Like most urban hipsters, you probably know more people who work at Microsoft, Amazon, or even Sub Pop than at Boeing. But the ex-Lazy B is a bigger engine of local jobs than those and untold other glammier companies. And it’s been a backstop when other sectors hit the wall: During the 2000 dot-gone bust, when it turned out Infospace wasn’t "the next Microsoft" after all, Boeing was the best performer in the Dow Jones Industrials.

Still, when Boeing has a bust, it’s a doozy: 30,000 laid off after 9/11 grounded air travel worldwide, more than 80,000 in the local depression of 1969-71. Which way this time? Boeing is sitting on a record backlog of orders, for more than 3,700 planes. It’s tried to escape its traditional roller-coaster cycle of hiring and layoffs by ramping up slowly and rolling those orders forward; in January it announced 4,500 non-production workers will go, but it hasn’t touched the factory line. Yet.

The big question: How many of those orders will hold, with airlines everywhere except the Middle East hurting and cutting back? Many can’t use the planes they already have. The Financial Times reports that 11 percent of the world’s 20,293 jetliners are mothballed "white tails" gathering dust on desert boneyards in California and Arizona. Some airlines are trying to unload, not just park, their planes. Air New Zealand offers a 747-400 (list price around $240 million) for $5 million.

For Boeing, that’s like Barney’s trying to compete with Goodwill—with the same merchandise. The company’s best hope may be that oil prices head back up, prompting airlines to dump their old guzzlers and spring for fuel-efficient Dreamliners. If they have anything left to spring with.