Come Fly with BLS

Wednesday, August 23, 2023

On August 19, 1939, President Franklin D. Roosevelt established National Aviation Day to promote interest in aviation. It also happens to fall on Orville Wright’s birthday. Conveniently, it marks the start of National Aviation Week, celebrated from August 19-25 this year. Let’s take a look in the BLS cargo hold to see what BLS data exist on aviation.

Though the first flights happened in Dare County, North Carolina, today, most of the aircraft manufacturing occurs in other parts of the country. You can find the largest seat pockets of aerospace products and parts manufacturing employment in Los Angeles County, California (43,632), King County, Washington (35,912), and Snohomish County, Washington (33,253) at the close of 2022. These three counties make up one-fifth of the entire country’s employment in the private aerospace products and parts manufacturing industry.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

Of course, building aircraft is just part of the story. In 2022, there were 138,330 pilots and 108,480 flight attendants flying passengers around the country and keeping them safe and comfortable. These occupations have higher than average earnings and are projected to grow over the coming decade. And let’s not forget the ground crew. Workers who handle the baggage, repair and maintain aircraft, and ensure the airspace is safe also make up some of the many workers who comprise aviation careers. BLS has employment and wage data on these and more air transportation occupations.

Now that we’ve reached cruising altitude on employment, let’s talk about prices. Ready to make one last trip before school starts? Prices for airfare have been lower than a year ago in recent months, but that follows soaring prices toward the end of 2022. The period during and just following the COVID pandemic created serious turbulence for airfare prices. BLS has data on more than just costs for passenger airfare. Data on prices received by producers show that costs for air transportation of freight also had their ups and downs in recent years.

Editor’s note: Data for this chart are available in the table below.

As we start our final descent on this post, when Orville and Wilbur Wright made that inaugural flight in 1903, who would have imagined that their flying machine would one day support thousands of American workers, allow people to see sights only imagined, and be a critical component of global trade. We hope you’ve enjoyed this birds’ eye view of just some of the data BLS can offer—we’ve got a stat for that!