Newport News Shipbuilding lays off 167 workers

Newport News Shipbuilding laid off 167 employees on Wednesday that had been previously furloughed this year, a company spokesperson confirmed.

Spokesperson Todd Corillo said in an email the decision came “after careful review of our salaried workforce and business needs.”

“This decision was not made lightly given its impact on affected team members,” he said. “We take this step, however, to increase accountability and efficiency, and to improve overall performance in meeting our current and future commitments to the U.S. Navy.”

The layoffs mark the latest step in a workforce realignment that began in May, when the company announced plans to furlough 471 salaried shipbuilders for up to five months starting June 2. The company previously said during that timeframe, it would continuously evaluate business needs and its salaried workforce to determine whether continued furlough is warranted. Furloughs place an employee in a temporary non-work, non-pay status, but that it does not terminate the employee.

The company previously said that it is furloughing employees because “shipbuilding is in a period of transition, and Newport News Shipbuilding is aligning its workforce to meet the challenges it faces to improve its performance. Accordingly, existing work is being reallocated.”

Decisions on who was furloughed were based on “several factors, including an analysis of current and future work, as well as performance.”

Corillo confirmed Friday that about a third of the previously furloughed employees had been laid off. Other furloughed shipbuilders returned to NNS during the furlough period, while 99 left the company voluntarily, either through resignations or retirements.

He did not elaborate whether the layoffs were due to economic challenges or jobs being made redundant by AI or automation. But he said the decision involved “careful consideration and analysis.”

“While this is a very difficult decision, it is critical and a necessary step as we look at our productivity, performance and requirement to improve efficiencies to secure the future of our shipyard and the affordability of the ships we build and overhaul for the U.S. Navy,” he said.

A subsidiary of Fortune 500 contractor Huntington Ingalls Industries, NNS is the state’s largest industrial employer, employing about 26,000 people, and in 2024, the division hired about 3,000 more workers, part of an overall goal of hiring 16,000 more in the next decade to fulfill Navy shipbuilding needs.