2 ms·

Here's a good article to read on the subject http://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-welcome-rise-in-manufacturing-jobs-in-the-us/2012/01/12/gIQAxLPcuP_story.h

• CamperBob 15y ago
  In summary US manufacturing output is increasing and US manufacturing output exceeds that of China by about $100B, but only employs about a tenth as many workers as China. Didn't read the article, but do they count companies like Apple and Boeing as "US-based manufacturers?" Of course they are, in the sense that they are US-based corporations who manufacture and sell $X worth of goods per year... but crediting the US with their "manufacturing output" would be nothing more than brazen statistical dishonesty. Also, if "manufacturing" is defined as the "act of final assembly," as it is under certain Commerce Department regulations and those of other government agencies, would Apple be able to meet that criterion by setting up a factory in California that did nothing but bolt together imported PC boards, cases, bezels, and LCD panels? It is far from clear that the US really manufactures much of anything anymore, the way the term would have been defined in the post-WWII era. I've heard people only half-jokingly refer to McDonalds as a "manufacturer" of burgers.