Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) recently announced their plans to expand their operations in Europe and add more jobs in Ireland. The company already operates headquarters in Cork, Ireland which employees 2,800 people. Their expansion, which is reported to take place in the next eighteen months, will add 500 more jobs.
The company’s spokesman said that Apple has been present in Ireland for over three decades and they want to continue expanding the company in Europe. The Cork headquarters currently oversee operations in Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.
Cork’s job minister Richard Bruton is equally ecstatic over the news. He said that these new jobs will improve the country’s economic outlook. It will also further Enda Kenny’s (Ireland’s prime minister) goal to create more 100,000 new jobs by 2016.
The appeal behind Apple’s large presence in Cork can be attributed to their low tax rate of 12.5%.
Ireland’s current economic situation is poor with an unemployment rate of 14.3 percent and a major debt that required them to seek out an 85 billion euro($112 billion) stimulus package from the European Union. You can imagine this news will bring a lot of financial relief to those who need it.
Apple isn’t the only company that’s planning to create more jobs in Ireland. Generic pharmaceutical company Mylan Inc. (NASDAQ:MYL) announced their plans to bring 500 new jobs just two days ago. There was also a job fair this weekend in Wexford that brought many job opportunities from national and international companies from various industry sectors like IT, retail, finance, and any others. Some of the notable companies that will be featured at the job fair include Zurich Insurance Group Ltd (PINK:ZURVY), Datapac Ltd, Quest Software, Inc. (NASDAQ:QSFT) and Aldi.
It looks like the economy in Ireland is in the midst of rebounding and this is great news for them. The only real way to boost any economy is by adding jobs.
