EVERETT — Boeing facilities in Everett saw large layoffs of 1,422 employees in two worker reductions over the last two months, part of cost-cutting efforts by the aerospace company to reduce overhead and regain profitability.
The Everett layoffs are the largest by the company in Washington, amounting to almost half of the 2,595 workers impacted in the state by Boeing since mid-December, according to company data submitted to the Washington State Employment Security Department.
The statistics also show that the employees dismissed in Everett, and other parts of Washington, were all factory supervisors and “white-collar” employees, such as engineers. All of the 33,000 machinists who went on strike in 2024, have kept their jobs, the Boeing data shows.
Boeing officials declined to discuss specifics about the layoffs.
The Everett Boeing facilities make up more than 30,000 workers, the largest concentration of Boeing employees in the world.
On Oct. 11, Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg announced a 10% reduction in Boeing’s worldwide workforce as part of a plan to restore the company to profitability after $30 billion in losses since 2018.
Two Boeing 737 Max crashes and other issues revolving around the safety of Boeing planes have hurt the company financially as safety investigations slowed production of new planes.
“As announced in October 2024, we have made workforce level adjustments to align with our financial reality and a more focused set of priorities,” Boeing spokesman Ted Land said in a statement to The Daily Herald.
Snohomish County has a workforce of around 301,500 as of the end of December, the employment security department statistics show, so a reduction of 1,452 persons by itself wouldn’t have a major impact on high employment, according to economists.
But the Boeing layoffs also come as economists worry the 3.2 % unemployment rate in Snohomish County could tick upward due to a variety of other factors. They cite ongoing federal job cutbacks by the Trump administration, potential work reductions by the state of Washington and local school districts dealing with budget deficits as factors that could hurt the local economy.
Private firms have also become reluctant to hire, economists said.
“We are in a period of high uncertainty,” said Jacob Vigdor, an economist and professor of public policy and governance at the University of Washington.” A lot of places are pausing hiring or are considering layoffs. We cannot rule out that we might be in a recession in six months.”
Another big unknown is whether Boeing will have more layoffs. The company declined to comment on its future plans.
In addition to the 2,595 employees laid off in Washington, approximately 2,500 workers in seven other states also lost their jobs, according to layoff notices sent by the company.
Under federal law, Boeing is required to notify states of layoffs and give employees 60 days notice before they are dismissed.
It’s not clear if any international Boeing workers have been laid off. The company has employees in more than 60 countries.
Boeing officials have said that the company also plans to leave some positions vacant, so it’s unclear what effect vacant positions or voluntary attrition of workers would have on the total reductions.
Many of the laid-off workers have technical skills that could help them land jobs with defense contractors, said Bryan Corliss, a spokesman for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.
The Boeing list of layoffs shows that, besides dozens of factory supervisors, dismissed employees in Everett and across Washington were all white-collar workers including engineers, data specialists, project managers and procurement specialists.
Corliss said 660 of its members in Washington — about 4% of the union’s overall membership — saw their Boeing position eliminated.
He said many workers were surprised to learn of their job loss.
“It’s always hard when you lose a job,” he said.
Machinists have been immune to the layoffs since ending an almost two-month strike in early November. The strike stopped after the 33,000 striking machinists reached a deal that increased wages 38% over four years for a top salary of $140,000 for a line worker.
The machinists mostly work in the Everett plant and a second factory in Renton.
Ortberg said he would not lay off machinists during the strike, but no job guarantees were publicly announced after that.
Each of the 33,000 machinists was also given a $12,000 retention bonus to go back to work after the strike ended.
Machinist union officials did not respond to requests for comment.
For the white-collar workers, Corliss said Boeing uses a formula to determine which professional employees to dismiss first in the event of a layoff, including logevity and the worker’s ultimate value to the company.
Corliss said that each employee is ranked by the company yearly on a scale, from a top rating of one to a bottom rating of three.
He said a three rating does not mean an employee is doing a bad job, but just that their relative worth is lower when compared to other employees.
He said, under the Boeing engineers union contract with Boeing, 40% of the employees are rated Tier 1, 40% tier 2 and 20% tier 3.
Corliss said his union is investigating several dozen cases where employees are questioning whether they were terminated unfairly without the metrics being followed properly.
Boeing did not respond to the union’s comments.
Boeing made its layoffs in Washington in three rounds.
The first layoff on Dec. 20 only affected seven employees and none in Everett.
The second layoff of 2,192 employees, including 1,160 in Everett, was made starting on Jan. 17, according to the layoff notice sent to Washington officials.
The third notice of 396 layoffs starting on Feb. 21, included 292 layoffs in Everett.
Boeing also laid off four workers in Lynnwood and one each in Mukilteo and Bothell, the state filings show.
Randy Diamond: 425-339-3097; randy.diamond@heraldnet.com.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
Gallery
