Now hiring: Younger factory workers, at Boeing and elsewhere
EVERETT — Erik Bannister spends his workdays fastening together pieces of 777 midsections.
The 21-year-old’s identical twin brother, Aaron, works on the deck below him, in and around the fuselage, doing similar work at the Boeing Co. plant.
“I grew up wanting to build airplanes since I was young,” Erik Bannister said Monday.
The Bannisters are the kind of people Boeing is looking to hire: younger workers to replace its aging and changing workforce. If it could, the company would stamp out thousands more, just like the homegrown duo. At least in the long term.
While the company’s overall workforce in Washington contracted by nearly 10 percent during the past year, it’s hiring for other jobs, especially in assembly roles. Many of positions lost through involuntary layoffs were engineers and drafters. Most Machinists who have left recently took voluntary departures, as part of a strategy to manage a bulge of older employees.
The company hosted five job fairs this fall. There are likely hundreds of slots to fill next year, and thousands in the coming years. Reasons for the openings include assembly ramping up for the new 777X jet. It also owes to a graying workforce.
“If you look at the development of our workforce, we’re going to have one-half of the people eligible to retire in five years,” said Ray Conner, the company’s vice chairman.
That’s right: of roughly 27,000 Boeing Machinists in Washington, half could bow out in that time. And the company will need to replace them.
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