Big Boeing tax breaks delivered few jobs

SEATTLE, Dec. 17 (UPI) -- Huge tax breaks Washington state gave Boeing Co. to have the 787 Dreamliner aircraft built there created fewer jobs than promised, a published report said.

But the tax breaks also were less than originally touted, The Seattle Times said.

The incentives were projected in 2003 to slash the state aerospace industry's taxes by $3.2 billion over two decades.

But based on amounts claimed so far, the figure could be $500 million to $900 million smaller, the newspaper said.

In 2003, state officials forecast the 787 would add 3,600 supplier jobs. But four years later, new suppliers in Washington employ about 200 people, with half of them in unskilled positions.

"We have failed miserably at attracting new engineering companies," said John Monroe, a former Boeing executive now consulting for the state and a local county on aerospace economic development.

"We missed out on the big stuff."

No data are available on how many 787 jobs existing state subcontractors have added.

Boeing itself has added more than 14,000 commercial and defense operations jobs since the tax cut took effect in July 2005.

But the jobs are not much more than a quarter of those Boeing lost in the last six-year downturn.