Apple now responsible for 2.4 million US jobs

Posted:
in General Discussion
Through its own staff, those of suppliers and developers, Apple has grown to support 2.4 million jobs across all 50 states. It's an increase of four times since 2011, and sees the company contributing $60 billion to the economy annually.

Apple itself directly employs 90,000 people in the US
Apple itself directly employs 90,000 people in the US


Apple in a press release Thursday announced that through its own staff and those of all its suppliers, the company is responsible for creating and maintaining 2.4 million jobs for Americans. Apple now contracts with 9,000 supply companies across all 50 states, and those suppliers support 450,000 jobs.

In disclosing its latest employment figures, Apple also revealed that it directly employs 90,000 people in the U.S., and is on track to add a further 20,000 by 2023, including many in Seattle.

The remainder of the jobs Apple claims responsibility for comes down to app developers, which the company estimates to equate to 1.9 million U.S. jobs. This is an increase of 325,000 in the last 30 months, and includes North Carolina adding 15,000 developers, Florida increasing by 30,000 and Pennsylvania having around 26,000 new app creators.

Overall, Apple claims that this figure of 2.4 million U.S. jobs is four times greater than the company was responsible for in 2011.

In 2018, Apple spent a total of $60 billion with these suppliers, and says this means it is on track to fulfill its stated goal of contributing $350 billion into the US economy by 2023.

Andy MacKay (right) is president of Maccor, one of Apple's 9,000 suppliers in the US
Andy MacKay (right) is president of Maccor, one of Apple's 9,000 suppliers in the US


Apple highlighted Maccor, one of the 9,000 suppliers, and one which makes battery testing systems.

"The relationship with Apple has been tremendous and company-changing for us," said Maccor president Andy MacKay. "Apple is a company where quality is paramount and they push us constantly to see if we can make improvements in our commercial product."
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Comments

  • Reply 1 of 30
    tyler82tyler82 Posts: 1,101member
    I’d hate to be the one who had to clasp hands with the woman with barbed wire talons
  • Reply 2 of 30
    rogifan_newrogifan_new Posts: 4,297member
    How does Apple arrive at that 2.4M figure?
  • Reply 3 of 30
    Rayz2016Rayz2016 Posts: 6,957member
    How does Apple arrive at that 2.4M figure?
    Why? What did you calculate it to be?
    mwhitewatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 4 of 30
    DAalsethDAalseth Posts: 2,783member
    So....it’s a good thing they didn’t sell it and give the money back to shareholders like Michael Dell suggested? /S
    edited August 2019 StrangeDaysbloggerblogmwhitewatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 5 of 30
    SoliSoli Posts: 10,035member
    How does Apple arrive at that 2.4M figure?
    The article literally breaks it down for you. You don't even need to click a hyperlink to see it.
    StrangeDaysfastasleepmuthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobrajony0
  • Reply 6 of 30
    k2kwk2kw Posts: 2,075member
    How does Apple arrive at that 2.4M figure?
    direct employees (90,000) + vender employees (450,000)  + app developers (1,900,000) = 2,440,00) .

    Of course it’s hard to verify how many of the 1.9 Million are current developers and what percentage of their time is Apple iOS or macOS development.   It could include persons who develop for both iOS and Android.

    i imagine China has 10 Million jobs then tied to Apple.   This press release is probably intended to frighten Trump.
    rob bonnerjony0
  • Reply 7 of 30
    I really like a break down on the App developer numbers. I find it hard that almost two million people make a living developing. I thought the top 100 app companies took the majority of the profit. Glad that American venders get paid though, although that is hard to understand that apple can spend 60 billion on battery quality. Would as well like to see a break down on what cost in a iPhone. (And Mac) I guess that if you split 60 billion to millions of iPhone over several years it’s not that expensive per phone. 
    edited August 2019 watto_cobra
  • Reply 8 of 30
    StrangeDaysStrangeDays Posts: 12,876member
    How does Apple arrive at that 2.4M figure?
    More importantly, how can we cast doubt on it? /s

    FTA: "its own staff and those of all its suppliers" and "The remainder of the jobs Apple claims responsibility for comes down to app developers". So I figure, they counted their staff, then added the number of staff from each of their suppliers, and lastly app developers.

    Are you actually asking how they count devs?
    edited August 2019 Rayz2016fastasleepmuthuk_vanalingamwatto_cobra
  • Reply 9 of 30
    I really like a break down on the App developer numbers. I find it hard that almost two million people make a living developing. I thought the top 100 app companies took the majority of the profit. Glad that American venders get paid though, although that is hard to understand that apple can spend 60 billion on battery quality. Would as well like to see a break down on what cost in a iPhone. (And Mac) I guess that if you split 60 billion to millions of iPhone over several years it’s not that expensive per phone. 
    Nowhere does the article state that Apple spends $60 billion on battery quality. They spend $60 billion across 9000 US suppliers, one of those 9000 is a battery testing company.
    fastasleepStrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 10 of 30
    k2kw said:
    How does Apple arrive at that 2.4M figure?
    direct employees (90,000) + vender employees (450,000)  + app developers (1,900,000) = 2,440,00) .

    Of course it’s hard to verify how many of the 1.9 Million are current developers and what percentage of their time is Apple iOS or macOS development.   It could include persons who develop for both iOS and Android.

    i imagine China has 10 Million jobs then tied to Apple.   This press release is probably intended to frighten Trump.
    Why should it “frighten Trump”? If 10 million Chinese workers were suddenly unemployed because Apple halted doing business with them, that would be a China problem.
    JanNLrazorpitwatto_cobra
  • Reply 11 of 30
    k2kw said:
    How does Apple arrive at that 2.4M figure?
    direct employees (90,000) + vender employees (450,000)  + app developers (1,900,000) = 2,440,00) .

    Of course it’s hard to verify how many of the 1.9 Million are current developers and what percentage of their time is Apple iOS or macOS development.   It could include persons who develop for both iOS and Android.

    i imagine China has 10 Million jobs then tied to Apple.   This press release is probably intended to frighten Trump.
    Why should it “frighten Trump”? If 10 million Chinese workers were suddenly unemployed because Apple halted doing business with them, that would be a China problem.
    Trump has been targeting Apple to bring back manufacturing to the US, which is just PR and unfeasible.  Apple is responding in kind, with a big number for PR.  The “real” number is Apple employs 90,000.  The rest are going to be double counted.  Very few venders are solely Apple venders, very few app developers are Apple only.  

    You could say “correctly” the App Store pays out X billion to companies in the US.  But, it’s all about JOBS lately, which is an overly simplistic analysis but the average joe can understand it.
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 12 of 30
    k2kw said:
    How does Apple arrive at that 2.4M figure?
    direct employees (90,000) + vender employees (450,000)  + app developers (1,900,000) = 2,440,00) .

    Of course it’s hard to verify how many of the 1.9 Million are current developers and what percentage of their time is Apple iOS or macOS development.   It could include persons who develop for both iOS and Android.

    i imagine China has 10 Million jobs then tied to Apple.   This press release is probably intended to frighten Trump.
    450,000 contractors are working for Apple? Also I have a hard time believing all 1.9 million app developers are making a living just developing for Apple. 
  • Reply 13 of 30
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,808member
    k2kw said:
    How does Apple arrive at that 2.4M figure?
    direct employees (90,000) + vender employees (450,000)  + app developers (1,900,000) = 2,440,00) .

    Of course it’s hard to verify how many of the 1.9 Million are current developers and what percentage of their time is Apple iOS or macOS development.   It could include persons who develop for both iOS and Android.

    i imagine China has 10 Million jobs then tied to Apple.   This press release is probably intended to frighten Trump.
    450,000 contractors are working for Apple? Also I have a hard time believing all 1.9 million app developers are making a living just developing for Apple. 
    If a developer is earning money, even if it's a little then it's a job with extra income. It doesn't have the be the primary source of income in order for it to be considered a job. Many people have 2, 3 or even sadly sometimes 4 jobs. 
    StrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 14 of 30
    chasmchasm Posts: 3,291member
    I really like a break down on the App developer numbers. I find it hard that almost two million people make a living developing.
    Not all 2M are making a living at it. Some are students, some are hobbyists, quite a number are employees of companies who do their own job and part of that responsibility is to create an app that the company (or perhaps others) use -- including thousands of Apple employees. That said, it's not hard to *make a living* if your app's any good (or copies a good app). "Making a living" ≠ get filthy rich.
    watto_cobra
  • Reply 15 of 30
    bsimpsenbsimpsen Posts: 398member
    According to Statisa, the App Store paid out $34 billion from Jan-18 to Jan-19. At 1.9million developers, that's an average of ~$18K per developer per year.
  • Reply 16 of 30
    samrodsamrod Posts: 60unconfirmed, member
    k2kw said:
    How does Apple arrive at that 2.4M figure?
    direct employees (90,000) + vender employees (450,000)  + app developers (1,900,000) = 2,440,00) .

    Of course it’s hard to verify how many of the 1.9 Million are current developers and what percentage of their time is Apple iOS or macOS development.   It could include persons who develop for both iOS and Android.

    i imagine China has 10 Million jobs then tied to Apple.   This press release is probably intended to frighten Trump.
    There are far more involved in app development than just us developers. There are product managers, project managers, QA teams, UI/UX designers, and let's not forget HR, finance, biz dev, and marketing teams at many of these companies. Then you get to the service industries like ride sharing, food delivery, and entire businesses based on social marketing apps. How many drive for Uber, Lyft, TaskRabit, PostMates, LA Bite, GrubHub, etc? How many personal trainers earn their living off the myriad of fitness apps? The collective app economy is massive and the 1.9 M figure seems rather conservative to me. I'm sure Apple's not factoring in the secondary businesses that have cropped up as a result of apps, such as gourmet food trucks.
    muthuk_vanalingamStrangeDayswatto_cobra
  • Reply 17 of 30
    sflagelsflagel Posts: 805member
    bsimpsen said:
    According to Statisa, the App Store paid out $34 billion from Jan-18 to Jan-19. At 1.9million developers, that's an average of ~$18K per developer per year.
    And since revenues are concentrated to the top 10% - 20%, counting all 1.9 million developers as "jobs" is disingenuous. If someone spends only a fraction of their time working for you, then you should count only that fraction as a "supported job". Basic accounting 101, really.
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 18 of 30
    You can count all 90,000, which is a nice large number, not like the railways or post of old but a solid employment figure for a tech company. A good slice of the 450,000 employed by suppliers but I doubt they have many exclusive suppliers. Still, in the era of outsourcing everything, they should count it. Counting 1.9M developers is seriously stretching it. Yes, it's an interesting data point but it's not too dissimilar to an electricity company counting everyone employed using their electricity. They can mention it in the press release as a side note but putting it in the headline is misleading.
    muthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 19 of 30
    macxpressmacxpress Posts: 5,808member
    bsimpsen said:
    According to Statisa, the App Store paid out $34 billion from Jan-18 to Jan-19. At 1.9million developers, that's an average of ~$18K per developer per year.
    I'm sure that $34 Billion was worldwide, not just in the US alone. So if true, 1.9 Million developers in the US did not earn an average of $18,000/yr. 
    gatorguymuthuk_vanalingam
  • Reply 20 of 30
    JanNLJanNL Posts: 327member
    Yes, it's an interesting data point but it's not too dissimilar to an electricity company counting everyone employed using their electricity. They can mention it in the press release as a side note but putting it in the headline is misleading.
    Using electricity = using apps > Producing electricity and giving back to the grid (made possible by the electricity company to earn money/jobs) = app developers 
    watto_cobra
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