Analysts Weigh in on the Skill and Knowledge Gap from an Aging A&D Workforce and the Impact of AI
Attracting and retaining aerospace talent is getting challenging in today’s tight labor market as defense priorities spur more demand for aerospace engineering professionals. The International Trade Administration reports that the U.S. aerospace industry employs approximately 550,000 workers across various occupations, including aircraft manufacturing, rotorcraft, and commercial space sectors.
As the aerospace and defense (A&D) workforce continues to age and retire, employers are left with critical skills and knowledge gaps, according to McKinsey & Company. Deloitte reports the retirement age and attrition rate in A&D is almost 10% higher than the national industry average.
How costly is this talent drain? Andy Voelker, associate partner for McKinsey’s Aerospace & Defense Practice, notes the cost can be as high as $300–$330 million for one medium-sized company.
Challenge of Retaining Managers
McKinsey’s 2024 A&D talent gap report noted that frontline and middle managers are two times more likely to leave their employer than individual contributors. That’s concerning given that about one-third of all A&D manufacturing and engineering roles are filled by workers who are 55 or older.
“The gaps within the workforce are actually greater than what we were seeing pre-Covid,” says Lindsey Berckman, leader of Deloitte’s U.S Aerospace & Defense Practice. “Despite volatility worldwide there are more job openings than employees in commercial aerospace. Defense budgets are also growing to support the increase in global conflicts.”
According to Deloitte’s 2025 Aerospace and Defense Industry Outlook, the A&D sector continued to experience talent attraction and retention challenges in 2024, persisting into 2025. One OEM estimates the U.S. commercial aerospace segment alone could require an additional 123,000 technicians in the next two decades.
“Our Corporate Members tell us there are not enough people studying engineering to fill the jobs of the future,” says Vickie Singer, senior director of Revenue Development and Corporate Membership for AIAA, the world’s largest technical society dedicated to the global aerospace profession. She observes that recruitment efforts intensify in the fall as AIAA Corporate Members begin looking to fill internships.
“Companies are looking for specific skill sets. Often the pool of applicants is very limited,” she says. “They can get connected through AIAA. We are more than just a broad network; people know who AIAA is.”
A key target for companies year-round is mid-career professionals, she adds. This group is harder to retain, driven by changing views of work by the younger and older A&D workforce.
“Our research shows that the degree of work expectations has changed dramatically,” explains Voelker. Managers often find themselves leading teams of young engineers who “come in and out of organizations at a much faster rate, so it feels a lot more fluid,” Voelker observes. “Entry-level engineers want quicker, faster, more meaningful impact. They want to understand where they are in terms of career progression.”
These workplace culture shifts highlight the need for companies to be creative about how they address attracting and keeping top talent. “Aerospace companies don’t win with people who come in and out in a few years,” notes Berckman with Deloitte. The most innovative companies provide pathways to reward performance across all levels of the organization.
The AI Factor
AI is also a major influence on workforce trends. According to McKinsey’s Voelker, “if you look at the expected growth of every occupation group and you look at the impact generative AI is going to have, STEM occupations are by far the biggest single category that is going to be impacted,” he states.
By 2030 a significant portion of the entire economy will be automated. Advances from AI and automation will require rethinking how engineers perform their jobs. “The industrial base in the U.S. is trying to figure out what this is going to mean. What skills will matter in the future?” explains Voelker. “The research suggests that the role of engineers will need to be rethought.”
Deloitte’s Berckman sees AI capabilities as an avenue for empowering top talent and helping to retain them. “AI creates new opportunities to be able to support your workforce and your teams. It will empower everyone to have new insights around how to create and how to make,” she says. “For example, defense organizations are using digital threads to connect all the stages of a product lifecycle to enhance collaboration and traceability, enabling them to “implement insights from soup to nuts.”
More immediate benefits of AI will lead to automation of more manual tasks, like drawing and proofing engineering designs, says McKinsey’s Voelker, allowing engineers to focus more of their time on developing new solutions to problems that automation and digital engineering will deliver.
AIAA Aims to Connect Employers with Engineering Talent
AIAA provides professional development, networking, and career opportunities for aerospace professionals throughout their career arc.
To help its Corporate Members better navigate the retention issues and increasing talent shortage of engineering talent, AIAA is accelerating its efforts to support their recruiting. AIAA has featured a special recruiting section in its Aerospace America magazine in July. Jobs will be added online throughout August and September. Corporate Members will receive 30 days of complimentary access to upload their available jobs into the AIAA Career Center, a $300 value per posting.
Students from AIAA’s 253 student branches have been invited to post their resumes on the Career Center. Job seekers can post their resumes free of charge, including non-AIAA members.
AIAA is uniquely positioned in the aerospace community as a trustworthy partner. We want job seekers to use our Career Center as their prime location for finding new opportunities. For more information about AIAA’s recruitment campaign, visit http://aiaa.org/righthire.
