Boeing may be done with local layoffs

EVERETT — The Boeing Co. slashed about half as many positions last year as it had hoped, but the bulk of the jobs cut were in Washington state.

This could be a good sign for the Puget Sound region as the company looks for continued cuts this year in its operations around the world.

Early last year, Boeing announced plans to reduce its work force by 6 percent, or 10,000 positions, as it coped with a global recession. Boeing cut 5,118 jobs in 2009, according to the company's Web site. About 80 percent of the jobs lost, or 4,065, were from plants in Washington.

Boeing has roughly 72,352 workers in the state to begin 2010.

Late in 2009, Jim McNerney, Boeing's chief executive, noted that the company wouldn't hit its target of cutting 10,000 positions in 2009. But he vowed to complete, and potentially exceed, the 10,000 number in 2010. What percentage of the additional cutbacks will be in Washington remains to be seen.

The company's commercial airplane division, which is based in the Puget Sound area, has already met its previous goals. Last January, Boeing said it aimed to bring the division's employment down to the 2008 level of 63,500 workers. The company immediately began handing out 60-day notices on a monthly basis, as well as keeping some positions open. By late November, the commercial airplane division had 63,484 workers.

The division “is not setting a new target” for 2010, said Tim Healy, Boeing spokesman. Employment will “rise and fall” in 2010, he said, given that Boeing will have both its 787 and 747-8 programs in flight testing this year.

Boeing already announced it will slow production on its 777 widebody jet line in Everett this year. However, Boeing also will build up a “surge line” for its 787 here before opening up a second line in South Carolina next year. Workers who might be displaced from the 777 could end up on that surge line.

Boeing executives have said that they do not plan to slow production of the company's single-aisle 737 in Renton. A slowdown there likely would mean further job cuts.

Boeing also employs defense division workers in Washington state. That division saw some reductions early in 2009, but its numbers rose late in the year.

In December, Boeing reorganized, pulling engineering employees from its commercial airplanes division and its defense division. Those workers report to the company's Engineering, Operations and Technology division.

As a result, the company's commercial airplane division listed 59,958 employees at the end of 2009. Its engineering and technology group employs 17,960 workers.

Across the company, Boeing has 157,073 employees.