Microsoft recently increased salary while slowing recruiting in order to compete for limited personnel, according to corporate executives. The software company also cut a modest number of employees associated with the start of its new fiscal year. Smith believes Microsoft's strategy of providing productivity tools, cloud services, and artificial intelligence technologies, which organizations may require during a slump, positions the company to weather economic problems. According to U.S. Department of Labour data from June, firms continued to boost pay and recruit more workers than predicted. However, labour force participation fell for the second time in three months, to 62.2 percent, indicating no sustained recovery since the start of 2022.

Movement of Microsoft stocks in the last five years. (Source: Trading Economics)

Sources:

https://tradingeconomics.com/msft:us

https://www.iqstock.news/n/microsoft-president-sees-era-stagnating-labour-pool-4223930/

https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-president-sees-new-era-stagnating-labor-pool-2022-07-18/

https://www.investing.com/news/stock-market-news/microsoft-president-sees-new-era-of-stagnating-labor-pool-2848345

https://money.usnews.com/investing/news/articles/2022-07-18/microsoft-president-sees-new-era-of-stagnating-labor-pool#:~:text=The%20trend%20of%20around%205,week%2C%20citing%20United%20Nations%20data.