The rise of the service economy.

• Position: ALASKA TRENDS - Brief article

Service provision and goods production are the two main distinctions used by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) and the State of Alaska regarding total nonfarm employment. Industries identified as goods producing include mining and logging, construction and manufacturing, service providing industries are more varied and include trade, transportation and utilities, professional and business services, education and health services, leisure and hospitality, other services and government. U.S. employment data from the BLS shows increasing prevalence in service industry employment from 62.44 percent of total nonfarm employment in 1939 to 86.23 percent in 2012. Demonstrating why that is, the data reveals 502.74 percent growth in total service industry employment from 1939 to 2012, from 19.13 million to 115.33 million employees. Contrasting service provision employment, goods production employment shows a very modest increase of 59.93 percent, from 11.51 million in 1939 to 18.41 million in 2012.

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