Quit Weed and Get a Job, Patriot

BY MARCUS WEISGERBER

GLOBAL BUSINESS EDITOR

MAY 8, 2020

Pentagon spending on missiles, satellites, and nuclear weapons fuels a production boom, as firms fight off commercial aerospace downturn.

As U.S. unemployment reached its highest level since the Great Depression amid the coronavirus pandemic, some of America’s largest defense firms are hiring thousands of workers to build fast-flying missiles, satellites and nuclear weapons.

Even amid nationwide social distancing practices, companies are interviewing job candidates through video conferencing and other technology as they look to fill positions on national security projects that Pentagon leaders want to keep on schedule.

“[W]e recognize that providing jobs during this period of economic downturn is also critically important,” Lockheed Martin CEO Marillyn Hewson said last month on the company’s quarterly earnings call. “We are committed to continued hiring during this crisis.”

Lockheed, the world’s largest defense company, already has hired more than 2,365 new employees since March when many U.S. companies began furloughing or layoff workers amid coronavirus stay-at-home orders. In addition, Lockheed is “actively recruiting for over 4,600 roles,” in 39 states and Washington, D.C., the company said in a statement Friday.

https://www.defenseone.com/business/2020/05/us-defense-firms-hiring-thousands-amid-record-unemployment/165270/