25

An Examination of the Employment

and Wages of FAA-certified

and FAA-noncertified Aircraft

Mechanics and Service

Technicians, 2001

Michael Soloy

I

n 2001, aircraft mechanics and service technicians certified by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) earned

an average $21.14 per hour, according to the Bureau of

Labor Statistics’ Occupational Employment Statistics survey. Aircraft mechanics and service technicians without FAA

certification averaged $16.45 per hour, over $4 less than their

FAA-certified counterparts. Total employment for aircraft

mechanics and service technicians in all industries in 2001

was 135,250. Because the Federal Government may use Federal certification types other than FAA for its aircraft mechanics, only data for private industry are discussed here.

Private industry employed 114,300 aircraft mechanics and

service technicians in 2001. Of this total, almost 82 percent

were FAA certified.

Over 95 percent of the private industry employment for

aircraft mechanics and service technicians could be found in

seven industries: Aircraft and parts manufacturing; air transportation, scheduled; air transportation, nonscheduled; airports, flying fields, and services; machinery, equipment, and

supplies, wholesale trade; personnel supply services; and

management and public relations. (Two of these industries,

personnel supply services and management and public relations, have been combined for this summary.) Employment

and wage data for aircraft mechanics and service technicians

in these industries are presented in text table 1. The industries are as defined at the three-digit level of the U.S. Office

of Management and Budget’s 1987 Standard Industrial Classification (SIC).

The mean wage for FAA-certified aircraft mechanics and

service technicians was higher than the mean wage for their

FAA-noncertified counterpart in each of the six three-digit

Michael Soloy is an economist in the Division of Occupational

and Administrative Statistics, Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Text table 1. Employment and mean wages for aircraft mechanics and service technicians in selected industries, by FAA

certification status, 2001

SIC code SIC name Certification Employment Mean wage

 372 Aircraft and parts manufacturing FAA-certified 8,150 $20.98

FAA-noncertified 6,850 18.35

 451 Air transportation, scheduled FAA-certified 54,900 22.23

FAA-noncertified 1,240 17.62

 452 Air transportation, nonscheduled FAA-certified 5,530 20.53

FAA-noncertified 860 16.58

458 Airports, flying fields, and services FAA-certified 18,410 18.33

FAA-noncertified 7,860 14.54

 508 Machinery, equipment, and supplies, FAA-certified 1,930 16.90

wholesale trade FAA-noncertified 380 14.73

 736 and 874 Personnel supply services and FAA-certified 1,330 20.63

management and public relations FAA-noncertified 1,400 17.18

NOTE: SIC is the industry's 1987 Standard Industrial Classification, as defined by the U.S. Office of Management Budget.
26

Chart 1. Hourly mean w ages of FAA-certified and FAA-noncertified aircraft mechanics and

service technicians, selected industries, 2001

$10

$12

$14

$16

$18

$20

$22

$24

Aircraft and

parts ,

m anufacturing

Air

trans portation,

scheduled

Air

trans portation,

nonscheduled

Airports , flying

fields , & s ervices

Machinery,

equipm ent, and

supplies,

wholes ale trade

Personnel

s upply s ervices

and

management

and public

relations

SIC code

Hourly mean wage

FAA certified

Non-FAA certified

industries. (See chart 1.) The highest industry mean wage

for FAA-certified aircraft mechanics was found in air transportation, scheduled, at $22.23 per hour. The highest industry mean wage for FAA-noncertified workers was found in

aircraft and parts manufacturing, at $18.35 per hour.

As indicated earlier, total private sector employment of

aircraft mechanics and service technicians was split 82 percent to 18 percent between certified and noncertified workers. There was wide variation among the six industries, however, in the pattern of employing certified versus noncertified

mechanics. (See chart 2.) The highest percentage of FAAcertified aircraft mechanics was in air transportation, scheduled, which had 98 percent of its aircraft mechanics so classified. The lowest percentage of FAA-certified aircraft

mechanics was found in personnel supply services and management and public relations, in which, taken together, only

49 percent were certified.

The percentages of aircraft mechanics and service technicians classified as FAA certified varied by State. Of the 49

States reporting aircraft mechanics and service technicians,

16 reported over 95 percent of their employment for this occupation as FAA certified. An additional 20 States reported

over 80 percent of their employment as FAA certified. A total

of 47 States reported over 50 percent of their employment for

this occupation as FAA certified. However, an examination

of the data at both the area and industry levels shows that

industry has a much larger effect on the share of aircraft

mechanics and service technicians who are FAA certified

than does area. In States with high percentages of aircraft

mechanics and service technicians classified as FAA certified, most of the employment for this occupation tended to

be found in the scheduled air transportation and unscheduled air transportation industries. States with lower percentages classified as FAA certified generally had more employment for this occupation in the personnel supply services;

management and public relations; and aircraft and parts manufacturing industries. Within a given industry, the percentages of aircraft mechanics and service technicians classified

as FAA certified were very similar across States.

The percentage of each type of mechanic also varied by

the size of the employing establishment. On average, establishments with higher total employment had higher percentages of aircraft mechanics and service technicians classified

as FAA certified. Among establishments that employed at

least one worker in the occupation, those with fewer than 50

total employees had, on average, 69 percent of their aircraft

mechanics and service technicians classified as FAA certified. Establishments with between 50 and 250 total employees reported an average 77 percent of such workers as FAA

certified, while in establishments with 250 or more total employees an average 87 percent of aircraft mechanics were

certified.

Individual establishments can be classified into three

groups based upon the type of aircraft mechanics and ser24

22

18

16

20

14

10

Hourly mean wage

Industry

Aircraft and

parts

manufacturing

Chart 1. Hourly mean wages of FAA-certified and FAA-noncertified

aircraft mechanics and service technicians, selected industries, 2001

12

Air

transportation,

scheduled

Air

transportation,

unscheduled

Airports, flying

fields, and

services

Machinery,

equipment, and

supplies,

wholesale trade

Personnel

supply

services and

management

and public

relations

Dollars

FAA certified

FAA-noncertified
27

Chart2. Share of FAA certified and non-FAA certified Aircraft mechanics and

service technicians in selected Industries

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Air transportation,

scheduled

Air transportation,

nonscheduled

Airports, flying

fields, & services

Aircraft and parts,

manufacturing

Machinery,

equipment, and

supplies,

wholesale trade

Personnel supply

services and

management and

public relations

Percent FAA certified

Non-FAA certified

vice technicians they employed: Those that reported only

FAA-certified aircraft mechanics and service technicians,

those that reported only FAA-noncertified workers, and those

that reported both types. Of the establishments surveyed

that reported aircraft mechanics and service technicians,

approximately 64 percent reported only the FAA-certified

type, 19 percent reported only FAA-noncertified workers,

and 17 percent reported both types. For the establishments

that reported both types, about 57 percent of the total employment was FAA certified.

As with the employment percentages, these establishment-type percentages also vary by industry. Within the

scheduled air transportation industry, 88 percent of establishments reported only FAA-certified aircraft mechanics, 3

percent reported only FAA-noncertified workers, and 9 percent reported both types. For the combined personnel supply services and management and public relations industry

group, 58 percent of establishments reported only FAA-certified aircraft mechanics, 28 percent reported only FAAnoncertified personnel, and 14 percent reported both types.

Additional information about aircraft mechanics and service technicians can be found in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Occupational Outlook Handbook. This Handbook includes a detailed description of the working environment,

training requirements, and employment growth outlook for

aircraft mechanics and service technicians. The Handbook

is available online at http://www.bls.gov/oco/home.htm or may

be purchased from the U.S. Government Printing Office.

Aircraft and

parts

manufacturing

Chart 2. Share of FAA certified and FAA-noncertified aircraft mechanics and

service technicians in selected industries, 2001

Air transportation,

scheduled

Air transportation,

unscheduled

Airports, flying

fields, and

services

Machinery,

equipment,

and supplies,

wholesale

trade

Personnel

supply

services and

management

and public

relations

Percent

100

90

60

50

80

40

20

30

70

10

0

FAA certified

FAA-noncertified

Industry