Employment indexes in goods and services

Services continue to grow

• There has been a long-term shift in employment away from goods-producing industries to services. The share of jobs in goods—which includes natural resources, manufacturing, construction and agriculture—has followed a downward trend. Meanwhile, services—which includes industries such as retail and wholesale trade, health care, and public administration—continue to grow, employing 75% of all workers in 2003 compared with 66% in 1976.
• Employment in goods-producing industries, such as manufacturing and construction, tends to be sensitive to economic downturns. In contrast, services employment is much less cyclical.
• Overall employment grew by 2.2% in 2003, the same rate of growth as the year before. Job growth in goods slowed in 2003, up only 1.1% as manufacturers, confronted with an appreciating dollar, cut the number of factory jobs by 1.4%. Construction employment, however, continued to steam ahead, up 5.5%. Employment growth for services in 2003 (+2.5%) was more than twice the pace of job growth in goods, with strength in finance, insurance, real estate and leasing as well as health care and social assistance, and public administration.

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