Thread: Microsoft: lavyoffs for some, visas for others

Microsoft: Layoffs for Some, Visas for Others
The software giant that has pushed for more H-1B visas faces tough questions as it lays off 5,000

By Moira Herbst
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Even as the economy hemorrhages jobs, many employers continue to advocate for fewer restrictions on importing foreign workers to fill specialized jobs. They say that while there's growing slack in the job market, there are still shortages of people to act as farm hands, nurses, and software engineers.

Not surprisingly, foreign-worker programs are coming under fire in the face of the highest U.S. unemployment rate in 16 years—7.2% in December. One of the critics' biggest targets is the software giant Microsoft (MSFT).

A longtime advocate for more skilled immigration, Microsoft continues to ask Congress to lift caps on the H-1B visa program for highly skilled workers and offer more green cards to foreign-born talent. As recently as Jan. 5, the company posted a policy proposal on President Obama's transition Web site requesting that the government "remove caps that bar entry into the U.S. by high-skilled immigrants." Several weeks later, on a Jan. 22 earnings conference call, the company announced plans to eliminate 5,000 jobs in research and development, information technology, marketing, sales, finance, legal, and human resources over the next 18 months, as well as thousands of contract jobs.
Tech Layoffs Up 74% in 2008

"We're certainly in the midst of a once-in-a-lifetime set of economic conditions," said Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer during the call, after the company announced weaker-than-expected quarterly earnings. "The economy is resetting to a lower level of business and consumer spending."

Of course, Microsoft isn't the only tech company cutting jobs. With demand for new technology declining sharply, the pace of job-cutting by firms in the sector rose 167% in the second half of 2008, according to Challenger, Gray & Christmas, a Chicago outsourcing firm. Employers in telecommunications, computers, and electronics announced 186,955 job cuts in 2008, 74% more than during the previous year.

So far, 2009 has already seen tens of thousands of cuts at tech companies including Texas Instruments (TI), IBM (IBM), Motorola (MOT), and AOL (TWX).
Gates Pushed Higher H-1B Caps

The deadline for companies to request petitions for new H-1B visas is Apr. 1. In recent years, the demand for those visas has far exceeded the government-capped supply. It's unclear how the recession will affect demand this year.

The H-1B program was started in 1990 to give employers a short-term fix for what they claimed was a shortage of highly skilled workers. In 2007 and again in 2008, Microsoft co-founder and then-Chairman Bill Gates argued in Congressional testimony that there was a severe shortage of U.S. science and engineering talent. He urged Congress to raise the cap on H-1B visas for highly skilled workers.
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