Boeing Co. plans to cut about 4,500 jobs. It would be 6.6 percent of its commercial-aircraft workforce. The job losses will take place mainly in Washington state, Boeing’s manufacturing hub.
The company said in a statement that job cuts will focus on areas not directly associated with aircraft production.
Scott Carson, the head of Boeing Commercial Airplanes, said in the statement “We are taking prudent actions to make sure Boeing remains well positioned in today’s difficult economic environment.”
U.S. companies are cutting jobs amid a recession. Earlier today the Labor Department reported the U.S. lost 2.589 million jobs in 2008, more than in any year since 1945.
December’s unemployment rate climbed more than economists forecast, to 7.2 percent, the highest level in almost 16 years.
