Throughout their history, Apple has created entirely new products — and entirely new industries — by focusing on innovation. As a result, they’ve created or supported more than 500,000 jobs for U.S. workers: From the engineer who helped invent the iPad to the delivery person who brings it to your door.
U.S. Jobs Supported by Apple
A study by Analysis Group found that Apple has directly or indirectly created 304,000 U.S. jobs. These jobs — spread across all 50 states — include thousands of jobs in numerous industries, from the people who create components for our products to the people who build the planes and trucks that carry them to our customers. For example, this figure also includes workers in Texas who manufacture processors for iOS products, Corning employees in Kentucky and New York who create the majority of the glass for iPhone, and FedEx and UPS employees. Together with the 210,000 iOS jobs generated by the app economy, these 304,000 jobs make a total of 514,000 U.S. jobs created or supported by Apple.
The App Economy
With more than 550,000 apps and more than 24 billion downloads in less than four years, the App Store has created an entirely new industry: iOS app design and development. The app revolution has added more than 210,000 iOS jobs to the U.S. economy since the introduction of iPhone in 2007.** And Apple has paid more than $4 billion in royalties to developers through the App Store. We also provide app developers with the tools and distribution they need to bring their best ideas to tens of millions of iOS customers worldwide.
Jobs at Apple
The number of Apple jobs based in the U.S. has more than quadrupled over the past decade, from less than 10,000 employees in 2002 to more than 47,000 today. That number more than doubles again when we include vendors that employ more than 50,000 people who directly support Apple. These jobs require people with a wide variety of skills — including construction workers, component manufacturers, retail specialists, tech support representatives, salespeople, marketers, and the best hardware and software engineers in the world.
Apple Retail Stores
Our 246 retail stores in the U.S. average well over 100 employees each — the majority of whom are full-time employees. But unlike most retailers, we don’t rely on seasonal hiring. And part-time Apple Store employees are eligible for the same benefits as our full-time staff, including health insurance and the employee stock purchase plan.
U.S.-Based Customer Support
While many companies locate their technical support call centers overseas to save money, we’ve decided to keep our call centers in the U.S. The vast majority of our customer support calls are handled by U.S. employees. Relocating our call centers overseas to places like India would reduce our costs by 50 percent or more. But we keep these jobs in the U.S. because it helps us deliver a better customer experience. It’s also an important reason why Apple’s technical support has led the industry for more than a decade.
Analysis Group analyzed Apple’s impact on the U.S. job market and economy by using information on the total amount Apple spent on goods and services in the U.S. in 2011 and applying that information to standard Type 1 employment multipliers developed by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis. These numbers do not include an estimated 187,000 additional jobs that have resulted from the increased spending of individuals and households whose income is directly or indirectly tied to Apple’s economic activity. A 2012 study by TechNet found that the app economy added 466,000 jobs overall to the U.S. economy. Using the same keyword search methodology employed by the study’s authors at the time of its release, we found that 45 percent of job postings in the app economy are specifically tied to iPhone and iOS, indicating that at least 210,000 jobs are driven by the iOS app economy.
Source: Apple Inc.
Apple’s new Job Creation page is here.
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