The line graph shows how many people worked in four various industries of US economy from 1960 to 20220.
Overall, the number of jobs saw a decreasing trend in the agriculture and manufacturing sectors, while the reverse was true for retail and healthcare. For most of the period, manufacturing had the most number of jobs, with 15 million in 1960. But it was eventually overtaken by retail and healthcare.
In 1960, the manufacturing sector employed 15 million people, this figure was the largest in that year. Over the next two decades, this number significantly rose to a chart high of 20 million, after which it reverted to below its 1960 level 13 million jobs. Likewise, the figure for agriculture witnessed a gradual decline, halving from around 6 million jobs in 1960 to 2,5 million in 2020, far behind the remaining industries.
The other two sectors — Retail and Healthcare — bucked the above trend.
Over the given period, the retail sector almost tripled, sharply increasing from offering just over 5 million jobs in 1960 to slightly above 15 million in 2020, though the growth slowed down in the last two decades. Healthcare started off much lower at 2,5 million jobs and, sharply increasing between 1960 and 2020, converged with the retail sector at more than 15 million. As a result, both these industries surpassed manufacturing.