In September of 2023, the Center of Excellence posted What We Learned From 18 Months Of Tracking Indeed Manufacturing Data. Now more than a year on, we review those takeaways as we present updated data on available aerospace and manufacturing jobs.
The project began in January of 2022 when COE staff began checking weekly to see how many jobs were being posted to Indeed, sharing our initial findings in 2022. At that time we said that, “both aerospace and manufacturing industries have held steady across 2022” and that, “consistency in industry needs throughout the year shows that broader macroeconomic factors have not changed the hiring environment.”
That changed in our 2023 update when we shared that, “we’ve seen a general decline in postings, especially in manufacturing, during the period we tracked” and that, “the numbers varied greatly” with nearly a 50% drop in manufacturing job postings between May of 2022 and May of 2023.
How are postings looking now? It’s hard to say. Back in April, Indeed cut access to specific numbers of posting, instead sharing a more general “600+ aerospace jobs” when queried, an inexact number that could mean 601 or 699 or possibly even more than that.
What drove this change? Indeed is a private company with no requirement to share this kind of granular data. The company could be seeing fewer postings to their platform and may not want to reveal that. Their data is valuable, and they could be using that data to add value as they serve their clients, the companies that post jobs to the platform.
What we do know is that at 600+ aerospace jobs and 3000+ manufacturing jobs as of June 2024, these are lower numbers than in previous years. Like other states and other industries, Washington’s aerospace industry has seen a slow cooling of demand over the past few years.
Boeing, so often a bellwether for the industry locally, has seen well-documented challenges lately. Headlines from the Puget Sound Business Journal since September, beyond those about the recently-resolved Machinists strike:
- Boeing reveals extent of Washington layoffs
- Hard-hit manufacturing sector sinks further amid Boeing strike
- Boeing to raise up to $25B to stave off cash crunch
- Boeing replacing head of struggling space, defense business
Where industry demand goes from here is difficult to predict. What we see at the Center of Excellence is continued interest from employers in bringing skilled Community and Technical College students into industry. With that in mind the Center of Excellence will continue to act as a convener, a connector and a collaborator, bringing together industry and education to advance aerospace and advanced manufacturing in Washington.