Thin Film Tumbling

The Atlantic offers a very clear summary of the transformation of the US economy over the last 60 years, from manufacturing and agriculture-oriented to finance and service-oriented. Unfortunately, the graph also demonstrates how difficult reversing the trend is likely to be: it has much deeper causes than, say, China’s trade practices and lack of worker protections. 

White-collar work of all kinds now accounts for nearly half of GDP, while manufacturing is just one-ninth.