Job Distribution after 1945

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Procedures:

This lesson could be used in an economics course while examining post-World War II changes in the American economy, specifically the decline of the manufacturing sector and the rise of the service industry, or in a history course after studying the New Deal to offer a comparative perspective. A print-friendly student version of this exercise is available.

Begin by asking students to hypothesize about the four sectors of the American economy that currently employ the most people and how the distribution divides. Next offer students the spreadsheet which shows the job distribution from 1946 to 1995. Have them scrutinize the data for several minutes before they offer their comments. Before the conversation continues, have them generate some sort of graphical representation to more fully appreciate the numbers. Let them experiment with which type of chart to use. Hopefully, they will arrive at a PIE CHART which appropriately illustrates distributions within a whole quantity. If they choose another representation, ask them to justify why it is the best graphical representation.  If students need help with the mechanics of making an Excel chart, instructions follow:

• Highlight the columns with the data you wish to chart. Creating one pie chart for one year and comparing it with another pie chart for a different year seems most appropriate for this data. Let’s choose 1946 and 1990. For 1946, highlight B3 through F4.
• Select the CHART option from the INSERT menu. Select the type of chart [PIE] you want and hit NEXT. Hit NEXT for Step 2 as well.
• For Step 3, choose the tab at the top which says TITLES and insert a Title for your chart. Then, click on the tab that says DATA LABELS and select SHOW PERCENTAGE.
• Hit NEXT to finish Step 3 and FINISH to complete Step 4.
• Your chart should appear. It is easy to change its size by clicking on the chart itself and then dragging the handles to expand the image. Drag your mouse slowly over any part of the chart that you wish to modify and watch the box that pops up. If it is the part of the chart you wish to change, double click and the program prompts you to change.
• Once you are satisfied with your chart for 1946, create one for the 1990 data. Once you have two satisfactory pie charts, drag them beside each other on the screen to compare more easily.
• A sample Chart is available for teachers.

Once students have at least two pie charts comparing different years between 1946 and 1995, ask them what surprises them about this data. The questions that follow are also on their student worksheet if you would prefer that they write out answers before or in lieu of a discussion.  Some background information is included.

• Are any of the figures worrying? Why?
  
  
• How does it compare to their hypotheses?
  
  
• What sectors have declined the most, and which sectors have really grown?
  
  
• What are some of the reasons that the agriculture and manufacturing sectors have declined considerably?
  
  
• Are there social, political, and attitudinal effects that accompany significant shifts in job distribution? What evidence do you have to support this?
  
  
•  Given the new distribution of jobs at the end of the century, do you feel that your education is preparing you for the employment opportunities that will be available upon graduation?

• How should education have changed over the decades? Has it?

To fill out the picture a bit, a more detailed spreadsheet is provided. Teachers may wish to push students to scrutinize the absolute versus relative numbers in manufacturing.  Some background information might help, and some possible discussion questions are included here as well as on the student worksheet. 

·  How can the percentage of jobs in the American economy in manufacturing, mining, and construction (column C) be falling during the entire fifty year period while the absolute number of people employed in this sector does not begin to fall until the 1980s?  Do these figures contradict each other?  If not, how can you explain this?

· It is a fact that MMC’s overall revenue was still rising in constant 1987 dollars from $725 billion in 1980 to $925 billion in 1992.  How can that be the case if its percentage of the GDP (column H) was falling during that period?

· Does the additional information in columns G and H convince you that MMC sector was stronger or weaker than you initially thought based on the first spreadsheet’s data?  Explain.