App Store-supported jobs swelling by about 7% across Europe

The app industry has helped create employment opportunities for people around the world, with developers profiting from creating and selling apps via the App Store. To demonstrate its impact, Apple released a series of reports on Monday spelling out he growth of the sector in the UK and Germany.

In a year hit by the COVID-19 pandemic and forcing increased reliance on apps, Apple observed a growth in developer numbers in the UK. It claims there are more than 330,000 jobs in the UK supported by App Store sales, up 10% from the same time in 2020.

Developers generated more than 3.6 billion GBP ($5.02 billion) in earnings in the last year, which itself is up 22% from the previous year. The trend mirrored progress in Europe, where the iOS app economy grew the number of jobs it supported in 2020 by 7% to 1.7 million.

On an individual country basis, the UK is in the lead for iOS app developer jobs, followed by Germany and France with over 250,000 jobs estimated for each.

Germany's app developer growth represents an 8% improvement on the previous year. App Store apps from developers based in Germany passed the 60,000 app mark in the year, with 75% of sales generated by German apps stemming from other countries.

Developers in Germany generated over 2 billion euros ($2.39 billion) to date, with revenue growth of 21% in 2020 over 2019's sales.

"In a year like no other, the UK has remained a vibrant and innovative hub for entrepreneurs and app developers," said App Store senior director Chris Moser. "More people in the UK than ever before are working as part of the iOS ecosystem, creating apps enjoyed by people all over the world."

On Germany, Moser added the "developer community is a very good example of innovation and resilience in difficult times."

French developer fortunes have improved similar to Germany's, with its growth beyond 250,000 jobs said to be a 6% year-on-year improvement. The nearly 2 billion euro of total revenue is a 20% increase from the previous year.

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