Hewlett Packard Trims Boise Payroll

Most of the 1,100 jobs Hewlett Packard Co. created at its Boise electronics plant in 1993 and 1994 are disappearing.

After a two-year period that invigorated and sustained Boise’s economic boom, HP executives have cut almost as many positions over the past year.

And the bloodletting is not over. The company is erasing hundreds of manufacturing jobs in Boise and moving them elsewhere. Many are going overseas where wages and benefits are cheaper.

“HP will be in transition for several years,” spokesman Mark Falconer said Tuesday.

“There hasn’t been a fluctuation of this size before,” he said. “And given the nature of the business, it’s impossible to speculate” about the future.

Employment in Boise shot from 4,400 to 5,500 in 1993 and 1994, fueled by growth in the company’s laser printer and disk drive businesses. But it started to lag by mid-1994 to streamline operations and cut costs.