Google isn’t just one of the largest tech companies in the Bay Area, it’s one of the world’s largest companies in general. But that’s not stopping it from getting even bigger.
On Thursday, Google announced its major U.S. expansion plans for the year of 2021. This involves investing more than $7 billion into its offices and data centers across 19 states. It’s also planning to create at least 10,000 new full-time Google jobs this year in the U.S. alone. Even for a company with over 135,000 employees, that’s an impressive number of full-time jobs to add in one year.
Part of this expansion includes growth in Chicago. According to the announcement, Google is adding “thousands” of new roles across four U.S. cities: Chicago, New York, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.
While Google didn’t reveal a specific number for how many Chicago jobs it’s adding, this follows an earlier pledge from last year to add more jobs in Chicago. These jobs will be based out of Google’s Fulton Market campus and its newer space at 210 N Carpenter Street, which opened in late 2019.
According to a news release, Google will be investing $25 million into the state of Illinois this year. Google has 1,400 employees in Illinois, with most of them based in Chicago.
In the announcement, Google also detailed how it’s also investing in various social causes. Tech hub cities in the U.S. often have higher costs of living, which holds true for Google’s hometown of Mountain View in the SF Bay Area. For that reason, Google is committing $1 billion towards affordable housing initiatives in the Bay Area.
“We’ve been proud to call Chicago home for more than 20 years and we want to be able to look back 20 years from now and see that we’ve had even more impact,” Karen Sauder, site lead and VP in the Chicago office, said in a statement. “In 2021, we’re prioritizing diversity in hiring and looking for the ways we can support more economic equality in our city through new jobs, investments in the community, and other programs we’re offering small businesses.”
Google says that 2020 was its biggest year for hiring Black and Latinx employees in the U.S. The company will also continue to give financial support to racial justice organization and Black-owned businesses.
Because of Google’s size, its hiring and overall business decisions have a significant economic impact for the country, and in the communities it’s part of. For example, Google’s services brought $426 billion of economic activity to over 2 million American businesses, according to Google’s new 2020 U.S. Economic Impact Report. Google hopes that its 10,000 new jobs will bring high-paying salaries to communities across the U.S., and help the country recover from a year of economic hardship.
“Economic recovery starts with lifting up our small businesses and prioritizing equity in hiring, so I’m thrilled that Google will invest $25 million in Illinois' post-pandemic recovery,” Illinois Governor JB Pritzker said in a statement. “This critical investment will help us revive our economy creating jobs and expanding access to prosperity for all of our residents.”
