Apple to add 20k jobs in next 5 yrs

Cupertino (California) APPLE on Monday announced plans to make new contributions of more than $430 billion and add 20,000 new jobs in the US over the next five years.

Over the past three years, Apple's contributions in the US have significantly outpaced the company's original five-year goal of $350 billion set in 2018. Apple said it is now raising its level of commitment by 20 per cent over the next five years, supporting American innovation and driving economic benefits in every State.

This includes tens of billions of dollars for next-generation silicon development and 5G innovation across nine US states.

"At this moment of recovery and rebuilding, Apple is doubling down on our commitment to US innovation and manufacturing with a generational investment reaching communities across all 50 states," said Apple CEO Tim Cook.

"We're creating jobs in cutting-edge fields — from 5G to silicon engineering to artificial intelligence — investing in the next generation of innovative new businesses, and in all our work, building toward a greener and more equitable future," he added.

Today, Apple supports more than 2.7 million jobs across the country through direct employment, spending with US suppliers and manufacturers, and developer jobs in the thriving iOS app economy.

Apple is the largest taxpayer in the US and has paid almost $45 billion in domestic corporate income taxes over the past five years alone.

Apple's $430 billion in contributions to the US economy include direct spend with American suppliers, data centre investments, capital expenditures in the US, and other domestic spend — including dozens of Apple TV+ productions across 20 states, creating thousands of jobs and supporting the creative industry.

Apple continues to support jobs in the innovative iOS app economy, which facilitated $138 billion of commerce in 2019 in the US alone.

More than 85 per cent of those proceeds go straight to third-party developers, the company said.