RISE AND FALL: The thousands about to...

RISE AND FALL: The thousands about to be laid off by McDonnell Douglas (D1) are only the latest riders on the county’s aerospace roller coaster. . . . Though the number of jobs has grown (above), employment can plunge--as it did most drastically in 1970 and ‘71, when airplane orders fell at the same time Vietnam troop withdrawals brought huge defense cuts. . . . An estimated 41,900 people, most of them aerospace workers, lost their jobs here.

AEROSPACE JOBS IN ORANGE COUNTY In thousands of jobs per year: 1970: 61.8 1975: 57.0 1980: 80.1 1985: 92.1 1990*: 92.8 * Projected Source: Chapmann College Economic & Business Review