The graph illustrates the proportion of employees in six industries – manufacturing, retail, health care, construction, education, tourism – in Australia in 1989 and 2009.
Overall, manufacturing led the the list in the first given year (1989), but it was replaced with health care which had the highest percentage in final year – 2009. Additionally, figures for manufacturing and retail declined, while all the others experienced growth over the period.
In 1989, manufacturing employed the highest percentage of the workforce at 15%, but this figure dropped dramatically to 9.8% in 2009. Similarly, the proportion of workers in retail fell slightly from 11.8% to 10.1% over the same period.
By contrast, employment in health care sector increased from 9.6% in 1989 to 11.3%, making it the highest percentage in 2009. Followed next by construction, which saw a mere rise from 7.6% to 8.3%. Education and tourism had almost same indicators in final year growing from 6.8% and 5.5% to 7.5% and 7.3% in 2009 respectively.
