Apple once operated a factory in the United States. Will it ever open
another one? Will we ever see an Apple device labeled “Designed by
Apple in California -– Assembled in the United States”? Apple CEO Tim
Cook isn’t sure, but he’s certainly open to the idea, though it’s not an
easy one to execute.
“I want there to be [another U.S.-manufactured Apple product],” Cook said onstage at our 10th
D: All Things Digital conference earlier this week, adding that some important pieces of a few of Apple’s devices are currently made in the States.
“This is not well known, but the engines for the iPhone and iPad are
built in the U.S., in Austin,” Cook said.
“The glass on the iPhone is
made at a plant in Kentucky — and not just for the U.S., but for other
markets outside the U.S. as well.”
But those are just a few components. And the bulk of them are not
only manufactured outside the U.S., but assembled into Apple devices
there as well.
Could assembly ever be done in the U.S.?
Said Cook, “I hope so, one day.”
But in order for that to ever happen, the U.S. really needs to up its game.
“The truth is the tool-and-die-maker skill in the U.S. began to go
down in the late ’60s and early ’70s,” Cook said. “How many tool-and-die
makers do you know in the U.S. now? I could call a meeting and invite
every tool-and-die maker in the United States and we wouldn’t fill this
room.”
Not so in China, though. Said Cook, “In China you could fill a city with tool-and-die makers.”
Micropolitan areas can sometimes be the forgotten stepchildren of demography.
An endless series of reports -- including a majority of On Numbers
stories -- focus on the nation's 366 metropolitan areas, which are home
to 261 million Americans. Much less attention is paid to
the 576 micros,
which typically consist of a single county centered on a city with
10,000 to 50,000 residents. Total micropolitan population is 31 million.
But it's worth noting that a majority of the nation's micros are
growing, according to newly released population estimates from the
U.S. Census Bureau
.
Atop the list is Dunn, N.C., which is located 40 miles south of
Raleigh. The Dunn area added 3,467 residents between July 1, 2010, and
July 1, 2011, equaling a daily increase of 9.5 persons.
Close behind is Daphne-Fairhope, Ala., which hugs the shoreline of
Mobile Bay. It gained 3,458 persons during the one-year study period,
also translating to 9.5 persons per day.
Rounding out the top five are The Villages, Fla., at 9.4 persons per day; Seaford, Del., at 6.6; and Statesboro, Ga., at 6.0.
Unfortunately, the unemployment rate for African Americans rose in May to 13.6 percent from 13.0 percent in April, the Labor Department
said on Friday. The numbers mirrored the national unemployment rate,
which also increased to 8.2 percent from 8.1 percent, the first rise in
11 months. Further, employers created only 69,000 jobs in May, the
smallest amount in a year. The startling numbers mean that federal,
state, and local governments will have to invest in job-training
programs for African-American workers who are increasingly losing jobs
like those in the public sector, Rep. Danny K. Davis (Ill-D) told NewsOne.
