Select Fact Data Set
- Household Finances
- Manufacturing
- U.S. Trade
- U.S. Economy
The manufacturing, service and mining sectors typically offer employment opportunities for individuals not pursuing a college degree or any other higher education. The jobs within manufacturing and mining offer, on average, higher wages with better benefits than their service counterparts.
This graph shows employment in the manufacturing, retail, and mining sectors as percentages of total employment in 1979, 1989, 2009, and 2019. Along with these years, the graph also shows an estimate for 2029.
Place and move your cursor on the graph to see the shares of total employment for each sector.
The Blue Collar Dollar Institute believes that the United States cannot offer a middle-class lifestyle to a large majority of Americans without possessing a strong and vibrant manufacturing sector. Our non-partisan mission is to research data, inform the public, and advocate for policy in order to help strengthen US manufacturing and goods-producing sectors.