FAA Workforce: Better Assessing Employees' Skill Gaps Could Help FAA Prepare for Changes in Technology, Report to Congressional Committees   [open pdf - 2MB]

From the Highlights: "FAA [Federal Aviation Administration] relies on a skilled and specialized workforce of nearly 45,000 employees to operate and oversee the national airspace system. However, changes in the aviation industry--including emerging technologies and nontraditional users, such as unmanned aircraft systems (i.e., drones)--will require FAA to increase oversight activities and seek additional critical skills for its workforce. The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 included a provision for GAO [Government Accountability Office] to assess FAA's workforce-planning efforts, among other things. This report examines the extent to which FAA has: (1) identified the critical skills its current and future workforce will need as a result of changes in aviation technology and (2) determined whether its current workforce has those skills. GAO analyzed FAA workforce-planning documentation, including documents describing its Strategic Workforce Planning Initiative. GAO interviewed officials from five selected FAA offices whose work will likely be affected by changing technologies. To obtain a range of perspectives, GAO interviewed representatives from industry associations and FAA labor groups, such as the National Air Traffic Controllers Association."