Northwest Aerospace News December | January Issue No. 12 | Page 25

In aerospace, the issue is particularly
acute because of the industry consol-
idation that took place in the ‘90s,
as shrinking U.S. military budgets
after the end of the Cold War led to a
wave of mergers across the aerospace
sector. Companies like Boeing, which
combined with McDonnell Douglas in
1997, stopped adding younger workers
for a decade or so. That’s created an
imbalance.
Today, the company says, more than
half of its workforce of nearly 70,000
Washington State residents is made up
of boomers eligible to retire essentially
any minute now.
“You can look ahead and see that a
huge percentage of the manufacturing
workforce is ready to retire today,”
said Garrettson, whose work for the
Washington Roundtable includes
promoting workforce development ini-
tiatives. “These are good jobs here in
Washington and we want Washington
kids to be ready to do them.”
Classroom
Instruction
+
On-the-Job
Industry
Training + Certifications
=
SKILLED AND CERTIFIED
WORKFORCE
Helping Innovators
Take Flight Since 1964
Full Service
Facilities Design,
Engineering and
Construction Services
for Global Aviation and
Aerospace Companies
BRPH.COM
DECEMBER 2019 | JANUARY 2020 ISSUE NO. 12
25