SpaceX stock has cooled. Recruitment for jobs in the space economy is heating up

The space economy is growing at an annual rate of 9%, according to the World Economic Forum. In the US, the gross output of the space economy grew by nearly $51.5 billion between 2012 and 2023. The total value of the sector reached an all-time high of $613 billion in the second quarter of 2025, according to the Space Foundation.

Employment in the space sector recorded a jump of 27% in the decade ending in 2024, surpassing by a considerable margin the general growth in employment in the private sector, which stood at 14%, with the growth rate of the sector even accelerating in recent years. Between 2019 and 2024 alone, the space economy job market grew by 18%.

Recruiting young workers

Young workers in particular played a central role in this growth. Almost half of the new jobs added to the space economy are filled by workers under the age of 35, a figure that represents a 3% overall increase in the share of young workers in the industry’s workforce between 2014 and 2024. This means that the sector is not only growing, but also running counter to the downward trend in the number of young workers registered in other sectors examined by the US Census Bureau.

“The active job postings of companies operating within the space economy jumped by more than 40% compared to the same period last year as of this month (and in general remained at a high level throughout this year, compared to 2025),” said Dean Burner, Chief Data Scientist at Revelio Labs, based on a recent study that examined tens of thousands of job postings from hundreds of companies in the space sector. According to the study, the industry shows significant overperformance in relation to the general labor market in providing current employment opportunities.

Thousands of applicants for the position, and the positions remain vacant

Large employers in the private space market often offer stock options, giving employees the opportunity to get involved early in what could become a major publicly traded company. As in the case of SpaceX, thousands of current and former employees became overnight millionaires thanks to the shares they owned ahead of time. Over 100 employees saw the new net worth cross the billion dollar mark.

“This job market is competitive, and there are often thousands of applicants for any entry-level position,” said Dave Baldwin, director of talent acquisition atFirefly Aerospace which was issued to the public last August.

However, many companies in the space industry experience difficulties in recruiting and retaining employees, and are faced with a limited pool of employees who possess the set of skills required to sustain current operations and long-term growth.

SpaceX also, in the first prospectus it published in preparation for its IPO, recognized this issue as a potential risk for investors, and stated: “We depend on our ability to recruit and retain employees with advanced engineering and technical skills, and the intense competition for such employees could raise costs and affect our ability to meet development and production schedules.”

“The current tight labor market has adversely affected our ability to recruit qualified personnel, including engineers, particularly with regard to our artificial intelligence sector,” the prospectus stated.