The Health of Our Service Economy

The following chart shows the ratio of service-providing employees to all non-farm employees.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhynFr3NNQsEUSfaT4kAoeNaiVAOtpOk8tBaN4ERUVfYXxtpWHF3wOxMN5zZxhdugKt47-elkpJYj8lCXZdKbvQdJaM7YT30-NWwEnjOQteq2qcDsLkgErur9jzqdPRbzviUlA-kzz_0z8/s1600/Services+Employees.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhynFr3NNQsEUSfaT4kAoeNaiVAOtpOk8tBaN4ERUVfYXxtpWHF3wOxMN5zZxhdugKt47-elkpJYj8lCXZdKbvQdJaM7YT30-NWwEnjOQteq2qcDsLkgErur9jzqdPRbzviUlA-kzz_0z8/s320/Services+Employees.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click to enlarge.</span><br /><br />More than 86% now work in the service-providing industries! Hurray! Never healthier!<br /><br />The next chart shows the year over year change in the total nominal amount we're collectively spending on services.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5VdzGIG-wiCcPSVJBlPQWXdPZ990_xGRzGDsgSSlu8tIOHKuR_TCzzS3QWJ-LE2ZkUjf4uFtdt6rESWsNPk2mnaq6Xce-r8R8JWqLam8wPVTruV2lT94fyqIA5Cj4-3tFSAywe2AcE8w/s1600/Personal+Consumption+Expenditures+-+Services.jpg" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5VdzGIG-wiCcPSVJBlPQWXdPZ990_xGRzGDsgSSlu8tIOHKuR_TCzzS3QWJ-LE2ZkUjf4uFtdt6rESWsNPk2mnaq6Xce-r8R8JWqLam8wPVTruV2lT94fyqIA5Cj4-3tFSAywe2AcE8w/s320/Personal+Consumption+Expenditures+-+Services.jpg" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Click to enlarge.</span><br /><br />There is <b>still</b> 2.5% growth!<br />Our service economy is therefore <b>still</b> healthy!<br />The present is <b>still</b> bright!<br />I <b>still</b> gotta wear shades!<br /><br />I have mercifully spared you the pain and suffering of short-term and long-term trend lines. Oops. I probably should not have mentioned that. Sorry!<br /><br />Hey, at least I didn't point out that the current 2.5% growth is almost entirely made up of smoke and mirrors inflation. That really won't add much to "real" services job growth from here if it continues. Oops. I did it again. Sorry!<br /><br />I'm drawing the line. No amount of torture could make me confess what would happen to services employment if the growth rate in services continues to fall like it did as the dotcom bubble was popping or as the housing bubble was popping. @#$%! There's nothing I can say now to adequately express my remorse over implying the obvious. Shame on me!<br /><br />I'm determined to end on an upbeat note though, so trust me on this. The future is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Still">still</a> so <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moonshine">bright</a>! I gotta wear <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Moon%20shades&defid=5729818">moonshades</a>!<br /><br /><i style="color: red;">“I guess I just prefer to see the dark side of things. The glass is always half empty. And cracked. And I just cut my lip on it. And chipped a tooth.”</i> - Janeane Garofalo<br /><br /><b>See Also:</b><br /><a href="http://news-these-days.blogspot.com/2009/01/still-investing.html">Still Investing</a><br /><br /><b>Source Data:</b><br /><a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=lYi">St. Louis Fed: Service-Providing Employees / Total Nonfarm Employees</a><br /><a href="http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?g=lYh">St. Louis Fed: Personal Consumption Expenditures: Services (YoY)</a>

The Health of Our Service Economy

The following chart shows the ratio of service-providing employees to all non-farm employees. Click to enlarge. More than 86% now work in th...

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