The Boeing Company today announced that it would be reducing its workforce by 1100, with 900 of those jobs being eliminated in Long Beach. The reductions are due to a cut in production of the company’s C-17 aircraft.
I am very disappointed to hear the news from Boeing that they will be laying off 1100 employees, the majority of whom work in the company’s Long Beach facility. Just as we are starting to see a small bounce in employment, sales tax and property tax, it is discouraging to have one of the region’s premier companies lay-off more employees. For years, I have been lobbying in Washington to protect the C-17 program, which is critical to our national security and our ability to efficiently carry out important missions around the world, and I will continue that effort as well. Built right here in Long Beach, the construction of these planes provide good jobs for local workers. In these troubled economic times, the loss of any jobs is particularly painful.