The information included employees' Social Security numbers, home addresses, telephone numbers and birth dates, as well as salary information, Neale said. Although the laptop was turned off and was password protected, Neale said the data on it was not encrypted.

Neale said Boeing is working with law enforcement officials to try and recover the laptop and noted that the company began notifying the affected people on Tuesday. Boeing is strongly suggesting that they sign up for a credit monitoring service, which the company will pay for, he said.

Neale declined to provide details about the ramifications of the theft for employee involved in this incident. But he did say that the worker had violated a number of company policies.

The laptop was the third stolen from Boeing in approximately a year, Neale confirmed. In November 2005, a Boeing laptop containing personal data on approximately 160,000 current and former employees was taken. And in April, a laptop containing the personal information on 3,600 employees and retirees was stolen.

Although none of the laptops has yet been recovered, Neale said there's been no indication that any information on them has been compromised.