Apple’s App Store created 300,000 jobs since April 2019

The iOS app economy has created nearly 300,000 new jobs since April 2019, helping to provide opportunities for Americans of all ages even as COVID-19 continues to create immense challenges and uncertainty for communities across the country. Developers nationwide — including companies such as Caribu, H‑E‑B, and Shine — have adapted their businesses to make sure they can keep supporting their customers during a challenging time.

Since the App Store launched in 2008, the iOS app economy has become one of the fastest-growing sectors of the economy. Despite the pandemic, the App Store continues to provide economic opportunities for entrepreneurs of all sizes, helping anyone with an idea reach customers around the world and take advantage of new opportunities that would never be possible without it. The App Store ecosystem now supports more than 2.1 million US jobs across all 50 states — an increase of 15 percent since last year — as part of the 2.7 million jobs Apple supports across the country.

Apps have become even more critical to Americans’ everyday lives as they seek out new and safe ways to learn, work, and stay engaged with friends and family during the pandemic. The App Store provides support for remote ordering from restaurants, vibrant and impactful remote learning for students, telehealth for patients and doctors, and digital commerce for small businesses. For the entrepreneurs who create these apps and the teams that design them, this produces lasting and sustainable economic opportunities, as evidenced by the double-digit growth in new app economy jobs across dozens of states since last year.

U.S. states from coast to coast have added tens of thousands of jobs in the past year.

• Maryland added 25,000 new app economy jobs since last year.

• Michigan added 12,000 new app economy jobs, growing 34 percent since last year.

Many smaller states, including Alabama, Nevada, and Oklahoma, saw double-digit increases in app economy jobs during the same time period.

As the app economy continues to grow, Apple is investing in educational programs and opportunities that help prepare learners of all ages for the app economy jobs of the future. With Swift Playgrounds, Everyone Can Code, and App Development with Swift, Apple gives anyone interested in learning to code the tools and guidance to get there. Today more than 9,000 K-12 and higher education institutions worldwide are using Apple’s coding curricula, including over 100 community colleges across the US. And Apple coding academies, accelerators, and Entrepreneur Camps give up-and-coming developers the opportunity to apply the latest technologies to their apps, build their businesses, and market their ideas to a global audience.

Apple employs over 90,000 employees across all 50 states. The company is on track to fulfill its commitment to contribute $350 billion in the US over a five-year period. Apple also supports 450,000 manufacturing and supply chain jobs through its work with 9,000 American suppliers.

MacDailyNews Take: Message: Over-regulating Apple’s App Store risks damaging the US economy during challenging times.