Microsoft said its calculations show that global unemployment may hit a quarter of a billion people this year. (File Photo / Express: Anuj Bhatia) Microsoft Corp. and its LinkedIn unit will provide free job training to help unemployed workers prepare for jobs in demand as the global pandemic pushes US unemployment to levels as bad as Those of the Great Depression. The program uses data from LinkedIn to find the jobs employers most want to fill, and offers free access to content that helps workers develop the required skills. The company will also reduce the cost of its certification exams and offer free job search tools. Microsoft aims to provide additional skills to 25 million people around the world by the end of the year through the program for jobs such as software developer, customer service specialist and graphic designer. Microsoft said its calculations show unemployment globally, it may reach a quarter of a billion people this year. The U.S. unemployment rate was 13.3% in May, the highest level since 1940, as the coronavirus closed stores, restaurants and bars, with higher unemployment rates among Black and Latino workers. While parts of the economy are beginning to reopen in the U.S., businesses are also closing, filing for bankruptcy, or announcing permanent job cuts to accommodate a long-term slowdown. In January, Microsoft began work on a plan for a smaller program to highlight tools to address a long-term shift to jobs that are becoming increasingly digital. When Covid-19 arrived, the company decided to expand the program to reach more workers faster, Microsoft president Brad Smith said in an interview. “Covid-19 sent as many people home, if they were lucky enough to keep your job and work from home, “Smith said. “It became clear that in order to return to the workplace, many people would not be able to return to the job they left, they might need a new job, or even their old job required a lot more digital skills than before. . “Microsoft used data from LinkedIn to come up with 10 roles with the highest number of openings, steady growth over the past four years, ‘livable’ salaries and skills that can be learned online, the company said in a blog post Tuesday. These include: software developer, sales representative, data analyst, customer service specialist, and graphic designer.One part of the original program that has been expanded in the wake of the pandemic is funding non-profit groups to communicate with people who might not otherwise know about the program or cannot do everything online. Microsoft will spend $ 20 million in cash grants to global nonprofits with the goal of helping 5 million unemployed workers this year. The effort will focus in particular on people with disabilities, workers from low-income communities, women and minorities. A quarter of the money will go to Grants to 50 U.S. Community-Based Nonprofits Targeting and Serving Communities of Color, Microsoft said Someone who is unemployed needs to know what to learn. We are giving access to that learning material for free to areas where we know there are recruiters and hiring managers on the other side who are looking forward to hiring them, “said Ryan Roslansky, CEO of LinkedIn. LinkedIn also plans to provide its own labor market data. and information on in-demand skills free of charge to governments. The data will include popular job openings in a region, the top skills required for those jobs, and data on which employers are hiring the most in a particular geography. The data will be available at chance.linkedin.com.Indian El TecNoticias is now on Telegram. Click here to join our channel (@indianexpress) and stay up to date with the latest headlines