SEATTLE, April 16 (Reuters) – Boeing is hiring about 100 to 140 factory workers a week, the highest pace since 2024, as the U.S. jet maker replaces retirees and adds staff to support higher production rates and new models, a union leader said.
Unionized workers at Boeing’s Pacific Northwest factory now number more than 34,000 and that number is “increasing further,” Jon Holden told Reuters in his first interview as vice president specializing in training and learning at the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM).
“We are seeing strong interest as we hire in Puget Sound and across the company to support our production rate increases,” a Boeing spokesperson said in an email to Reuters.
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The IAM represented about 33,000 Boeing workers in the region in 2024, when Holden led the local union during a seven-week strike over a new contract.
Boeing needs staff for a fourth production line in the Seattle area, known as the North Line, for the plane maker’s best-selling 737 MAX single-aisle jet. It also needs to support production of the 777X widebody jet, which is still awaiting certification, as well as replace retiring workers.
“So it’s not just about those who work on the Northern Line,” said Holden, who started this month as the union’s vice president of training and learning. ‘It will be, you know, those who need to bring in parts, logistics and storage. It will be the tooling, it will be the transportation.’
In Washington State, aerospace manufacturing jobs fell to about 79,000 last August but have since steadily increased to 81,800 in February, according to the state Employment Security Department.
Aerospace companies are hiring to meet airline demand for more fuel-efficient jets, a space boom and rising defense spending due to geopolitical tensions around the world and ongoing wars in the Middle East and Ukraine.
Karen Arlak, chief human resources officer at Honeywell Aerospace, said the company expects to add more than 1,200 positions this year in areas such as engineering and manufacturing due to growth in the commercial aftermarket, defense and space sectors.
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The aerospace sector has been facing a shortage of skilled workers since the Covid-19 pandemic ended and operations began to grow again.
Boeing’s current demand for factory workers still falls short of the company’s aggressive hiring in 2023 and 2024, when it needed to add workers after the pandemic.
“I think this is more of a sustained ramp, which I feel good about, as long as the economy continues to move forward, as long as the airlines continue to maintain their orders,” Holden said.
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