Today, Apple announced the iOS app economy has created 300,000 new jobs since April 2019 and now supports more than 2.1 million U.S. jobs, a 15% increase since last year.
Despite the coronavirus pandemic, Apple says the App Store has continued to provide economic opportunities to entrepreneurs of all sizes, including the team at Caribu in Miami, Florida.
As people explored new ways to keep in touch amid widespread closures and stay-at-home orders, Caribu co-founders Maxeme Tuchman and Alvaro Sabido saw their video-call app take off. To respond to its surge in customers, the Caribu team grew from four employees to 12, contributing to the 17,000 new app economy jobs in Florida.
“We’ve had incredible growth in the last year, and we’ve massively expanded our team to meet demand,” said Tuchman.
“It means so much to us to not only be able to help connect families and friends at this difficult time, but to be able to provide stable, well-paying jobs to our growing number of employees as well. The App Store has given us a platform on which we can do both,” Tuchman continued.
The app economy also added 36,000 new jobs in Texas in the past year, an increase of nearly 30%. Contributing to that growth is H‑E‑B, a Texas-based retailer that launched the grocery pickup and home-delivery app My H‑E‑B. Apple said the app’s monthly active users have increased by 1,050% since its launch, resulting in H‑E‑B adding 150 employees to its digital team.
For Apple, the growth experienced by Caribu and H‑E‑B is indicative of nationwide trends. Maryland has added 25,000 new app economy jobs since last year. Meanwhile, Michigan added 12,000 new app economy jobs, a 34% increase since last year. Smaller states, like Alabama, Nevada and Oklahoma, experienced double-digit increases in app economy jobs too.
As the app economy continues to grow, Apple plans to invest in educational programs and opportunities designed to prepare learners for future app economy jobs. To date, more than 9,000 K-12 and higher-education institutions worldwide are already using Apple’s coding curricula.
