Microsoft's president: A 'new era' of fewer job seekers, higher salaries is here
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Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) president Brad Smith said Monday that the state of the U.S. job market is such that American companies should expect to pay higher salaries for the fewer potential employees that are entering the nation's workforce.
In an interview with Reuters, Smith said that U.S. companies are facing a "new era" of employment that includes a labor shortage not seen in decades. Smith said factors such as the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, government stimulus plans and concerns about childcare have added to a labor market that has at times seemed desperate to get anyone to fill open job positions.
Smith noted that the trend of 5 million people entering the U.S. workforce population every five years since 1950 has been completely upended, as only 2 million people joined the nation's workforce between 2016 and 2020, and such growth is slowing further. 
Smith said that as a result of such workforce changes, competition for employees is only growing, and causing companies to have to boost salaries faster than they historically have done.
Last week, Microsoft (MSFT) confirmed it had cut "a small number" of jobs due to a "strategic realignment". The job cuts reportedly came to less than 1% of Microsoft's (MSFT) 181,000-person workforce.