Boeing Co has accepted 1,880 voluntary layoffs from its union machinists and engineers in the Seattle area, the unions said on Thursday, part of the jet maker's drive to cut costs through job reductions and other measures.

Boeing's machinists union, the touch labor that builds airplanes near Seattle, said about 1,575 workers had taken voluntary layoffs by the deadline in February.

Boeing's white-collar union said Boeing accepted 305 members for voluntary layoffs in January. Last year, Boeing cut about 1,200 white-collar union jobs - 850 through voluntary layoffs and 350 through involuntary reductions, said Bill Dugovich, spokesman for the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.

"Boeing has told us to expect about the same number of total layoffs in 2017 as 2016," he said.

The job reductions had been announced last year and workers had until Feb. 1 to apply.

"These are all voluntary, where people planned to retire or had other plans," said Connie Kelliher, a spokeswoman for the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers District 751.