Microsoft targets 50,000 jobs with LinkedIn ‘re-skilling’ effort

Microsoft Corp said on Tuesday that it aims to place 50,000 people in jobs that require technology skills as part of a broader push being undertaken with its professional networking website LinkedIn to help workers affected by the coronavirus pandemic move into new fields.

The jobs will be in what Microsoft calls its “ecosystem” of companies that use or help sell its products.

The effort started last year as pandemic-related business closures hit service workers much harder than technology workers and other white-collar employees who could work from home. LinkedIn made free many of its paid digital skills training courses, covering topics such as software development, data analysis and financial analysis.