Boeing Expected To Cut About 8,000 Jobs In Washington State

Boeing Co. is likely to cut about 8,000 jobs in Washington, which translates to about 10 percent of its staff in the state, the Seattle Times reported Tuesday. The job cuts are part of major cost-saving attempts, Boeing told the newspaper.

On Tuesday the company told the Times that “hundreds of executives and managers” will be among the initial losses and a 4,000 figure will be reached by June through normal attrition and a voluntary buyout package for about 1,600 employees. However, there could be further job cuts later this year if targets are not met, Boeing told the newspaper.

Boeing is not planning involuntary layoffs for the moment and its savings will be derived through 1,600 workers who have been elected to leave the company under a voluntary program announced last month, Marc Birtel, a Boeing spokesman, told Bloomberg.

Sean McCormack, Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ vice president of communications, said Tuesday that “our targets are dollar-based,” the Seattle Times reported. “The more we reduce non-labor costs, the less impact there will be to jobs,” he said.

Last month, the company announced that it was considering layoffs of airplane engineers. In an internal memo, Boeing had said that it did not aim to replace higher-level employees who leave, except in rare situations.

Although the company posted record revenue of $96.1 billion in 2015 and delivered 762 commercial planes — the most in its history — Boeing’s adjusted profit fell 13 percent to $7.74 billion from a year earlier, according to Bloomberg.