IT Reshoring News

February 08, 2018

Apple Investing in U.S. Economy and Jobs

Apple recently made a big announcement about investing in the American economy. We hope it all comes to fruition!

Apple announced in January that they would make a huge investment in the American economy. Jobs, a new campus, and even repatriated cash.

Apple announces plans to repatriate billions in overseas cash, says it will contribute $350 billion to the US economy over the next 5 years – CNBC

It's great news for thousands of American workers, but our optimism is a little tempered by what Apple glossed over.

New Campus, New Jobs, More Taxes Paid

According to Apple's announcement, the company will do all of the following over the next 5 years:

  • Contribute more than $350 billion in total expenditures
  • Build a new facility in Reno, Nevada
  • Create 20,000 new jobs
  • Invest in expanding U.S. data centers
  • Expand resources for its educational initiatives
  • Repatriate $38 billion of overseas cash into the U.S., paying taxes on it under the new Trump tax plan

This is incredible news. It's one of the largest investment plans by any U.S. entity in the past 5 years. We hope it will do exactly what it says—bring thousands of jobs and billions of dollars back into the American economy.

Why We Are Cautiously Optimistic

Apple said a lot of good things. It's what they didn't say, and some details of these initiatives, that give us pause.

  • The new jobs will focus on customer support. Not manufacturing, as far as we know.
  • These are new jobs, not a reduction in foreign labor. No mention of reducing H-1B visa usage in favor of American IT workers.
  • The timing is unusual, given the bombshell of Apple intentionally slowing down older iPhones.

 

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