Boeing CEO: Plant in China won't affect US jobs

Boeing will complete the manufacturing of some of its aircraft in China and in other overseas markets, but doesn't see it affecting US jobs at the world's largest aerospace company, said Boeing's CEO.

Dennis Muilenburg said in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal that was published on Friday that overseas facilities such as the new plant it's building with a Chinese partner near Shanghai aren't directly harming US jobs. He said it's an essential part of doing business in a China market that is expected to generate sales of 6,800 jets over the next 20 years.

The Chinese plant will paint jetliners for the Chinese market and equip them with seats and other interior fittings, according to the newspaper. Boeing is building the plant in partnership with state-owned Comac, which is producing the C919 jetliner, a competitor to Boeing's best-selling 737.

"We know as we're investing there we're also creating a competitor," he told the Journal.

The newspaper noted that Muilenburg and other manufacturing CEOs are under pressure from the Trump administration to increase US employment in return for tax and regulatory changes.

Chicago-based Boeing has been decreasing its US workforce to revamp factories to use more automation and new technologies, which it says can lower the cost of producing jet and defense systems, the Journal said. Boeing's number of employees declined to around 145,000 at the end of May, down 30,000 from 2012, though it hired 11,000 new workers last year, the newspaper said.

CHINA DAILY