Document 48: Boeing Statistics
Eve Dumovich, The Boeing Logbook, 1916-1991 (Seattle: Boeing Historical Archives, 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 World War 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 |