The Growth of Services in the Economy

Abstract

In forty years the number of Americans engaged in producing commodities has barely changed The entire increase in the workforce has gone into what can broadly be called services of all kinds: there are many more taxi-drivers, salesmen, bankers, barbers, doctors, teachers, insurance agents and restaurateurs for example; and, as will surprise no one, many, many more people employed by government. Total employment in all ‘service’ industries has in fact risen by some 130 per cent in the past forty years, while the numbers employed in manufacturing, mining, construction and agriculture are only about 3 per cent up.

First published 1960.