Boeing to cut approximately 17,000 jobs over the coming months
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(NEW YORK) — Boeing will reduce the size of its total workforce by 10% over the coming months, CEO Kelly Ortberg said in a letter to employees on Friday.
That amounts to around 17,000 jobs, based on the company’s December 2023 total workforce numbers.
Ortberg said due to the workforce reductions, Boeing would not proceed with the next cycle of furloughs.
Ortberg also said the 777X program would be delayed until 2026, the 767 freighter program would end in 2027 and the company expects “substantial new losses” in Boeing Defense, Space & Security this quarter.
“Our business is in a difficult position, and it is hard to overstate the challenges we face together,” said Ortberg. “Beyond navigating our current environment, restoring our company requires tough decisions and we will have to make structural changes to ensure we can stay competitive and deliver for our customers over the long term.”
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(NEW YORK) — If you are nearing retirement, you will soon be able to stash even more money into your nest egg — if you can afford it.
The Internal Revenue Service announced that the maximum amount individuals can contribute to their 401(k) or similar plans in 2025 will increase to $23,500, up from $23,000 for 2024.
The federal government already lets those 50 and older make extra contributions so that they can save more as they near retirement age. This is known as a “catch-up” contribution.
In 2025, the standard catch-up contribution will stay the same, with a max of $7,500, according to the IRS.
But starting next year, workers ages 60 to 63 will be able to make “super” catch-up contributions, up to $11,250 annually, which is an additional $3,750.
That means they can potentially contribute up to $34,750 in total, each year, to a workplace retirement account.
The substantially higher catch-up contributions are part of SECURE 2.0, which President Joe Biden signed into law in 2022 as part of a $1.7 trillion omnibus spending package.
“While anything that encourages more investing is generally a good thing, I’m afraid this rule change probably won’t make a big impact, ” Bankrate’s Senior Industry Analyst Ted Rossman, told ABC News. “There has to be a very small population between the ages of 60 and 63 who were maxing out their accounts and can now go higher.”
In 2023, just 14% of retirement plan participants maxed out their 401(k) limits, according to Vanguard Research.
Even those who have always maxed out their retirement savings contributions may need to reallocate funds as they age and start to face extra expenses, like sending children to college or caring for aging parents.
Aside from 401(k) plans and similar employee-sponsored plans, the limit on annual Individual Retirement Account contributions is unchanged next year, at $7,000, while the catch-up contribution for people 50 and older will remain $1,000.
Those limits apply to both traditional IRAs, which may offer a tax deduction depending on income, and to Roth IRAs, which don’t come with a tax deduction but do offer tax-free growth and withdrawals in retirement.
An aging population, coupled with fewer companies offering pensions, means that a smaller portion of the population overall is prepared for retirement.
The typical household headed by someone ages 55 to 64 has just $10,000 saved in a retirement account, according to an analysis of federal data by the Economic Policy Institute and the Schwartz Center for Economic Policy Analysis.
“Not to discourage investing at any age, but there’s a reason why Einstein said compound interest is the eighth wonder of the world,” Rossman said. “Investing is more powerful when you’re young.”
Still, catch-up contributions can be a valuable way to grow your retirement fund and enjoy the tax benefits.
Rossman said it’s also important to contribute regularly to your 401(k) and gradually increase your contributions. He suggested putting reminders in your calendar to increase your 401(k) contribution every year.
“The idea is that you’re less likely to miss the extra money if you do it gradually or if you do it in tandem with a pay raise,” Rossman said.
For instance, he said, if you’re currently contributing 5% of your salary, could you bump that up to 6% or 7% next year?
“Gradually dialing up your percentage makes it more likely that you’ll stick with the approach,” Rossman added, “and you won’t diminish your standard of living.”
(WASHINGTON) — A federal appeals court on Friday rejected TikTok’s bid to overturn a law banning the platform unless the company finds a new owner. The defeat moves the app closer to a U.S. ban, which is set to take effect on Jan. 19, 2025.
TikTok had challenged the law on First Amendment grounds, arguing that a potential ban would deny American users access to a popular venue for public expression. Attorneys for the company also disputed claims that the app poses a national security risk.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit ruled against the app, which boasts more than 170 million U.S. users.
The China-based app has faced growing scrutiny from government officials over fears that user data could fall into the possession of the Chinese government and the app could be weaponized by China to spread misinformation. TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, has denied those claims.
In its ruling, the court found merit in security concerns about potential data collection or content manipulation undertaken by the Chinese government, referring to it by its formal name as the People’s Republic of China, or PRC.
Each of those two concerns “constitutes an independently compelling national security interest,” the court opinion said. The court cited previous instances in which the Chinese government pursued data, noting the government’s use of relationships with Chinese-owned businesses.
In a statement to ABC News on Friday, TikTok urged the Supreme Court to overrule the decision.
“The Supreme Court has an established historical record of protecting Americans’ right to free speech, and we expect they will do just that on this important constitutional issue. Unfortunately, the TikTok ban was conceived and pushed through based upon inaccurate, flawed and hypothetical information, resulting in outright censorship of the American people,” TikTok said.
“The TikTok ban, unless stopped, will silence the voices of over 170 million Americans here in the US and around the world on January 19th, 2025,” the company added.
There is little evidence that TikTok has shared U.S. user data with the Chinese government or that the Chinese government has asked the app to do so, cybersecurity experts previously told ABC News.
President-elect Donald Trump has voiced opposition to a potential ban of TikTok. The president is expected to try to stop the ban of TikTok after he takes office, The Washington Post reported last month, citing people familiar with his views on the matter.
The most straightforward way to reverse the policy would be a repeal of the law that enacted the ban in the first place, experts previously told ABC News.
A repeal would require passage in both houses of Congress, landing the measure on Trump’s desk for his signature.
Trump may encounter difficulty gaining support for repeal of the measure among lawmakers, however.
Congress voted in favor of the ban earlier this year. In the House of Representatives, the ban passed by an overwhelming margin of 352-65. In the Senate, 79 members voted in favor of the measure, while 18 opposed and 3 abstained.
(TAMPA, Fla.) — Hurricane Milton left widespread gasoline shortages across Florida after it made landfall on Wednesday night and cut across the state. The damage exacerbated fuel outages that began before the storm arrived, as millions fled from its path.
Nearly a quarter of the roughly 7,900 gas stations in the state have run dry, petroleum data firm GasBuddy reported Thursday. Oil Price Information Service, or OPIS, another company that tracks the sector, found as much as half of the state’s gas stations lack fuel, Denton Cinquegrana, chief oil analyst at OPIS, told ABC News.
Across Tampa Bay and St. Petersburg, almost two thirds of gas stations are without fuel, according to GasBuddy.
Experts said they expect the gas shortages to persist for days, hamstringing businesses and everyday people as Florida begins to recover from Hurricane Milton.
The delayed return of gasoline in the region owes to disruption at Port Tampa Bay, which says it handles more than 43% of the state’s petroleum imports. Far-reaching power outages will also impede gas service, since gas stations depend on power to pump fuel from storage tanks and deliver it into vehicles, experts said.
“This kind of situation isn’t solved overnight,” Jon Davis, chief meteorologist at Everstream Analytics, told ABC News. “It’s going to take many days to work itself out and get the situation back to normal.”
Port Tampa Bay, which remains closed, appears to have averted serious damage from the storm, the port said in a statement on Thursday morning. However, the port also noted that it continues to face road closures and flood concerns in the surrounding area.
“Some damage was observed to buildings but there has been no significant damage to docks, so far,” said the statement. “We are working with our fuel terminal operators to assess their facilities and learn when they will be able to return to service.”
Port Tampa Bay did not respond to an ABC News request for comment about the extent of damage from the storm.
While the port escaped a disaster that could have hampered fuel supplies in the state for weeks, the ongoing disruption still poses significant challenges for gas delivery in the short term, Jason Miller, a professor of supply-chain management at Michigan State University, told ABC News.
“It does seem we’ve avoided a worst-case scenario,” Miller said.
Depending on the extent of damage at the port, gas stations may come to rely on truck deliveries for the transport of fuel, Miller said. In that case, it would take some time to build up the capacity necessary to overcome the state’s gas outages, he added.
“It’s not a solution that you could implement tomorrow,” Miller said.
The potential return of port operations or the supplemental fuel from trucks would both rely on the state’s roads, some of which were damaged by the storm, experts noted. Such infrastructure may require repairs before gasoline carriers can safely deliver fuel to stations.
“The road issue can get taken care of in the next day or two,” Davis said.
Even if Port Tampa Bay comes back online and trucks join in to aid the recovery, a significant additional problem must first be addressed: power shortages. Gas stations require power to pump fuel from storage tanks into customers’ vehicles, and more than 3.4 million customers are currently without power in Florida, according to the tracking site poweroutage.us.
Port Tampa Bay said on Thursday that it remains without power, which it needs to operate oil terminals that make up a critical step in the supply chain.
More than 50,000 linemen have been pre-staged across Florida to restore power, Gov. Ron DeSantis said Thursday.
“In a perfect world, power comes back quickly,” OPIS’ Cinquegrana said. “I think by early next week we might still see some stations out but for the most part you’ll get pretty close to normal.”
