Boeing Co. expects more layoffs than the 800 from its defense business in Wichita, Kansas, that were announced last week, two newspapers reported.

In a memo obtained by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and The Wall Street Journal, Rick Stephens, Boeing's senior vice president of human resources, said Thursday, November 20: "As evidenced by the announcement yesterday in Wichita, we do expect to see some employment decreases starting in early 2009. Where reductions occur, we will do everything we can to mitigate the impact on our team through natural attrition, release of outside contract hires and job transfers within Boeing."

The Chicago-based company, which employs about 450 at its headquarters, did not specify where the cutbacks would come. The cuts are part of broad cost-cutting measures that Boeing is taking in response to the global economic slowdown.

While overall headcount will be reduced, Boeing will continue to hire in some areas, a spokesman said.

Last week, the head of Boeing's aircraft business, Scott Carson, told investors that he expects that about 5 percent of the machinists who went on strike this year would not return to work for various reasons.

Boeing is also starting to see the impact of delays in major defense contracts such as the Air Force tanker that was supposed to be awarded this year but is being rebid.

Carson told investors that he expected new plane orders to slow in the coming year and that some aircraft orders will be canceled.

But he predicts that so far, it appears the company has enough of a backlog to make it through a recession without cutting back aircraft assembly lines for the first time in its history.

Filed by John Pletz of Crain’s Chicago Business, a sister publication of Workforce Management. To comment, e-mail editors@workforce.com.

Workforce Management’s online news feed is now available via Twitter.