The pandemic created shifts in employment. However, the overall economy has been shifting away from goods and production-oriented sectors like manufacturing to service-oriented sectors like health care, professional services, and education for years. There are three top variables to track when plotting the changing economic landscape: the number of jobs in that industry, the median annual wages of those jobs, and the dollar contribution of the industry to the overall national income or gross domestic product (GDP).
In 2004, the retail trade sector employed more people than any other industry, providing 15.2 million jobs. Health care and manufacturing followed with 14.9 million and 14.3 million jobs, respectively. These three industries accounted for 35% of all 2004 employment.
