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| The increase of 445 workers in the last six months of
2005 is a strong indicator that employment is on the
upswing, and there are some indications that the figure
will rise higher over the next few years. Most of the
overall increase occurred at Northrop Grumman Corp.,
where the personnel count has risen from 1,600 to 2,000
over the past year. |
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| Northrop spokesman Jim Hart said that the biggest
programs, in terms of employment, were the B-2 bomber and
F-35 joint strike fighter programs. "The B-2 is
really the biggest, still. The F-35 is not in production
yet, and even when it is, it won't be huge," he
said. Nevertheless, Northrop's total F-35 work force is
expected to reach about 200 employees as production ramps
up. |
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| Lockheed Martin's work force is expected to remain at
about 4,000 employees. Air Force Plant 42 now has a total
of 7,254 jobs, up from a low of 6,209 in December 2002.
The highest employment at the base was 12,000 in 1987 -
when 100 B-1 bombers were being built. One other happy
note is that Plant 42's employers provide a number of
jobs with above-average salaries in the region. |
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| This community needs thousands more jobs to make it
possible for many of our 80,000 commuters to cut their
travel time to minutes instead of hours. The housing boom
is bringing in a multitude of families and individuals
because they can find affordable homes here, but we have
not yet reached that pleasant plateau where good jobs are
as plentiful as the number of local job seekers. |
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