Apple counts 2.4 million people in its U.S. ‘jobs footprint’

Apple said this week that its job footprint in the United States is now 2.4 million people across all 50 states. That's four times more jobs than the company took credit for just eight years ago. And the company bragged that it is on pace to directly contribute $350 billion to the US economy by 2023, a goal it announced in January of 2018.

The $350 billion does not include profits from the sales of Apple products and taxes from employees' wages.

Apple directly employs 90,000 employees in all 50 states, putting the company on track to create 20,000 new jobs across the US by 2023. But in addition to these employees, Apple takes credit for 2.4 million U.S. jobs because of the ecosystem surrounding its business.

But while many Apple employees work in the company’s retail stores and headquarters, Apple also says it creates jobs by entering into agreements with suppliers. In June, Apple entered into an agreement with Broadcom Limited, a California company with a manufacturing facility in Fort Collins, Colorado, to purchase high performance radio frequency modules and components, according to an Apple blog post.

In another example, Apple awarded Finisar $390 million as part of the Advanced Manufacturing Fund in December, 2017. Now, the manufacturer is on track to fill 500 full-time positions in Sherman, Texas, in addition to creating nearly 1,000 construction jobs. Finisar is expected to begin shipping lasers called VCSELs, used to power FaceID in the latest iPhones and iPads, in the coming months.

Applications also play a huge role in Apple's job creation, as the company’s App Store provides a platform for application developers to market their software.