Earlier this month, Microsoft confirmed it would reduce its staff by 4%, laying off around 9,000 people from its total workforce. This is the company’s second round of massive layoffs this year. Back in May, 7,000 more people lost their jobs at Microsoft. To add insult to injury, the company boasted $500 million in savings just days after the layoffs.
What’s telling is that the tech giant doesn’t seem to be struggling financially. In April, they reported their profits had increased by 18% to $25.8 billion in just the first three months of the year. At the same time, Microsoft has committed to investing $80 billion in artificial intelligence (AI). The company is also planning to build two massive data centers in San Jose, CA. So it’s definitely not hurting for money but workers still have to hurt for jobs?
It’s clear these layoffs are just about making rich executives even richer. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella stated as much as 30% of the company’s code is being generated by AI, leading some to suggest AI is costing workers these jobs. But this is only an issue when this, or any technology, is controlled by greedy wealthy elites looking to cut even more corners to maximize their profits. Workers across all industries do all the work to make companies profitable. Still, whenever they want to make even more money we’re the ones paying the price by losing our jobs. No industry guarantees a stable future for working people under this unjust system.
