The line graph illustrates data about the indexes of jobs in manufacturing, agriculture, retail, and healthcare in the United States from 1960 to 2020.
Overall, the numbers of positions of employment in healthcare and agriculture increased; those for retail and manufacturing jobs declined. While the index of healthcare employment was lower, it peaked higher than the others at the end.
In 1960, the numbers of healthcare and agriculture jobs were at about 2 million and just above 5 million, respectively. Over the next 40 years, these figures rose similarly by almost 9 million. Then, their indexes increased continuously to just above 15 million by 2020.
At the start of the period, the number of employees in manufacturing was 15 million, and that of retail jobs was at about 4 million. Nevertheless, manufacturing increased significantly by 5 million jobs, and retail numbers showed a slight decline to approximately 3 million by 2020. In the following 20 years, manufacturing lost about 3 million jobs, and retail remained unchanged. Nonetheless, both economic sectors experienced a downward trend, losing about 5 million and almost 1 million jobs at the end of the period, respectively.
