Apple Inc. Claims 514,000 Direct and Indirect U.S. Jobs Created by Its Gadgets

Apple Inc. which has been under heavy criticism for having its gadget parts (iPhone, iPad) made in Asia, and for inhumane labor practices by its suppliers like Foxconn, has placed new data on the table that says both directly and indirectly, Apple Inc. has created more than 500,000 jobs in the U.S.

The jobs data was divided in two groups of employees: The first included 3 04,000 jobs including software engineers at the company’s Cupertino campus, workers in Texas who make processors for Apple, Corning employees in Kentucky and New York who make glass for iPhone, and United Parcel Service and FedEx workers who deliver Apple products to its customers.

The second category, according to the economists at Analysis Group includes 210,000 independent app developer positions that exist due to the iPhone and iPad platforms. App developers, according to Apple have earned more than $4 billion on Apple’s platforms.

The company has declared on its website, “Throughout our history, Apple has created entirely new products – and entirely new industries – by focusing on innovation … As a result, we’ve created or supported more than 500, 000 jobs for U.S. workers: from the engineer who helped invent the iPad to the delivery person who brings it to your door.”

Experts are skeptic of Apple’s claims. Greg Linden, a researcher at the Haas School of Business in Berkely questioned Apple taking credit for the jobs of UPS and FedEx employees delivering the company’s products: “Those jobs are questionable to the extent they’d exist whether or not Apple existed,” he said.

Apple’s market capital surpassed $500 billion on Wednesday, and the company reported that the number of its employees based in the United States has more than quadrupled over the past decade, from less than 10,000 in 2002 to more than 47,000 today, out of its worldwide workforce of 70,000.