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TL;DR
ThorstenMeyerAI.com published the first installment of Work After Work on Nov. 2, 2026, using the field, factory and office model to explain long-term changes in employment. The article reports that services have employed more people worldwide than farming since 2001, based on ILO modelled estimates, and distinguishes that historical account from its author’s speculation about automation.
ThorstenMeyerAI.com published the first episode of Work After Work on Nov. 2, 2026, introducing the three-sector model of the economy: work that takes resources from nature, work that makes goods, and work that provides services. The article uses historical employment figures to trace how workers moved from farms into factories and service jobs, and begins a planned 60-episode series about how technology changes work.
The article calls the sectors primary, secondary and tertiary. The primary sector covers activities that take things from nature, including farming, fishing and forestry; mining is commonly included, though classifications differ. Manufacturing, construction and energy supply fall into the secondary sector. Trade, transport, offices, health care, education and government are among the services grouped in the tertiary sector.
Its historical figures show the scale of the shift. Estimates by economic historian Stanley Lebergott put farming at 73.7% of the U.S. labor force in 1800, 54.8% in 1850, 40.2% in 1900 and 12.0% in 1950. The article cites an International Labour Organization modelled estimate of 1.5% for 2025. It also reports that ILO modelled estimates show services employing more people worldwide than farming from 2001 onward.
The article says the change has occurred in other countries, too. It reports that China’s primary-sector employment share fell from 83.5% in 1952 to 22.2% in 2024, while Japan’s census figures show a decline from 53.8% in 1920 to 3.2% in 2020. These are employment shares, not counts of the total number of workers in each sector.
What the Sector Shift Shows
The three-sector model offers a compact way to understand where people work as economies change. The historical figures show that farming’s share of employment has fallen sharply in the United States and several Asian economies, while services have taken a larger role. That shift matters to workers, employers and policymakers because changes in the mix of jobs affect skills, training needs and the distribution of employment across industries.
The article also pushes back on the claim that the United States no longer makes goods. It 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 figures describe different measures: fewer factory jobs do not by themselves mean less manufacturing output. The comparison is relevant to debates about automation and industrial decline, but does not establish what caused either trend.
Work After Work is framed around a further question: whether machines will displace some kinds of work and where workers may move next. The first episode presents the sector model as a starting point, not a forecast that the same pattern will continue unchanged.
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Origins of the Three-Sector Model
The categories developed during the early 20th century. The article credits New Zealand economist Allan G. B. Fisher with adding the term “tertiary” to the primary and secondary categories. Fisher wrote his book The Clash of Progress and Security in 1934; it was published in 1935. Colin Clark later described the terms as already used in statistical discussions in Australia and New Zealand.
In The Conditions of Economic Progress, published in 1940, Clark compared employment patterns across countries and described movement from agriculture to manufacturing and then to commerce and services. The article says Clark also observed that industry’s share of employment does not rise indefinitely: it reaches a peak and then declines. French economist Jean Fourastié developed a related argument in 1949, suggesting that services would absorb workers released as technical progress increased productivity in industry.
The classifications are useful but not uniform. The article notes that mining can be assigned to different sectors in different statistical systems, and that a software engineer employed by a carmaker may be classified differently depending on the measure. Sector figures should therefore be read with attention to the source’s definitions.
Limits of the Employment Data
The figures do not settle how automation will affect future employment. The author’s suggestion that automation could become a sector of its own and perform up to 90% of work is explicitly presented as a thesis, not an established fact. The article says a later installment, episode 48, will examine that proposition; it provides no supporting forecast or definition of how “90% of the work” would be measured in the material supplied here.
Some comparisons also have limits. The U.S. historical series cited for farming counts the labor force aged 10 and over, while the 2025 figure is an ILO modelled estimate. The source does not provide further methodological detail alongside that figure. Sector classifications vary, and the listed employment shares do not show wages, hours worked, job quality or the total number of jobs. Those factors matter when interpreting the broader effects of the shift.
The Series Turns to Automation
Work After Work is planned as a daily series of 60 episodes about how economies are built, how work has shifted and which tasks may remain human as machines take on more. The opening installment establishes the sector framework for later episodes, including topics such as tractors and chatbots.
The author says episode 48 will put the automation-sector thesis on trial. Until then, the claim remains a stated argument rather than a finding. The series’ later installments may add evidence or qualifications; the publication date and details for each episode beyond the schedule described in the source are not provided.
Key Questions
What are the three sectors in the article?
The primary sector takes resources from nature, the secondary sector makes goods, and the tertiary sector provides services. Examples include farming, manufacturing and education, respectively.
When did services begin employing more people worldwide than farming?
The article says 2001, based on ILO modelled estimates. It does not provide a more detailed comparison window or methodology in the supplied material.
Does the article say the United States no longer manufactures goods?
No. It says U.S. factory employment was about 35% below its June 1979 peak, while real manufacturing output in 2025 was about 1.9 times its 1979 level. The job and output figures measure different things.
Is automation already a separate economic sector?
The article does not establish that. The author presents the possibility that automation could become a sector doing up to 90% of work as a personal thesis that a later episode is expected to examine.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
