It looks like Microsoft’s latest job cuts won’t hit its home state quite as hard.
The Redmond, Wash.-based tech giant is laying off 830 workers in Washington state as part of the approximately 9,000 global job reductions that the company made Wednesday, according to a filing with the state Employment Security Department.
That amounts to about 9% of the global job cuts in its latest round.
By comparison, Microsoft laid off 1,985 workers in the state in mid-May — representing about a third of the 6,000-person reduction in its global workforce at the time. In the meantime, in early June, the company laid off an additional 305 people in Redmond.
All told, that means the company has now cut more than 3,100 jobs in Washington state in less than two months.
Microsoft employed around 54,000 people in the Seattle region before the latest reductions, part of a worldwide workforce that numbered about 228,000 people as of June 2024.
Globally, the approximately 9,000 layoffs in the latest round represent about 4% of Microsoft’s workforce.
Microsoft has not directly linked the layoffs to its AI strategy. However, earlier reports indicated that software engineers were hit hardest in the May layoffs — coinciding with the company’s growing investment in AI tools designed to automate coding and streamline development.
A company spokesperson said Microsoft is continuing to implement “organizational changes necessary to best position the company and teams for success in a dynamic marketplace.”
Impacted employees were notified about the latest layoffs Wednesday morning. Divisions impacted included sales and gaming, as rumored in advance, but the layoffs hit teams and groups across the company.
Source: Geek Wire
