Microsoft now employs more than 1,900 people in Vancouver, BC, up from less than 800 when the pandemic began in early 2020, part of technology company Redmond’s broader international growth trend.
Brad Smith, president and vice president of Microsoft, shared the new number at the beginning of his keynote at the Cascadia Innovation Corridor conference in Vancouver. He described Washington, Oregon and British Columbia as “divided but not separated by the border between the two countries.”
The Seattle area’s other global tech giant, Amazon, is also growing rapidly in Canada, announcing plans in June to bolster its rankings in the country. with 1,800 employees company and new technology by 2021. Amazon at that time reported to employ 5,500 full-time and part-time workers in BC, including warehouse staff.
Update: Amazon says it currently has 3,500 employees at its Vancouver Technology Center.
Canada reopens borders to vaccinated Americans in August and in the US next on November 8, loosening restrictions imposed at the start of the pandemic.
Microsoft Global Employee Count increased to nearly 190,000 people at the end of the September quarter, a net increase of 23,500 people globally over the past year, equivalent to 14% year-over-year growth. About 14,000 new employees, or 60% of all net additions over the past year, were added outside of the United States.
