The recent release of the September US Jobs Report shows a slow decrease in the country's unemployment numbers, although in an election year, there is of course great debate as to its believability. In a separate report, one number that no one seems to be disputing is the number of jobs that have been created in the mobile app economy.
The wireless trade group CTIA and the Application Developers Alliance announced last week that since the 2008 opening of both the Apple and Android app markets, an impressive 519,000 jobs have been created in the mobile app field. Not limited to the obvious tech-rich states of California and Washington, app jobs are being created in impressive numbers nationwide.
While California and Washington sit atop the list of the top five states with the most mobile application-related jobs, the remainder of the list reaches nearly every corner of the nation with New York, Texas, and Massachusetts rounding out the group. Georgia represents the southeastern US at number seven.
In a response to the Alliance's findings, Alex Moazed, president and CEO of mobile consulting and development firm Applico, points out, "The mobile app economy is still in its infancy and it's accelerating at an unprecedented rate." Not limited solely to those in the software field, Moazed notes "jobs are being created across the spectrum—both technical and non-technical."
Mobile apps are being developed for everything from entertainment and games, the medical field, major national retailers, and even government organizations. With nearly half of Americans now owning smartphones—and with the number continuing to rise—jobs in app development have nowhere to go but up.
Along with the sheer number of job opportunities out there, another enticing aspect of being a mobile app developer is the job's average salary. Robert Half International, a global staffing and consulting firm, recently estimated the position's 2013 salary range to be between $92,750-$133,500. This is a 9 percent rise from the job's 2012 average, which is a larger jump than for any other position in the entire tech industry. The entire list can be downloaded here.
