On Tuesday, defense and aviation giant Boeing announced that they will eliminate 4000 jobs in their commercial airplanes division over the next two months.
The company reported that they will reduce 1600 positions through what they call "voluntary layoffs," while the remaining cuts are projected to occur by leaving open positions unfilled.
Doug Alder, a company spokesperson, said: "while there is no employment reduction target, the more we can control costs as a whole the less impact there will be to employment."
Unlike most corporate downsizing efforts, frequently targeting only the lowest-paid employees, Boeing says that the announced cuts will include “hundreds of executives and managers.” But, unlike rank and file employee layoffs, the company has said it will pay executives a bonus to retire early.
This announcement follows a February statement from Boeing, in which Ray Conner, chief executive of Boeing’s commercial aviation division, warned employees that job cuts were coming, saying they were necessary to "win in the market, fund our growth and operate as a healthy business."
