How much the company plans to spend hasn't been disclosed, but a colorful shows the destinations Elevate America plans to take trainees, from a basic "Digitally Aware Individual" to an advanced "Enterprise Administrator" or "Web/Windows Developer."

Microsoft will give away one million vouchers for the company's eLearning software courses, and some Microsoft certification exams, through state and local government workforce development programs. "We've been working away on this issue for a number of years," Passman told the Seattle PI's . "This is now front and center, but there is a whole (existing) infrastructure that is focused on workforce development."