JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. (AP) — Boeing announced Thursday thatit is shifting hundreds of jobs to
Alabama, Missouri and South Carolinaas part of a restructuring of its U.S. research operations over
thenext two years.The Chicago-based aerospace company said thereorganization will result in fewer
research jobs in Washington stateand California and is being undertaken to better meet the needs of
itscommercial airplane, military and space and security units.Theannouncement comes as those same
states, and several others, arecompeting to assemble Boeing’s 777X passenger plane — amuch-sought-after
facility that could generate thousands of jobs.Boeingspokesman Daryl Stephenson said the restructuring
of the company’sresearch operations has been in the works for several years and isunrelated to the new
airplane or Boeing’s contract negotiations with aSeattle area machinists union.The research
restructuring will add300-400 employees each in the St. Louis area, Huntsville, Ala., andNorth
Charleston, S.C. Research jobs will decline by 800-1,200 in theSeattle area and by 200-300 in southern
California, the company said.The restructuring is to start early next year and be complete by
2015.Afterthe changes, Boeing will still have about 4,000 employees in itsresearch and technology
operations, but they will no longer beconcentrated predominantly on the West Coast. The Seattle and St.
Louissites will have the most employees, and each site will have specificresearch tasks.The Alabama site
is to focus on simulation anddecision analytics and metals and chemical technology. The
southernCalifornia location is to focus on flight sciences, electronics andnetworked systems.The St.
Louis site is to conduct research on systemstechnology, digital aviation and support technology, and
metallic andfabrication development.The South Carolina location is to focuson manufacturing technology,
and the Seattle site is to focus on theintegration of manufacturing technology.Boeing plans to announce
adecision by early next year on where it will assemble the 777Xairplane.States are offering billions of
dollars of tax breaks,property and customized employee training as part of the competition toland the
assembly plant.Unlike for the 777X, Stephenson saidBoeing did not seek out incentives from states for
the research jobs.But some states are nonetheless offering incentives to Boeing. InMissouri, for
example, Boeing could receive up to $16.8 million ofincentives over six years, depending on the number
of jobs created andtheir salaries.Earlier this year, Boeing announced that it also was restructuring its
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