H1-B Visas and layoffs

When announcing its layoffs this year, the Redmond, Wash.-based company insisted that it was flattening its management layers, as opposed to targeting software engineers and developers at lower levels. However, the Seattle Times reported that only around 17 percent of those laid off at the Redmond campus were designated as managers. Microsoft’s cuts also come after one of its best quarters ever, with the company announcing $26 billion in profit from January through March. Its stock is up nearly 20 percent year-to-date, at a time when tech companies across the board are looking to replace certain jobs, particularly in coding and engineering, with AI. With H-1B workers are typically seen as cheaper than Americans to employ, outrage has been spreading across social media from those who oppose the visa. There is no confirmed link between Microsoft’s layoffs and its H-1B applications.

Been fascinating to watch this spill onto the national news with the recent EO signed by president. But I think this article misses one point. It’s probably more likely that in a huge company certain LOB are winding down whereas others are ramping up.

The era of a paternalistic corporation education and training employees is replaced by layoff and hire. not only has the market rewarded this behavior, but just look at above. MSFT is a hugely profitable billion dollar enterprise. But it must be more.

_{Quote Citation: Dan Gooding, “Microsoft’s H-1B Visa Applications Questioned Amid Mass Layoffs - Newsweek”, JUL 03, 2025 AT 03:27 PM EDT, https://www.newsweek.com/microsoft-layoffs-h1b-visa-applications-2094370}