Microsoft President Sees ‘New Era’ of Stagnating Labor Pool

Microsoft President Sees ‘New Era’ of Stagnating Labor Pool
Microsoft President Brad Smith speaks during a Reuters Newsmaker event in New York on Sept. 13, 2019. Gary He/Reuters
Reuters
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REDMOND, Wash.—U.S. companies are facing a “new era” in which fewer people are entering the workforce and pressure to pay higher salaries may become permanent, Microsoft Corp’s President Brad Smith told Reuters in an interview.

At the software maker’s Redmond, Washington, headquarters, Smith highlighted one source of what he called today’s “greater economic turbulence.” In his office, he walked over to a wall-sized touchscreen device and pulled up a series of charts, showing how population growth has tumbled in the United States, Europe, China, and Japan.