Company Shares U.S. Job Creation & Site Investment Plans for 2022
Yesterday Google announced plans to invest more than $50 million in Oregon in 2022. Nationally, Google plans to invest approximately $9.5 billion in offices and data centers and create at least 12,000 new full-time Google jobs across the U.S. this year.
“Google’s offices and data centers provide vital anchors to our local communities and help us contribute to their economies. As we embrace more flexibility in how we work, we believe it’s more important than ever to invest in our campuses and that doing so will make for better products, a greater quality of life for our employees and stronger communities,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google and Alphabet. “That’s why we’re planning to invest approximately $9.5 billion in U.S. offices and data centers this year, creating more than 12,000 Google jobs in communities across the country.”
Google has called Oregon home for more than 15 years, creating more than 200 jobs.
- This year, Google will continue its investment in its first ever data center which was built in The Dalles, Oregon in 2006. In 2021, Google announced plans for future growth in the region. Under recent agreements with The City of the Dalles and Wasco County, Google will have the option to build up to two additional data centers near its existing site.
- In March 2022, Google fully opened its new expanded office in downtown Portland, located in the historic Meier & Frank building. The 80,000-square-foot space spans two floors and offers Googlers a variety of amenities. More employees have recently returned to the Portland office as the company began its transition to its new hybrid approach on April 4.
“We’re excited to see Google welcoming employees back to its office in downtown Portland as it continues its growth here and across our state. Returning workers are critical for the revitalization and vibrancy of our downtown,” said Portland Mayor Ted Wheeler. “Google’s innovation is part of the engine that powers so many other businesses and industries and we’re grateful for their commitment to our region and its future.”
Google also released the 2021 Economic Impact Report for Oregon today, sharing how it helped provide $6.2 billion of economic activity in 2021 for tens of thousands of businesses, publishers and nonprofits in Oregon who used Google products last year to increase their online presence and connect with the people and communities they serve.
Residential painting business, Sir Paints a Lot, in Springfield, Oregon, was highlighted in Google’s Economic Impact Report for Oregon in a case study that details how the business used digital tools to reach new customers after moving to the Willamette Valley from out-of-state. Following weekly calls with the Google Ads support team, Sir Paints a Lot tripled the size of its business within a year thanks to effective marketing that delivered better job leads and included a YouTube channel featuring customers and painting tips. The company now has a 4.9 rating on its Google Business Profile.
“The support team behind Google Ads has been fantastic,” said Shawn Derby, founder and owner. “They helped me get set up, make some tweaks and showed me how to check performance.”
Google is also helping people learn digital skills so they can reach new customers and find new job opportunities. Grow with Google has partnered with 120 organizations to train more than 74,000 Oregonians on digital skills, including public libraries, chambers of commerce and more. The Google Career Certificates program provides online job training and prepares job seekers for careers in high-growth fields like data analytics and IT Support — with no degree or experience required. To help more people access this program, Google announced a new $100 million Google Career Certificates Fund that aims to drive over $1 billion in aggregate wage gains to support economic mobility for tens of thousands of underserved American workers. The Google Career Certificates are also free to all community colleges and career and technical education (CTE) high schools to add to their curriculum.
In addition, Google is committing millions to further strengthen small businesses and create new opportunity across Oregon. With $185 million from Google, the Opportunity Finance Network’s (OFN) Grow with Google Small Business Fund and Grant Program have delivered low-interest loans to more than 50 community development financial institutions including Craft3, Opportunity Fund, Rural Community Assistance Corporation and others in Oregon, which have in turn provided loans to tens of thousands of underserved small businesses in the state including Black-owned businesses. Over the past two years, the Google for Startups Black Founders Fund has also provided $10 million in cash awards and support to promising companies including WorkFrom in Portland. The investments have created a halo effect by helping these founders raise over $75 million in venture capital.
About Google in Oregon
Google has called Oregon home since 2006 and has more than 200 employees in the state. To date Google.org has awarded over $15 million in grants to nonprofits and organizations based in Oregon. Google employees in Oregon have given more than 9,300 hours of volunteer work with nonprofits and schools in areas such as STEM education, economic opportunity and access to the internet. Since 2011, Google for Nonprofits has supported more than 4,200 Oregon nonprofits, including millions of dollars in free search advertising through the Google Ad Grants program. Learn more about Google in Oregon at: g.co/economicimpact/oregon.
About Google’s Economic Impact Report
The Economic Impact Report details Google’s national and local impact in all 50 U.S. states, plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. It has been released annually since 2009. In 2021, Google Search, Google Play, Google Cloud, YouTube and Google advertising tools helped provide $617 billion of economic activity for millions of American businesses, nonprofits, publishers, creators and developers.
