Document 49
Boeing Employment Statistics from Eve Dumovich, The Boeing Logbook, 1916-1991 (1991)
with commentary written by Michael Reese
Note that the employment figures from 1975 and before are not directly comparable to the figures from 1976 and after. The pre-1975 figures reflect the peak level of Boeing employment during any given year, which could occur on any day of that year. The post-1976 figures represent the number of Boeing employees on January 1 of that year. There was not a significant decline in employment at Boeing between 1975 and 1976.
Also note that all of these figures are employment totals. Throughout this period, roughly two-thirds to three-quarters of these employees worked in Washington, while the remainder of them worked in Kansas, Oregon, and other locales.
| Year |
Peak employment during year |
Commentary |
1935 |
839 |
Boeing mired in Great Depression
|
1940 |
9,921 |
US begins preparing for W.W. II
|
1942 |
58,699 |
Full-scale wartime production begins
|
1944 |
75,169 |
|
1945 |
69,884 |
Employment drops after end of war to 8,917 in December
|
1946 |
12,896 |
|
1947 |
17,132 |
Truman begins moderate military build-up
|
1948 |
27,423 |
|
1949 |
33,958 |
|
1950 |
35,333 |
Korean War begins
|
1951 |
51,427 |
Boeing begins producing B-52 bombers
|
1952 |
57,029 |
|
1953 |
61,205 |
Korean War ends
|
1954 |
65,809 |
Boeing begins producing 707 commercial jetliners
|
1955 |
66,009 |
|
1956 |
81,634 |
|
1957 |
101,809 |
Soviets launch Sputnik; Boeing gets space and missile contracts
|
1958 |
99,236 |
|
1959 |
96,393 |
|
1960 |
84,432 |
|
1961 |
97,599 |
|
1962 |
106,483 |
|
1963 |
101,434 |
|
1964 |
91,204 |
|
1965 |
103,762 |
Vietnam War begins
|
1966 |
136,918 |
Boeing opens new plant in Everett to build 747s
|
1967 |
148,493 |
|
1968 |
148,672 |
|
1969 |
134,322 |
US begins withdrawal from Vietnam
|
1970 |
107,962 |
|
1971 |
62,400 |
Congress cancels supersonic jet program due to environmental and cost concerns
|
1972 |
64,020 |
Seattle residents put up billboard along I-5 asking,
"Will the last person leaving Seattle please turn out the lights?"
because Boeing's layoffs caused Seattle's population to decline.
|
1973 |
71,222 |
US and USSR sign arms control treaties and institute détente
|
1974 |
77,837 |
|
1975 |
77,780 |
|
Year |
Employment on January 1 |
Commentary |
1976 |
62,605 |
|
1977 |
68,634 |
Boeing begins producing 757s and 767s
|
1978 |
85,954 |
|
1979 |
102,042 |
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan ends era of détente
|
1980 |
109,098 |
|
1981 |
101,283 |
|
1982 |
90,104 |
|
1983 |
81,623 |
|
1984 |
93,047 |
|
1985 |
104,097 |
|
1986 |
115,100 |
Strong worldwide market for commercial jets
|
1987 |
125,980 |
Boeing receives large contracts from NASA
|
1988 |
134,452 |
|
1989 |
145,365 |
Boeing begins building 777 prototypes
|
1990 |
142,282 |
|
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