At the same time, Boeing is laying off some employees who are already here. On Friday, it confirmed that 90 St. Louis workers would be laid off in December, part of 513 layoffs companywide.

All this news comes against a background of worry over the fate of thousands of local jobs linked to the F-15 and F/A-18 fighter programs. Those programs will wind down in three to five years unless Boeing can find more orders.

Downing notes that Boeing could have placed the new 777X jobs at other facilities around the country. The subsidies give Boeing “plenty of incentive to go after new products” and build them here, he said.

Others see no need for giveaways. Rep. Jay Barnes, R-Jefferson City, said the new jobs are great news for St. Louis, but he suspects they would have come anyway.

“Boeing knows they have a great workforce in St. Louis,” he says. “You can’t recreate that in South Carolina or Texas.”

Millions in state subsidies are just a “sweetener,” he says.

State officials argue that new jobs at Boeing support other jobs in the region as Boeing workers shop for groceries, get their cars repaired and otherwise spend their paychecks.