Industry survey: Nearly half of firms have laid off workers in last 2 years

The survey is the AIA’s latest weapon in its fight against sequestration,
as the association has been the most vocal defense industry opponent to the
sequester.

{mosads}The Pentagon’s 2013 budget is being cut $37 billion, and the
department is facing a $52 billion cut from its proposed 2014 budget under
sequestration. Besides the sequester, the Pentagon’s projected budgets over the
next decade are being reduced by $487 billion from cuts included in the 2011
Budget Control Act.

Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has warned sequester cuts in
2014 will force the Pentagon to buy fewer planes, ships and vehicles and could harm
the defense industry.

While the survey is not scientific — it notes the anonymous
questionnaire means “data integrity could be compromised by multiple surveys
being completed by the same person and/or business” — it might help AIA argue
that companies are already feeling the pain of defense cuts under
sequestration.

The survey, conducted of AIA members in May and June, asked respondents
to detail budget impacts to their companies over the past two years — meaning
the negative affects are not just due to the automatic budget cuts, but the
overall drawdown in defense spending.

AIA officials say that the cuts are being felt most within small
and mid-sized businesses in the defense and aerospace supply chain, as they do
not have the same ability as large contractors to access credit or move more
into commercial markets.