Before choosing any career, it is important to look at its career outlook. This tells us what the future holds for the job. Such information is usually stated by the Occupational Outlook Handbook maintained by the Bureau of Labor Logistics. The job outlook of flight attendants depends on many factors including the demographics of the country. Let us see how bright the future is for flight attendants.
As of 2014, there were around 98,000 flight attendants. This is expected to grow about 2% over the next 10 years. This means, approximately 2000 people will be joining the industry within that period. This growth rate is extremely slow when compared to the national average. However, this is expected to rise since more and more people are preferring to travel by air now. Thus, the need for air hostesses and air hosts will increase.
The number of job openings again depends on the area a person is residing in. If the aspiring flight attendant resides in a relatively rural area, chances are that there no airports there, thus reducing the job opportunities. If a person resides in a metropolitan area with a busy airport, then the number of job openings will obviously be higher. Texas, California and New York offer the largest number of job openings in this field. The highest employers for flight attendants are Scheduled and Nonscheduled air transportation services (or commercial flights and chartered flights). Oil and gas extraction has the lowest number of flight attendants working in the industry.
The salary again depends on the location you are working in and how much experience you have. The median salary in this industry was calculated around $44,000. However, the highest paid people in this occupation were getting around $72,000. This figure can rise in the future. However, this industry is famous for the benefits that the employee gets rather than the salary. The benefits include free or discounted tickets, allowances for meals and sometimes free stay at a hotel while on-duty. The perks of the job increase with seniority. Texas, Florida, and California pay the highest for flight attendants (in that order).
The opening of new jobs currently in 2016 to 2017 is predicted to be due to people switching jobs. The average number of years a person works in this industry is about 14 years. However, there are records of people who have worked for around 60 years. This job is a stressful one and thus at a certain age, it just becomes too much. This explains the high turnover rate (number of people switching to other careers). There is always heavy competition expected in this field. This is because there are always more people applying for this job than there are openings.
As a flight attendant, there are a lot of jobs available for you, both onboard and offboard. It is not hard to advance in your job and get promoted. If you want to find out more about the job outlook of flight attendants, visit Bureau of Labor Statistics. As mentioned before, there is heavy competition in this field. So, if you want to travel the world and get paid for it, learn how to become a flight attendant now!