Oh no! Boeing Co. is pushing through its plans for workforce reduction. And the company is reportedly laying off 4,000 jobs by midyear as global competition in the aviation industry continues to intensify.
Boeing Co. employs a total of 161,400 employees globally as of Dec. 31. Unfortunately, the company has come to its last resort, which is to reduce its workforce, in order to reduce cost and stay competitive with its European rival Airbus, Geek Wire notes.
"Staffing reductions through midyear, including hundreds of executives and managers, are projected to total approximately 4,000 positions - none of which involve involuntary layoffs," Boeing spokesperson Doug Alder said in his email. "We've been able to reduce staffing levels through attrition, leaving open positions unfilled, and voluntary layoffs. We'll only use involuntary layoffs as a last resort."
Alder also added that there was no firm target for the job reductions. The job cuts will also include hundreds of executives and managers but Alder stressed that it would not be done through forced layoffs, The Guardian reports.
"While there is no employment reduction target, the more we can control costs as a whole the less impact there will be to employment," Alder added.
Aside from the 4,000 jobs in its commercial airplanes, Boeing is also reportedly eliminating about 10 percent or 550 jobs in its division that conducts flight and lab test, the company's spokeswoman Sandra Angers told Reuters. The latest workforce reduction came after the publication reported last month that Boeing was contemplating to offer voluntary layoffs to its professional engineers and technical workers.
In addition, The Seattle Times claims that the reductions could eliminate as much as 8,000 jobs or about 10 percent of the total in Washington, by the end of the year. The publication was also the first to report the figures behind the company's job reduction plan earlier Tuesday.
Meanwhile, the latest workforce reductions came as Boeing continues to face stiff competition from Airbus and other challenges because of broader economic trends. Apart from the layoffs, the company said in January that it would also cut the 747 production from one jet a month to one every two months.
The production reduction is reportedly due to a slower-than expected recovery of the air cargo market. Additionally, Boeing is also cutting back on 777 production.
