Since 1948 the U.S. Has Lost Twice as Many Jobs in Agriculture (-5.8m) as in Manufacturing (-2.74m)

Great post by Mark Perry of "Carpe Diem."

"1. Compared to 1948 levels of employment, the U.S. agriculture sector has lost more thatn twice as many jobs (5.83 million) as the manufacturing sector (2.74 million).

2. Compared to their respective peak levels of employment, the agriculture sector has contracted by 72.3% since 1948 (-5.83 million jobs), which is much higher on a percentage basis than the manufacturing sector's percentage contraction of 40.2% (-7.86 million) since the peak employment level of 19.55 million in 1979.

Even though job losses in America's farming sector have been much greater both in absolute numbers since 1948 and in percentage terms from their peak levels, when have you ever heard anybody complain about the "decline of U.S. farming" (only about 400 Google search results, many to this blog) or claim that "America doesn't grow anything any more" (no Google results)? In contrast, you'll find 141,000 Google results for "decline of U.S. manufacturing" and 19,500 Google results for "America doesn't make anything anymore.""