The line graph illustrates the number of jobs across four distinct sectors of the US economy between 1960 and 2020.
Overall, all four sectors followed clear long-term trends; the retail and healthcare industries experienced continuous growth throughout the 60-year period, with both reaching their highest points in 2020. In contrast, employment figures in the manufacturing and agriculture sectors steadily declined.
At the beginning of the period, the retail sector started at around 6 million jobs in 1960, growing sharply until 2000 before slowing down slightly up to 2020, where it stood at just over 15 million. Healthcare, however, started at a much lower point of approximately 2.5 million jobs in 1960, doubled by 1980, and subsequently surged to about 16 million jobs by the end of the period, overtaking retail in the final two decades.
Concurrently, manufacturing began at 15 million jobs in 1960, increasing steadily to a peak of 20 million in 1980 before declining progressively to approximately 13 million jobs in 2020. Meanwhile, the agricultural sector started at 6 million, but plummeted over the first 20 years to nearly 3 million in 1980. After remaining static for the next two decades, it finally dropped to the lowest point among all four sectors in 2020, amounting to roughly 2.5 million jobs.