircraft, ground and sea systems, armaments and space systems).
• For every million dollars in direct sales activity in the A&D industry, eight employees are supported throughout the supply chain and across economic sectors.
• The A&D industry supported close to one million jobs in manufacturing, more than 320,000 in leisure and other services, and close to 270,000 jobs in wholesale and retail trade. 
• The states that saw the greatest employment contribution were Washington (640,820), California (436,180), Texas (234,630), Michigan (143,520) and Missouri (116,400).
• Labor income supported by the A&D industry represented 2.3 percent of the nation’s personal income.
• The average labor income per job within the A&D industry (both producers of end-use goods and services as well as the supply chain) amounted to $93,220, or approximately 44 percent above the national average.
• The contribution to tax receipts from the A&D industry $63 billion, or about 1.7 percent of the total tax revenues received by federal, state, and local governments.

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