Here’s a neat data visualization chart that shows a stacked time series of occupations and their percentage of the U.S. labor force since 1850. Some of the occupation titles are out of date, but it’s worth checking out. One of the cooler occupations to examine is Farmers — which has gone from 44.7 percent of the male workforce in 1850 to 0.4 percent in 2000.
The data comes from the U.S. Census and the University of Minnesota Population Center.