A tech job at Microsoft meant stability. Not anymore.
Seattle Now
KUOW News and Information
2.4 • 613 Ratings
🗓️ 21 May 2025
⏱️ 12 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Almost 2000 of the 6000 jobs cut at Microsoft last week were Washington workers.
Tech hiring boomed during the pandemic, but those days are over.. recently there’s been a steady flow of layoffs in the industry.
But the most recent cuts may be happening for different reasons.
KUOW Labor and Economy reporter Monica Nickelsburg is here to help explain what’s driving the layoffs and talk about the employment outlook in the tech sector.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hi, I'm Monica Nicholsberg, co-host of KUOW's economy podcast, Booming. |
| 0:06.0 | Microsoft President Brad Smith's favorite catchphrase of the moment is, |
| 0:09.6 | AI is the electricity of our age. |
| 0:12.1 | The next great general purpose technology. |
| 0:15.0 | So what does that mean for all of us? |
| 0:16.9 | On the latest episode, I spoke with a tech historian to find out what lessons we can learn from the last time a truly revolutionary technology took over the world. |
| 0:25.5 | Listen to booming on the KUOW app or wherever you get your podcasts. |
| 0:32.6 | Hey, good morning. I'm Patricia Murphy. It's Wednesday. This is Seattle now. |
| 0:39.4 | Microsoft employees are facing a new level of uncertainty after last week's layoffs. The company is making some changes. In a minute, |
| 0:45.6 | KUOW's Monica Nicholsberg will tell us how tech workers are thinking about shifts in the economy |
| 0:50.8 | and the rise of AI. But first, let's get you caught up. |
| 0:58.4 | Riding aboard Washington State Ferries can be a challenge during the summer months. Reservations |
| 1:03.4 | require planning and ferry lines can be super long. The agency is preparing to expand service |
| 1:09.8 | this summer season. If you're interested in the update, |
| 1:13.2 | WSF will host two online community meetings to take public comments and answer questions. |
| 1:18.9 | There's one today at noon and another tomorrow at 6 p.m. |
| 1:23.4 | A new state law requires schools to coordinate with law enforcement on security plans and adopt |
| 1:28.3 | technology to help police during emergencies. |
| 1:31.5 | Governor Bob Ferguson signed the legislation this week. |
| 1:34.8 | Schools will have to upgrade security tech with either panic buttons or two-way radios for teachers, |
| 1:40.0 | remote-controlled doors at entrances, or cameras with live feeds on campus. |
| 1:45.1 | It's known as Alyssa's law, named after 14-year-old Alyssa Audev, who died in the 2018 school shooting in Parkland, Florida. |
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