According to the results of a study released today by TechNet, the recent surge in the mobile software industry and other apps has resulted in a spike in the software job sector, creating as many as 500,000 jobs in the United States alone. This boom in the economy created thanks to the million or so apps made for Android or iOS has been dubbed as the ‘app economy’. According to TechNet’s report, app development leads to creation of jobs for support staff, managers, designers, programmers and other professionals.
Former Chief Economist for BusinessWeek and President of South Mountain Economics, Michael Mandel conducted the analysis for TechNet and has said that since the first release of the iPhone in 2007, an estimated 466,000 jobs have been created in the U.S. alone and the number started at zero before the release of the iPhone. However, the study explicitly states in the summary that these figures might not be a representation of the total jobs gained in the period but in essence is an estimate of the total number of jobs not lost.
The figures include jobs created by some of the leading app players such as Facebook, Google and Apple. The total jobs include the app related jobs from businesses like AT&T, Amazon and Electronic Arts as well as dedicated software developers like Zynga. Among the major platforms for the app economy are Facebook’s own apps, Microsoft’s Windows Phone, RIM’s BlackBerry, Apple’s iOS and Google’s Android.
Not surprisingly, New York City and the surrounding regions have proven to be the top metro spots for app economy jobs according to Mandel’s research. However, San Jose and San Francisco put together managed to surpass the jobs created in New York City and its surrounding regions. The state which is responsible for the highest app economy jobs was California. However, New York and California are not the only regions where these jobs are being created with as much as two thirds of the total jobs coming from outside these two regions.
A variety of methods were used by Mandel in compiling the data such as looking at third party app developers, running a key word search in the help wanted ads and comparing the number of ads against the actual jobs secured. The report goes on to say that the economy is still nascent and has great potential to grow in the future.
