Jobs & Growth
In many countries, unemployment remains stubbornly high and people lack the skills to fill open jobs. The technology industry can help create jobs in all sectors and rebuild economies.
On this page:
Overview, Challenges, and Opportunities
Our approach to jobs & growth
What We’re Doing
Our progress in FY2011
What’s Next
Our priorities for the year ahead
Spotlight on Isabel Garcia
Meet Isabel Garcia. Isabel took part in Elevate America, learning technology...
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Jobs and Economic Growth
Technology is a driver of economic growth. For example, small and medium-sized businesses that heavily use the cloud grow and export twice as much as those that don’t.1
Microsoft and our partners have the responsibility and opportunity to help maximize the economic growth that technology can generate. It’s good for our business and good for our communities to support small businesses, provide job skills training, and create new technologies that will give rise to new industries.
Challenges
- The global economy is still suffering from the recession and many people are still out of work.
- Workers don’t have the technology skills that they need to find and keep employment in the modern economy.
- Entrepreneurs and small businesses often can’t access or afford the technology that can help their companies grow.
Opportunities
- Creating new jobs through technology innovation
- Teaching people technology skills to help them get new and better jobs
- Capitalizing on the growth of cloud computing to create economic growth and opportunities for builders and users of technology
- Providing entrepreneurs and small businesses with access to technology to help them build capacity and drive growth in local economies
Viewpoint
Luis Alberto Moreno, President, Inter-American Development Bank
In Latin America and the Caribbean, technology is playing a crucial role in fostering development through innovation and capacity building. The IDB is partnering with Microsoft to develop projects that facilitate ICT access for citizens and institutions across the region.
What We're Doing
Stimulating economic growth
- Creating jobs and businesses: The technology sector is an engine of economic growth. Worldwide, jobs in the technology sector increased to more than 38 million in 2011. But what is more important is the growth that technology enables in other sectors. A recent study found that creation and use of Internet technologies contributed 7 percent growth in gross domestic product (GDP) in mature and emerging markets in the past 15 years and 11 percent in the past five.1 We believe that our investment in cloud computing will bring the benefits of technology to more users at lower costs, stimulating the creation of new businesses and nurturing the longevity of others.
- Propelling innovation: One key to creating economic growth through technology is innovation. That is why Microsoft is one of the industry’s leading investors in research and development. We view this as an investment in our future, in our industry’s future, and in the global progress of technology. Some of the results of our research last year included new technology to improve everything from colon cancer screenings to microfinance transactions in the developing world. Through the Microsoft Innovation Centers we offer courses and resources in technology and business skills for entrepreneurs, IT professionals, and students. We reached 250,000 people and trained 150,000. There are currently 102 centers in 42 countries.
Equipping workers with technology skills
In today’s workplace, most employers demand that their employees have a high comfort level with technology. We continued to heavily focus on providing people with the technology training that they need to get and keep good jobs. Through our programs and partnerships, in FY2011 Microsoft provided technology skills training to approximately 23 million people around the world, reaching more than 190 million since 2003.
Our Microsoft Elevate America program provides technology skills training and resources to help people in the United States find employment. Through this program, we reached more than 1 million people in FY2011.
In FY2011, we also announced the Microsoft Elevate America Veterans Initiative. This is our commitment to contribute $2 million in cash and up to $6 million in software over the next two years to support programs for members of the U.S. armed services and their spouses who are separating from the military and reintegrating into their civilian communities and the work force.
Supporting small businesses
Through Microsoft BizSpark, we provide start-up businesses with access to technology, business and technical support, and marketing and networking opportunities with experienced members of the entrepreneurial community. In FY2011, we reached more than 75,000 people worldwide through BizSpark, up from 40,000 in FY2010, and we worked with about 45,000 new start-up businesses. Of these companies, about two-thirds were outside the United States. In FY2012, we will work to improve the success and survivability rate of start-up companies that participate in the program.
1http://www.mckinsey.com/mgi/publications/internet_matters/index.asp, page 2.
What's Next
Our priorities for FY2012 include:
- Going deeper with our technology skills program to support youth who are interested
in technology to change the world. Through our Tech Talent 4 Good initiative, we
will provide young technology talent with:
- On-site experience through a mentorship program with nonprofits.
- Seed funding to help take their innovations to scale.
- A network to help them work together to bring about social change.
- Continuing to provide technology training to workers and technology access to small businesses.
- Helping start-up businesses increase their survival rates in their first few years of existence.
- Working with partners and governments to unlock the economic potential of the cloud.
Luis Alberto Moreno
President
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
In Latin America and the Caribbean, technology is playing a crucial role in fostering development through innovation and capacity building. The IDB is partnering with Microsoft to develop projects that facilitate ICT access for citizens and institutions across the region.
Among the partnership projects, the IDB—through the Multilateral Investment Fund—and Microsoft established the Youth Technology for Job Creation Fund. In Latin America, there are more than 200 million people under the age of 30, and the unemployment rate for this group is twice that of the rest of the adult population. The fund, which finances job training programs to broaden the use of IT skills, entered its second phase in March 2011—tripling the amount of grants available. This effort builds in part on our previous partnership in which we provided technology training to people with disabilities and at-risk youth populations in more than 21 countries in the region.
The IDB and Microsoft also partner to support policies and strategies fostering ICT research capacity building and innovation through the Latin American and Caribbean Collaborative ICT Research Federation (LACCIR) Virtual Institute. Launched in 2007, LACCIR has funded more than 25 research projects to date on topics ranging from biotechnology to digital inclusion.
In the aftermath of the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, we are addressing the challenge of managing information and resources in the reconstruction effort and improving the capacity of the country’s education system. In partnership with the Haitian government, Microsoft and the IDB developed the Haiti Integrated Government Platform (HIGP), providing a comprehensive e-governance solution to improve transparency and donor coordination,thereby—transforming the delivery of government services. We also continue to support education reform and programs to provide teachers and students with access to technology.
