On the recordMay 4, 2010
I think this is a very important resolution which highlights an issue that directly impacts not just national security but employment in my district and many others. Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics are the backbone of California's 36th District economy. We are the home to the Los Angeles Air Force Base Space and Missile Systems Center and to large facilities of all of the major aerospace firms, as well as critically important innovative second and third tier suppliers. As I am fond of saying, my district is the aerospace center of the universe. L.A. County's unemployment rate is over 13 percent, but the 36th Congressional District's unemployment is half that, almost entirely because of science and technology jobs, especially in the aerospace industry. But the industry faces a coming 'gray wave.' Some 60 percent of aerospace workers are over age 50, and almost 26 percent are already eligible for retirement. Not enough young scientists and engineers are coming out of college to fill their ranks. Mr. Speaker, we can't build rockets without rocket scientists, and other countries know that. The United States graduates about 70,000 engineers annually, a meager 15 percent. China graduates over half a million engineers every year.
