The line graph illustrates the level of employment in four economic industries in the US over a 60-year period from 1960 to 2020.
Overall, the levels of employment in retail and healthcare experienced an upward trend, whereas the opposite was true for manufacturing and agriculture. Notably, healthcare witnessed the most significant transformation, surpassing other sectors to secure the highest volume of employment by the end of the period.
In 1960, the level of employment in retail stood at about 6 million, whereas that figure for healthcare was significantly lower, at around 2 million jobs. In the next 40-year period, retail witnessed a steady growth to nearly 15 million jobs, while healthcare experienced a sharp surge from 1980, reaching approximately 11 million in 2000. Between 2000 and 2020, retail continued to rise slightly and ended up at around 16 million jobs, while healthcare grew robustly to about 21 million, surpassing manufacturing to become the leading figure among all sectors.
In contrast, manufacturing started the period as the dominant sector, at roughly 15 million, followed by agriculture at around 6 million. Between 1960 and 2000, the volume of employment in manufacturing reached a peak of 20 million in 1980, before falling to about 17 million in 2000, whereas that figure for experienced a steady decline to roughly 3 million in 1980 and remained stable for 20 years. In the final two decades, these fields continued their downward trends, with manufacturing dropping further to around 13 million jobs, while agriculture fell slightly and hit a low of 2 million at the end of the period.