Snow job

29 December 2016 By Richard Beales Follow @richardbeales1

Some 8,000 new roles at Sprint and OneWeb touted by the U.S. president-elect already were planned, part of a bigger pledge by investor SoftBank. Economic activity is creating 180,000 positions monthly. To keep that going much longer will require more than Trump’s double-talk.

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U.S. President-elect Donald Trump on Dec. 28 said telecommunications group Sprint and U.S. satellite startup OneWeb would bring 8,000 jobs to the United States. The companies said the positions were part of a previously disclosed pledge by Japan's SoftBank.

SoftBank holds stakes in both companies and its chief, billionaire Masayoshi Son, earlier in December said he would invest $50 billion in the United States and create 50,000 jobs.

"We are excited to work with President-elect Trump and his administration to do our part to drive economic growth and create jobs in the United States," Sprint Chief Executive Marcelo Claure said in a statement.

Sprint has around 30,000 employees, but none are based outside the United States, according to the Wall Street Journal. The 5,000 new workers will be a mix of Sprint employees and those hired by third-party vendors, the newspaper reported, citing a company spokesman.

SoftBank unveiled a $1.2 billion investment in OneWeb on Dec. 19 and the companies said at the time that OneWeb expected to create 3,000 U.S. jobs over the coming four years.

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