The bar chart shows the comparison of the workforce distribution in Town A and Town B in two separate years. Overall, Town A experienced a significant shift towards the service sector over a 50-year span, with the manufacturing and sales sectors experiencing declines in the percentage of the workforce. As for Town B, it saw a notable decline in the dominance of manufacturing, accompanied by a rise in both sales and services. Despite this decline in manufacturing, Town B retained its reliance on the sector.
In 1960, manufacturing was the leading employer in both towns. In Town A, manufacturing accounted for the largest portion of the employment, with 41% of the workforce engaged in this sector, followed by sales and services, with 30% and 29%, respectively. Similarly, Town B also relied heavily on manufacturing, with a staggering two-thirds of the workforce employed in this sector. Sales and services lagged far behind, with approximately 20% of the workforce employed in sales and just 10% in services.
By 2010, services had surged to become dominant in Town A, attracting 64% of the workforce – more than double its 1960 figure. Meanwhile, manufacturing had declined significantly by over a half, dropping to around one-fifth, while the percentage of those working in sales experienced a decrease to 16%.
Regarding the figures for Town B, although manufacturing had witnessed a substantial decline of almost 20 percentage points, it remained the main employer, with more than 50% of the workforce still engaged in this sector. The remaining sectors – sales and services – recorded modest increases, with the former rising to 22% and the latter 25%, becoming the second-largest employer in 2010.