WASHINGTON: Senator Charles Grassley had sent a letter to Microsoft's CEO Steve Ballmer, dated January 22, questioning Microsoft's layoff plans targeting 5,000 employees. In particular, Grassley questioned Ballmer about how many of the layoffs would involve foreigners hired under the H1-B programme. He wanted to know how it would affect US workers and non-US citizens working for Microsoft. He also questioned Microsoft's plans for retaining H-1B or other work visa programme workers after the job eliminations. Here's the full text of Microsoft's reply to Grassley March 3, 2009 The Honorable Charles E Grassley United States Senator 135 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510-1501 Dear Senator Grassley, Thank you for your letter of January 22, 2009. Steve Ballmer asked me to respond on the company's behalf. Your letter expressed concern about Microsoft's recently announced layoffs and asked us to provide you with information about them. I have included that information below, but first I'd like to provide a bit of context. Since the company's founding in 1975, Microsoft's consistent growth has enabled us to increase employment every year. In the last three fiscal years, for example, our employment in the United States increased by 40 per cent. Today we have more than 90,000 employees worldwide and over half of them are in the United States. The vast majority of these US jobs are filled by American citizens. Because of our partner-based business model, our impact on employment is even larger than these numbers indicate. For every dollar that Microsoft earns in the United States, our business partners earn $6. This creates many additional jobs. One recent study found that 4.2 million people in the United States are working in jobs that are the result of Microsoft's business model (IDC IT Economic Impact and Microsoft Country Footprint: United States, October 2007. The figure includes individuals who work at IT companies and IT professionals who create, sell, or distribute products that run on Microsoft platforms).
Read more: Microsoft’s reply to Grassley on H1-B - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/software-services/Microsofts-reply-to-Grassley-on-H1-B/articleshow/4223057.cms#ixzz0zJEZ5VS7
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