In 2018 their headcount was around 131,000 employees. In 2020, that jumped to 163,000. By 2022, they had exploded to 221,000 employees.
Currently, if we exclude the Activision headcount, they're sitting at around 218,000 people.
Maybe the more business minded people can shed some light on this for me, but even with the stronger economy in 2018, Microsoft had no where near this many employees. It feels like this would have happened whether or not the economy was doing poorly right now.
Thoughts?
Gas prices are at an all time high, housing has never been less affordable, Intel stock just plunged a record 29% in its history, the US is now $40 trillion in debt... this is all just off the top of my head right now.
Inflation adjusted house prices are lower than 25 year average, and about as low as during early covid bottom. And housing affordability is almost best in history, with a few short stretches in late 1990s being better.
US debt load is by far lowest in history (or at least ever since reliable tracking appeared around 1963), for every dollar in debt Americans hold 8 dollars in assets. If you force people to pay all of their debt, at once (which is impossible), it won't cause a domino effect. Government debt? US is not a socialist country. Government can go to hell. And, all branches of government together are only slightly in red vs assets they hold. And debt to GDP is stabe in the last 5 years, last was the covid jump, which by now is about half undone.
Also, and here is a major thing that never existed before, consumption is now to a large degree disconnected from employment. Almost half of consumption is funded by capital, not labor. So potential for vicious cycle where people lose jobs, consume less, companies lose revenue, lay off people, and more people lose jobs, rinse and repeat, is now weaker than ever before - it is not impossible, but less likely. I think we underappreciate how valuable for economy this is. Domination of employment-derived consumption in the past has been a persistent source of instability.
So social negativity we observe is all just vibes, magnified by social media to stir the crowd. There is no money to make by making people feel happy - they click much harder if they are angry or frightened.
Sure there is a problem about a segment of population feeling displaced/irrelevant, but this is mostly a public messaging, and to a smaller extent, law enforcement problem.
Since serious crime is also at all-times low, i doubt it can escalate into something serious.
If you hold a lot of assets or are in the upper quartile of wages, then all of this is good.
If you don’t, then you’re fucked. That is their point.
[https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CUUR0000SEHA]
[https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPIMEDNS]
[https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/CPITRNNS]
and many more.
check those charts, and then compare them to yours and you’ll see exactly what I mean.
wages have been roughly stagnant, while major life expenses have skyrocketed. but hey, if you don’t need medical care, don’t rent, and don’t need transportation, maybe it’s fine?
Telling you: perception that median people are in some way struggling, is made up, it is political/social media tale they are selling you just to keep you angry and agitated. It does not reflect reality at all.
They may be struggling only in the sense of feeling that they are falling behind, and that is true, but this is an immutable, objective reality that does not depend on policy decisions, it is a force of technological change.
It’s only rosy in the aggregate and then maybe for areas overlooked and for the wealthy.
It can’t stay like this forever. Something will have to give. The rest of the working class folks and lower will not put up with being lied to all day long, well maybe if they voted Trump it won’t matter. Nvm nothing to see here. No minds ever change.
It doesn't mean some freemasons are grabbing all cash, or oligarchs. Most of the new wealth goes to "normal" rich and upper middle class. All of the top 10% are raking in big.
that or you're a very highly compensated tech worker (congrats btw, no shade, legit congrats) that is also a real estate speculator...
Maybe in US it's different, but here in Europe, "jobs" have always been merely a more or less guaranteed safety net to escape total destitution and becoming homeless. If you wanted to make it in life on even the most basic level (buy an apartment, get married etc.), you ALWAYS had to do something better than a job, or own assets.
Vast majority of jobs are not about economy, they are about social policy and politics (because people vote, so society has to at least somewhat placate them to avoid awfully nasty election outcomes).
And that boom? Well it’s so hard to find jobs across the board, not just IT, but including trades people too.