Boeing to move jobs from Puget Sound to California

Boeing will add 1,000 more engineering jobs, but they won’t be located in Washington.

In a move to centralize customer support, Boeing is transitioning commercial product support from Washington to California.

The Southern California Engineering Design Center currently employs about 1,800 people at the company’s Long Beach and Seal Beach sites.

Boeing says this change means employment at the California locations is expected to increase by approximately 1,000 positions during the next two years.

According to Boeing, some affected employees in Washington will be offered positions with other programs in the Puget Sound.

After hearing news of the announcement, executive director of SPEEA Ray Goforth released a statement:

SPEEA specifically warned Governor Inslee that his legislation was crafted with loopholes that would allow Boeing to take the $9 billion and outsource jobs anyway. Why doesn’t the governor call a special
session to close the loopholes and save these jobs?

Goforth told KIRO Radio this is a big blow to morale and the company’s reputation.

“If you move somebody’s job an inconvenient distance away, you know that a lot of those people, even if they’re offered the opportunity, won’t be able to pick up and move away,” said Goforth.

Boeing spokesman Doug Alder told KIRO Radio that employees whose jobs are being moved are encouraged to apply to keep them.