The line graph illustrates changes in the number of jobs across four sectors of the US economy between 1960 and 2020.
Overall, while employment in retail and healthcare increased, the number of jobs in manufacturing and agriculture declined. Manufacturing had the highest employment figure at the beginning of the period, whereas healthcare experienced the most significant growth.
In 1960, manufacturing stood at 15 million jobs, while retail accounted for 6 million. By 1980, the figure for manufacturing had risen to 20 million, whereas the number of jobs in retail increased to 10 million. However, their trends diverged after 1980. The number of manufacturing jobs fell steadily to 17 million in 2000 and then declined further to approximately 13 million in 2020. By contrast, employment in retail continued to grow, reaching 15 million in 2000 and approximately 16 million by 2020.
Turning to agriculture and healthcare, the former employed approximately 6 million people in 1960, compared with just 2 million in the latter. By 1980, agricultural employment had fallen by half to 3 million, whereas the figure for healthcare had more than doubled to 5 million. Agriculture then remained stable at around 3 million jobs in 2000 before falling slightly to 2 million in 2020. Meanwhile, healthcare employment more than doubled from 5 million in 1980 to 11 million in 2000, before reaching approximately 16 million in 2020
