$2M grant will fund job training and employment programs for laid-off Boeing workers in Snohomoish and King counties.

A $2 million federal grant will help more than 2,000 laid-off Boeing workers in Snohomish and King counties with job training and employment services.

Workforce Snohomish, Future Workforce Alliance of Snohomish County, and the Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County will help administer the grant.

In October 2024, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg announced the company would lay off 17,000 workers worldwide, about 10% of its workforce.

The largest number of layoffs has been at Boeing facilities in Everett. During two separate reductions in force in January and February, 1,422 Boeing employees lost their jobs, more than half of the 2,595 employees slashed from the Boeing payroll in Washington, according to an Everett Herald analysis.

“The magnitude of this layoff, especially in Snohomish and King counties, severely strained the capacity of our local workforce system,” state Employment Security Commissioner Cami Feek said in a press release on Thursday. “This grant, in partnership with Sea-King and Snohomish workforce development boards, will allow us to provide targeted help to workers affected by the layoffs.”

Boeing employs more than 64,000 workers in Washington.

Feek said the impact of more than 2,000 displaced workers exceeds the current capacity of the two local workforce development boards in Snohomish and King counties to serve dislocated workers, especially considering other layoffs in the area.

The aerospace and manufacturing sector accounted for 12.6% of employment in Snohomish County, as of March 31, 2024, according to state data.

The exact details of the job training and employment program are still being finalized, said Chris Barron, a spokesman for the state Employment Security Commission. He was not able to provide a start date for the services covered by the grant.

Most of those laid off in Washington were higher-level Boeing technical employees, such as engineers and project specialists, involved in the manufacturing of planes in Boeing’s commercial aviation division.

Randy Diamond: 425-339-3097; randy.diamond@heraldnet.com.