Sunday Spectacle CLXXVIII

A Look at
Unemployment in America
by Sector

You can get a feel for employment patterns in various industries in the following infographic. As always, keep in mind that some sectors, like manufacturing, are very large, so a 1% change has a bigger impact on GDP than, say, leisure and hospitality.

Some key points that stick out for me include:
  • Manufacturing was underperforming even before the recession (250,000+ job losses in 2004 and 2005, which were boom years. We are basically witnessing a secular decline in manufacturing in USA (and Canada too).)
  • Construction got hit hard during the recession (obviously driven by the real estate bust)
  • Government sector is starting to post job losses during the recovery over the last couple of years (this is likely due to government spending cuts)
(click on image for larger pic)







(source: "Rising UNemployment," Glassman Infographic. Design by Elefint. Downloaded from Fast Company, post dated May 23 2012.)

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