Part of the mythology of U.S. presidential election was the idea that the country would return to ‘making things’ bringing with it lots of well paying manufacturing work. However, work shifted away from that kind of factory labour long ago.
DATA: Bureau of Economic Analysis. NOTE: 1929–47: Primary Commodity Production & Manufacturing includes ‘Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries’, ‘Mining’ and ‘Manufacturing’; Retail & Service includes ‘Retail trade and automobile services’ and ‘Services’. 1948–97: Primary Commodity Production & Manufacturing includes ‘Agriculture, forestry, and fishery’, ‘Mining’ and ‘Manufacturing’; Retail & Services includes ‘Retail trades’ and ‘Services’. 1998–2016: Primary Commodity Production & Manufacturing includes ‘Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting’, ‘Mining’ and ‘Manufacturing’; Retail & Services includes ‘Retail trade’, ‘Professional, scientific, and technical services’, ‘Management of companies and enterprise’, ‘Administrative and waste management services’, ‘Educational services’, ‘Health care and social assistance’, ‘Arts, entertainment, and recreation’, ‘Accomodation and food services’, and ‘Other services, except government’. Retail and services values for 1948–2000 average values reported in 1948–2000 series with those reported in 1998–2016 series. Aggregated values divided by ‘Full-time and part-time employees’. Calculations by author.
The share of workers in retail and services surpassed production and manufacturing in 1963. For over 50 years more people have worked in some type of service job than in the types of jobs typically associated with labour.