It doesn't compare to the thousands of jobs eliminated by Microsoft earlier in the year, but the company is now making 27 additional layoffs in the Seattle region and other areas of the country. The job cuts, reported by the Seattle Times, were disclosed in a filing with the state Employment Security Department.

The layoffs aren't entirely unexpected. The company announced in January that it would make up to 5,000 job cuts over the course of 18 months. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said in May that the company was through with most but not all of those cuts. Company spokesman Lou Gellos confirmed the latest layoffs via email without going into detail about which parts of the company were affected.

“I can confirm that part of our effort to reduce costs and increase efficiencies involved 27 job eliminations here and in other regions across the country," Gellos said. "While job eliminations are always difficult, we are taking these necessary actions to realign our resources against our top priorities.”

The effect of the overall layoffs has been cushioned somewhat by Microsoft's continued hiring in some parts of the company. Microsoft's direct workforce was reduced by 3,092 jobs, about 3 percent, between January and July.