Apple Claims One Million U.S. Jobs Created, App Store Boom

Apple (AAPL) said it’s the reason for some one million jobs created in the U.S., including its own retail employees and engineers as well as third-party application developers, manufacturers and suppliers.

The vendor dedicated a web page to laying out the numbers: 1,027,000 Apple-related U.S. jobs created or supported, consisting of 627,000 jobs tied to its iOS ecosystem, 334,000 jobs generated from its spending and growth, and 66,000 company employees.

Apple said its own workforce had increased by 52,000 positions globally in the last 10 years, with the vendor adding some 9,000 jobs last year alone. Its 265 retail stores in the U.S. employ some 30,000 people, averaging about 100 locally hired employees per store, Apple said.

Other statistics Apple disclosed included creating some 20,000 construction jobs related to the building of its stores and another 41,000 positions tied to erecting its new company headquarters, expected to be completed late in 2016.

And, there’s more jobs on the horizon, the vendor said, pointing to a recent study by software consultant AppNation forecasting the overall app economy will crest $150 billion globally in the next three years, “with the industry continuing to create more job openings than can be filled.”

That’s not all the horn-tooting Apple did. The vendor also said New Year’s Day marked the single biggest sales day in its App Store history and the first week in January set new records for App Store billings at some $500 million worldwide.

“This year is off to a tremendous start after a record-breaking year for the App Store and our developer community,” said Eddy Cue, Apple Internet Software and Services senior vice president. “We’re so proud of the creativity and innovation developers bring to the apps they create for iOS users and that the developer community has now earned over $25 billion.”

In November, Apple launched a campaign to contribute to the Global Fund to fight AIDS, offering 25 new apps with exclusive content where all proceeds are directed to the fund, and pledging to donate a portion of its retail and online sales from Black Friday and Cyber Monday to the effort. The vendor said its customers’ support of the Apps for (RED) initiative had generated some $20 million in Q4 to donate to the fund.