Boeing expects layoffs to total about 30,000

SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER ^ | Tuesday, July 2, 2002 | PAUL NYHAN

[Willie Green]

For education and discussion only. Not for commercial use.

Mulally predicts bottom next year, better in 2004

After handing out pink slips for months, The Boeing Co. expects layoffs to taper off at around 30,000 employees, Alan Mulally, head of its commercial aircraft unit, said yesterday.

Barring unforeseen jolts to existing market forecasts, production rates will bottom out in 2003 and improve in 2004, according to Mulally.

If the estimates hold, total layoffs would hover at the high end -- 30,000 -- of projections Boeing made after the terrorist attacks rocked commercial aviation in September. Mulally had said the company would cut 25,000 to 30,000 positions. The forecasts, however, do not account for uncertainty in the industry.

"We are just about there," Mulally, the company's top executive in Washington state, said yesterday about the cuts.

Mulally wasted little time getting there, announcing plans to release tens of thousands of employees eight days after the attacks.

He stressed that the company had little choice, as people stopped flying and airlines scrambled to prop up finances, in part by delaying airplane deliveries.

Over the past nine months, the state's largest private employer warned 28,300 workers around the country to prepare to lose their jobs, 17,850 in the Puget Sound area alone, according to Boeing reports.

So far, roughly 14,000 local Boeing workers have actually lost their jobs. Under the current system, the company warns workers 60 days before they are scheduled to lose their jobs. So the job cuts are not yet over.

In fact, Boeing expects to continue laying off workers through the end of the year, although the monthly amounts will shrink.

The layoffs sent an already weak economy deeper into a recession it has yet to escape. That's because losses at Boeing rippled throughout the region, affecting car dealerships, stores, home sales and other aerospace concerns.

When work picks up, Mulally expects the rebound to be slower than past recoveries that were often marked by massive hiring.

Instead, Mulally hopes to oversee a more modest recovery, marked by rising productivity but slower, more manageable, growth in commercial aviation.

"What we really want to do is get out of these wide swings," Mulally said. "This bust-and-boom cycle is costing all of us as an industry."

Boeing officials expect the company to deliver 380 planes this year and 275 to 300 planes in 2003, according to past estimates.

Boeing executives will offer a clearer picture of the company's future on July 17, when it releases its performance in the second quarter.

P-I reporter Paul Nyhan can be reached at 206-448-8145 or paulnyhan@seattlepi.com

[NativeNewYorker]

For contrast, Seattle's other famous private employer, Microsoft, has 47,600 employees worldwide.

[RightWhale]

It's starting to add up. First Loral, and now Boeing say that the recovery won't be until after '03. Listen to companies, those who seem trustworthy, don't listen to gov't economists.

[Digger]

My screen cut off just below the headline & I made a bet to myself that when I scroll down your name would be there.

[genefromjersey]

How much of the layoff is due to "911", and how much due to the massive export of jobs to Red China ??????

Gee ! Isn't "Constructive Engagement" grand ??