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TL;DR
ThorstenMeyerAI.com published the first episode of a 60-part series on how work has changed, using the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors to frame the shift from farms to factories and services. The source cites historical estimates showing services employed more people worldwide than farming from 2001, while arguing that manufacturing output can rise even as factory employment falls.
ThorstenMeyerAI.com published the first episode of its planned 60-part series, Work After Work, on November 2, using the shift from farm work to factories and services to introduce its account of how economies change. The episode cites historical employment estimates and distinguishes documented trends from the author’s separate thesis that automation could eventually become a sector of its own.
The episode organizes work into three broad categories: the primary sector, which takes resources from nature, including farming, fishing and forestry; the secondary sector, which makes or builds things, including manufacturing and construction; and the tertiary sector, which provides services such as transport, retail, health care, education and government. The author uses bread production to illustrate how a single product links all three: wheat growing, milling and baking, then delivery and sale.
The historical figures in the source show a long decline in agriculture’s share of employment. Citing economic historian Stanley Lebergott’s estimates, it says farming accounted for 73.7% of the U.S. labor force in 1800, 54.8% in 1850, 40.2% in 1900 and 12.0% in 1950. The International Labour Organization’s modelled estimate puts the U.S. share at 1.5% in 2025. These figures refer to employment shares, not the amount of food produced.
The source also reports that, in the ILO’s modelled estimates, services have employed more people worldwide than farming since 2001. It gives national examples of the longer shift: China’s primary-sector employment share fell from 83.5% in 1952 to 22.2% in 2024, while Japan’s census recorded a fall from 53.8% in 1920 to 3.2% in 2020. The episode cautions that sector classifications vary: mining, for example, is counted as primary in many systems but placed in the secondary sector by some.
Why Sector Shifts Matter
The employment changes matter because they show that economic growth often changes where people work, rather than simply eliminating work. As farming and manufacturing become more productive, fewer workers may be needed to produce a given amount of food or goods. Employment can then expand in services, though the pace and availability of that movement differ across countries and generations.
The distinction between jobs and output is especially relevant to current debates about industrial decline. The source says U.S. factory employment is about 35% below its June 1979 peak, while inflation-adjusted manufacturing output in 2025 was about 1.9 times its 1979 level. The comparison suggests that fewer factory workers can produce more, but it does not by itself explain changes in wages, job quality, trade, or the distribution of those gains.
The series frames automation as a question about the next possible movement between sectors. Its author’s prediction that automation might perform up to 90% of work without a human hand is explicitly presented as a thesis, not an established finding. Readers should distinguish that forecast from the historical employment figures cited in the episode.
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How Economists Mapped Work
The three-sector framework took shape in the first half of the 20th century. The episode credits New Zealand economist Allan G. B. Fisher with introducing the term “tertiary” in a book written in 1934 and published in 1935. Fisher described services as a broad category covering activities from transport and commerce to education and creative work.
Economist Colin Clark compared employment patterns across countries in The Conditions of Economic Progress, published in 1940. He described movement from agriculture to manufacturing and then to commerce and services, and observed that industry’s share of employment could rise and later fall. In 1949, French economist Jean Fourastié argued that services would absorb workers released as technology raised productivity in farming and industry. The current episode presents that argument as historical context, not proof that future job losses will always be offset.
The source also stresses that the categories are a practical but imperfect map. A software engineer employed by a car manufacturer might be classified as a manufacturing worker in one statistical system and a service worker in another. Comparisons across periods and countries therefore depend partly on how jobs are categorized.
“My thesis, not a fact: within a decade or a few decades, automation could become a sector of its own, doing up to 90% of the work with no human hand.”
— Thorsten Meyer, author of the Work After Work series
Limits of the Employment Data
The cited figures combine historical estimates, census data and modelled estimates, which do not necessarily use identical definitions or coverage. The source identifies one U.S. historical series as covering the labor force aged 10 and older; the ILO figure for 2025 is modelled. The episode does not provide full methodological detail alongside every country comparison, so the figures should not be treated as a perfectly uniform dataset.
It is also unclear how automation will affect total employment, which jobs will be created as others change, or how quickly workers could move between sectors. The 90% figure is the author’s thesis, and the source does not establish a measurement method or a time period for that estimate. The article’s manufacturing comparison also does not establish why factory employment declined or how output gains were shared.
The Series Turns to Automation
Work After Work is described by its publisher as a daily series of 60 episodes about how economies are built, how work moves between sectors and which tasks may remain human as machines take on more work. The first episode says its three-sector framework will provide a reference point for later installments, including discussions of the tractor and the chatbot.
Meyer says episode 48 will put his automation thesis “on trial.” The source does not give a release schedule for that episode or provide details on the evidence it will use. Until then, the key distinction is between the documented historical shift in employment and the still-uncertain scale of future automation.
Key Questions
What are the three economic sectors?
Primary work takes resources from nature, such as farming and fishing. Secondary work makes or builds goods, while tertiary work provides services, including retail, transport, health care and education.
When did services employ more people worldwide than farming?
The episode says the ILO’s modelled estimates show services overtaking farming in 2001. This is an employment comparison, not a comparison of output or economic value.
Does the source say the United States no longer makes things?
No. It says U.S. factory employment is about 35% below its June 1979 peak, while real manufacturing output in 2025 was about 1.9 times its 1979 level. The figures indicate that employment and output can move differently.
Is automation already a separate economic sector?
The episode does not establish that. Meyer’s suggestion that automation could become a sector doing up to 90% of work is explicitly labeled his thesis, not a fact.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
