Obviously, there’s money to be made in space. SpaceX’s historic initial public offering created a $2 trillion company. and, stock Although Elon Musk’s company has fallen from its IPO highs, there is still a potential boom in the space economy, which is creating a new job market for Americans.
According to the World Economic Forum, the space economy is growing at an annual rate of 9% domestically and around the world. In the United States, the total output of the space economy increased by nearly $51.5 billion from 2012 to 2023. The sector’s total value reached an all-time high of $613 billion in the second quarter of 2025, according to the Space Foundation.
As the space economy grows, so too does job creation for the nation. In the private sector alone, more than 373,000 employees work in space, according to the latest estimates from the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis. This is only a small portion of the total U.S. private sector workforce, but it is growing rapidly. Employment in the space sector grew by 27% in the decade to 2024, far outpacing the private sector’s total employment growth rate of 14%, and growth has accelerated in recent years. From 2019 to 2024 alone, the space economy job market grew by 18%.
Young workers in particular played a major role in this growth. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, nearly half of the new jobs added to the space economy will be held by workers under the age of 35, and the share of young workers in the workforce will increase by a total of 3% from 2014 to 2024. Most major space jobs are employing an increasing proportion of young workers. This means that the sector is not only growing, but also bucking the trend of declining proportions of young workers across other census-covered sectors, such as professional services and media.
In a recent study that examined tens of thousands of postings from hundreds of space companies, Dean Boerner, principal data scientist at Revelio Labs, found that the space industry significantly outperforms the broader labor market in terms of providing current career opportunities.
“Active postings by companies active within the space economy are up over 40% year-over-year as of this month (and generally up this year overall compared to 2025),” Werner said. “The number of postings across the U.S. is down about 5%, with a particular increase in opportunities in aerospace,” he added.
The rewards for aerospace-focused jobs are competitive. The civil space sector boasts a total of approximately $57.9 billion in annual salaries, with median annual salaries varying by job type but typically in the range of $100,000 to $135,000. However, base salary is only one part of the employee compensation package found in the private sector. Employers in large private space markets often offer stock options, giving employees an early opportunity to join what could become large publicly traded companies. In the case of SpaceX’s historic IPO, thousands of current and former employees became millionaires overnight thanks to second-hand stock. More than 100 new discoveries with net worths exceeding $1 billion.
“This job market is highly competitive, often with thousands of applications for each entry-level role,” said Dave Baldwin, the company’s director of talent acquisition. firefly aerospacewas listed in August last year.
But on any given day, thousands of positions remain unfilled at these companies. Indeed, despite an attractive role in an increasingly lucrative field and a promising upward trend, employment in the space economy has barely kept pace with the industry’s expansion. In recent years, companies in the space sector of all types have been experiencing longer hiring periods, higher turnover rates, and labor shortages. One reason for this is that this work relies heavily on highly skilled workers within the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields.
Recent estimates indicate that more than half of private sector space economy jobs “require STEM skills,” about twice the national average. While important, STEM skills pose a major hurdle for companies looking to recruit and retain new talent. Only about a quarter of the U.S. workforce has formal STEM training, and far fewer have the specific occupational backgrounds needed for aerospace production. For employers increasing their presence in the space economy, this means continually competing for select workers with the skill sets needed to sustain current operations and long-term growth.
In its own S-1 filing ahead of its IPO, SpaceX acknowledged the issue was a potential risk for investors, saying, “We depend on our ability to recruit and retain employees with advanced engineering and technical skills, and intense competition for such employees could increase costs and impact our ability to meet development and production schedules.”
“The current tightening of the labor market is negatively impacting our ability to recruit qualified talent, including engineers, particularly for our AI field,” the filing says, highlighting the challenges posed by the rapid expansion of the space economy.
Data from Revelio Labs shows the severity of the problem, with a 45% gap in active job openings between this sector and the rest of the economy (space job openings rose 40%, while all U.S. job openings fell 5%).
Several prominent aerospace employers are on the front lines of the hiring battle. lockheed martin It has the second-highest number of openings among all employers at 10,614, an increase of more than 5,000 from this time last year. RTX Corporation leads all employers with 12,871 job openings worldwide. According to Boerner, the most in-demand roles, in order, are safety engineer, information security, integration engineer, reliability engineer, and hardware engineer, with each role requiring at least a bachelor’s degree in a related field of study.
The 2025 Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) report, conducted in partnership with McKinsey & Company, found that the aerospace industry’s attrition rate from 2021 to 2024 hovered at nearly 16%, more than 10% higher than any other industry category. 76% of all AIA member organizations worldwide report “ongoing challenges” in retaining engineers.
There is a shortage of skilled workers for space manufacturing.
Labor issues in this sector extend to key manufacturing roles, with 56% of organizations reporting challenges in recruiting and retaining skilled manufacturing talent. Almost 30% of the jobs in the space economy revolve around the skilled manufacturing and labor needed to produce spacecraft, space weapons, and satellites.
Satellites in particular have been driving recent growth as the space market shifts from exploration to commercialization, at least in the short term. The Space Foundation estimates that the commercial space products and services industry will account for well over half of the total economy in 2024, and this change is primarily due to the enhancement and expansion of satellite technology. This is a trend supported by the value of satellite-based data across the global economy, allowing companies to make their industrial capabilities more efficient and expand their global consumer reach by, for example, optimizing vehicle routes and improving globalized supply chains in unprecedented ways.
However, the industry does not have a monopoly on the talent it needs.
“The challenge is we have a limited supply of machinists, welders and technicians to meet demand,” Baldwin said. “In addition to aerospace, multiple industries (automotive, semiconductor, biotech, etc.) compete for the same types of skilled workers,” he added.
For Firefly and its fellow space economy employers, investing in early stage talent at the right stage is a key issue. The AIA report found that only 20% of space sector companies struggling with hiring and retention are taking steps to develop or expand training programs. In fact, the creation and expansion of training programs has lagged behind referral bonuses for current employees, expanding geographic recruiting areas, and changing compensation models.
“It is important for commercial space companies to partner with local high schools, community colleges and universities to develop skills-based programs and increase the supply of available skilled labor,” Baldwin said. “We are expanding these efforts with Firefly, providing opportunities to gain hands-on experience working on proven launch, lunar and space programs. We also offer training and apprenticeships to help veterans transition into the workforce as part of the Department of Defense Skills Bridge program.”
Club for the Future, an early education foundation founded in 2019 under Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space company, says its mission is to “inspire future generations to pursue careers in STEM fields and help invent the future of life in space.”
Since 2021, the foundation has donated tens of millions of dollars to educational programs alongside space-based charities. Almost all major commercial aerospace manufacturers fund extensive internship programs throughout the year, but programs tend to be highly competitive and less frequent among smaller employers.
SpaceX is likely to remain a volatile stock, but it is gaining more market penetration and will soon be added to the Nasdaq 100 index. If SpaceX bulls are right, investing in early education will pay off for employers and the workforce in the coming decades. Ron Baron, an early SpaceX investor, says the company will grow faster than many expected. The billionaire fund manager recently told CNBC that he did not sell any shares in the IPO and that he expects the company to be valued at at least $20 trillion in 10 years. “Typically, our economy doubles about every 10 years,” Baron told CNBC’s Becky Quick. “His idea is that with the innovation and the work he’s doing, he’s going to grow the economy 10 times, not double, in 10 years.”
