Oklahoman – Boeing to hire hundreds in Oklahoma for engineering divisions
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November 02, 2010
BY SUSAN SIMPSON Oklahoman
Published: November 2, 2010
Several hundred of the 550 engineering jobs that Boeing plans to move from Long Beach, Calif., to Oklahoma City likely will be hired here, said Steve Hendrickson, the company’s director of government operations.
“We are working on our skill mix and making offers in California,” Hendrickson said at a Greater Oklahoma City Chamber luncheon Monday. “In the first quarter of next year, we will start to hire locally. It will be hundreds that we’ll be hiring here. That’s my personal guess.”
He said the jobs will pay an average $130,000 a year.
Boeing announced in August that it will relocate its C-130 Avionics Modernization and B-1 programs starting early next year. Officials said the move will help the company keep its services affordable and competitive.
“This is one of the most exciting relocation projects within the last decade,” said Chamber President David Thompson, president of OPUBCO Communications Group and publisher of The Oklahoman.
Boeing already has about 1,000 employees in Oklahoma. About 450 now are in the Oklahoma City offices where the engineers will be located.
Hendrickson said Boeing was attracted to state economic development incentives and recruitment efforts by city and state leaders. The lower cost of living also played into the decision.
When asked how California-based employees reacted to news of the move, Hendrickson said they were “reluctant, surprised and apprehensive.”
“John Steinbeck and John Grisham haven’t done us any favors,” he said. “You think of the double-wide trailer on the dusty cow patch.”
But chamber employees have done a good job educating the employees about the benefits of living in Oklahoma, including lower housing costs, easy commutes and quality of life, he said.
“There are some enthusiastic employees embracing it, but others, not so much,” he said.
The new jobs will qualify for the state’s Quality Jobs program, which rebates some payroll costs, and Oklahoma City’s strategic investment program, to help offset relocation costs.
But the Boeing deal hit a snag when Legislators placed a moratorium on another incentive — tax credits for new aerospace engineers.
Boeing officials were worried that the Quality Jobs program also could be in jeopardy because of the state budget crunch and took another look at other cities bidding for the engineering jobs.
“We had to regroup and reconsider,” Hendrickson said.
The company stuck with its decision to move the divisions to Oklahoma, said Hendrickson. He said he’s pushing for the tax credits to be reinstated.
Boeing is continually looking at ways to save money, including the option of moving more divisions to lower-cost cities like Oklahoma City, Hendrickson said.
“We are not done announcing,” he said.
“We have a lot more coming up.”
