(Numbers in thousands)
| Industry | Thousands of Jobs | Change | Percent distribution | Average annual rate of change | ||||||
| 1986 | 1996 | 2006 | 1986-96 | 1996-2006 | 1986 | 1996 | 2006 | 1986-96 | 1996-2006 | |
| Total /1 | 111,374 | 132,352 | 150,927 | 20,978 | 18,575 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 100.0 | 1.7 | 1.3 |
| Nonfarm wage and salary /2 | 98,727 | 118,731 | 136,318 | 20,004 | 17,587 | 88.6 | 89.7 | 90.3 | 1.9 | 1.4 |
| Goods producing | 24,538 | 24,431 | 24,451 | -107 | 20 | 22.0 | 18.5 | 16.2 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| Mining | 778 | 574 | 443 | -204 | -131 | 0.7 | 0.4 | 0.3 | -3.0 | -2.5 |
| Construction | 4,810 | 5,400 | 5,900 | 590 | 500 | 4.3 | 4.1 | 3.9 | 1.2 | 0.9 |
| Manufacturing | 18,951 | 18,457 | 18,108 | -493 | -350 | 17.0 | 13.9 | 12.0 | -0.3 | -0.2 |
| Durable | 11,200 | 10,766 | 10,514 | -433 | -252 | 10.1 | 8.1 | 7.0 | -0.4 | -0.2 |
| Nondurable | 7,751 | 7,691 | 7,593 | -60 | -98 | 7.0 | 5.8 | 5.0 | -0.1 | -0.1 |
| Service producing | 74,189 | 94,300 | 111,867 | 20,111 | 17,567 | 66.6 | 71.2 | 74.1 | 2.4 | 1.7 |
| Transportation, communications, utilities | 5,247 | 6,260 | 7,111 | 1,014 | 851 | 04.7 | 04.7 | 04.7 | 1.8 | 1.3 |
| Wholesale trade | 5,751 | 6,483 | 7,228 | 732 | 745 | 05.2 | 04.9 | 04.8 | 1.2 | 1.1 |
| Retail trade | 17,878 | 21,625 | 23,875 | 3,747 | 2,250 | 16.1 | 16.3 | 15.8 | 1.9 | 1.0 |
| Finance, insurance, and real estate | 6,275 | 6,899 | 7,651 | 625 | 752 | 05.6 | 05.2 | 05.1 | 1.0 | 1.0 |
| Services /2 | 22,346 | 33,586 | 44,852 | 11,240 | 11,266 | 20.1 | 25.4 | 29.7 | 4.2 | 2.9 |
| Federal government | 2,899 | 2,757 | 2,670 | -142 | -87 | 02.6 | 02.1 | 01.8 | 0.5 | 0.3 |
| State and local government | 13,794 | 16,690 | 18,480 | 2,896 | 1,790 | 12.4 | 12.6 | 12.2 | 1.9 | 1.0 |
| Agriculture /3 | 3,327 | 3,642 | 3,618 | 314 | -24 | 3.0 | 2.8 | 2.4 | 0.9 | -0.1 |
| Private household wage and salary | 1,235 | 928 | 775 | -307 | -153 | 1.1 | 0.7 | 0.5 | -2.8 | -1.8 |
| Nonagricultural self-employed and unpaid family workers /4 | 8,085 | 9,051 | 10,216 | 966 | 1,165 | 7.3 | 6.8 | 6.8 | 1.1 | 1.2 |
1) Employment data for wage and salary workers are from the BLS Current Employment Statistics (payroll) survey, which counts jobs, whereas self-employed, unpaid family worker, agricultural, and private household data are from the Current PopulationSurvey (household survey), which counts workers.
2) Excludes SIC 074,5,8 (agricultural services) and 99 (nonclassifiable establishments), and is therefore not directly comparable with data published in Employment and Earnings.
3) Excludes government wage and salary workers, and includes private sector SIC 08, 09 (forestry and fisheries).
4) Excludes SIC 08, 09 (forestry and fisheries).