In an interview with Reuters, Microsoft Corp. President Brad Smith said that the United States is entering a "new epoch" in which fewer people are joining the labour and the demand to pay higher wages may become permanent.
Smith noted one source of today's "increased economic volatility" at Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, headquarters. He strolled over to a wall-sized touchscreen tablet in his office and opened up a series of charts depicting how population growth has slowed in the United States, Europe, China, and Japan.
The trend of around 5 million people increasing the working-age population in the United States every five years since 1950 has shifted, beginning with the period between 2016 and 2020, when growth slowed to 2 million, and is now slowing even more, according to Smith late last week, citing United Nations data. Major international markets have suffered outright labour force decreases.
"That helps explain part of why you can have low growth and a labor shortage at the height at the same time. There just aren't as many people entering the workforce," said Smith, who oversees the nearly $2 trillion company selling cloud-computing services to major businesses.
COVID-related government assistance during the epidemic 19 issues, childcare, and other things have also contributed to the current labour shortage.
Executives, including Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc, have recently expressed concern about the economy. Although Zuckerberg warned that the United States could face "one of the worst downturns in modern history," Smith suggested it would be premature to consider a recession certain. more info
Microsoft recently increased salary while slowing hiring in order to compete for limited personnel, according to corporate officials. The software company also cut a modest number of jobs associated with the start of its new fiscal year.
Smith believes Microsoft's strategy of providing productivity tools, cloud services, and artificial intelligence technology, which organisations may require during a slump, positions the company to weather economic problems.
According to U.S. Department of Labor data from June, firms continued to raise wages and recruit more workers than predicted. However, labour force participation fell for the second time in three months, to 62.2 per cent, indicating no sustained recovery since the start of 2022.
Population growth has become a heated topic in the IT industry, with Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk claiming that birth rates in the United States are too low to maintain the country.
According to Insider, Musk just fathered twins, making him the father of nine children. Smith stated that he agreed with Musk "perhaps in the problem I'm not suggesting the same solution."
(Source:www.reuters.com)
Smith noted one source of today's "increased economic volatility" at Microsoft's Redmond, Washington, headquarters. He strolled over to a wall-sized touchscreen tablet in his office and opened up a series of charts depicting how population growth has slowed in the United States, Europe, China, and Japan.
The trend of around 5 million people increasing the working-age population in the United States every five years since 1950 has shifted, beginning with the period between 2016 and 2020, when growth slowed to 2 million, and is now slowing even more, according to Smith late last week, citing United Nations data. Major international markets have suffered outright labour force decreases.
"That helps explain part of why you can have low growth and a labor shortage at the height at the same time. There just aren't as many people entering the workforce," said Smith, who oversees the nearly $2 trillion company selling cloud-computing services to major businesses.
COVID-related government assistance during the epidemic 19 issues, childcare, and other things have also contributed to the current labour shortage.
Executives, including Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Facebook parent Meta Platforms Inc, have recently expressed concern about the economy. Although Zuckerberg warned that the United States could face "one of the worst downturns in modern history," Smith suggested it would be premature to consider a recession certain. more info
Microsoft recently increased salary while slowing hiring in order to compete for limited personnel, according to corporate officials. The software company also cut a modest number of jobs associated with the start of its new fiscal year.
Smith believes Microsoft's strategy of providing productivity tools, cloud services, and artificial intelligence technology, which organisations may require during a slump, positions the company to weather economic problems.
According to U.S. Department of Labor data from June, firms continued to raise wages and recruit more workers than predicted. However, labour force participation fell for the second time in three months, to 62.2 per cent, indicating no sustained recovery since the start of 2022.
Population growth has become a heated topic in the IT industry, with Tesla Inc CEO Elon Musk claiming that birth rates in the United States are too low to maintain the country.
According to Insider, Musk just fathered twins, making him the father of nine children. Smith stated that he agreed with Musk "perhaps in the problem I'm not suggesting the same solution."
(Source:www.reuters.com)
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