🔍 Read the full analysis: Three Job Sectors In Focus: Field, Factory, And Office on ThorstenMeyerAI.com
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TL;DR
ThorstenMeyerAI.com published the first episode of a planned 60-part series examining how economies and work have changed. It uses the three-sector model—primary, secondary and tertiary—to trace the long shift from farming toward manufacturing and services, while presenting future automation as a thesis rather than an established outcome.
ThorstenMeyerAI.com published the first installment of its planned 60-episode series, Work After Work, on November 2, using the categories field, factory and office to explain how employment has shifted over time. The report says farming’s share of the U.S. labor force fell from 73.7% in 1800, in estimates by economic historian Stanley Lebergott, to a modelled 1.5% in 2025 in International Labour Organization data.
The episode describes the three categories as the primary sector, which takes resources from nature; the secondary sector, which makes or builds things; and the tertiary sector, which provides services. Farming, fishing and forestry fit the first category; manufacturing, construction and energy are examples of the second; and trade, transport, health, education and government are among the third. Statistical definitions can differ, particularly for activities such as mining.
The report traces the model’s development to New Zealand economist Allan G. B. Fisher, who used the term “tertiary” in work written in 1934 and published in 1935. Colin Clark compared sectoral employment across countries in his 1940 book, while French economist Jean Fourastié argued in 1949 that services could absorb workers displaced as technology increased productivity in other sectors.
The episode gives international examples of the shift. It says China’s primary-sector share of employment declined from 83.5% in 1952 to 22.2% in 2024, and Japan’s fell from 53.8% in 1920 to 3.2% in 2020. It also reports that, in ILO modelled estimates, services employed more people worldwide than farming from 2001. These figures cover different countries and periods and should not be read as directly comparable measures.
What the Sector Shift Shows
The employment history helps explain why changes in one part of the economy do not necessarily mean work disappears overall. As farming became more productive and fewer people were needed to produce food, workers increasingly found employment in manufacturing and services. That movement is the central idea behind the episode and the larger series.
The distinction also matters to current debates about automation. The source presents the shift into services as historical evidence, not proof that future technological change will create enough new work for everyone affected. Its account highlights that the outcome depends on where employment grows, how quickly workers can move between jobs and how particular tasks are classified.
The report also challenges 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 real manufacturing output in 2025 was about 1.9 times its 1979 level. The measures describe different things: fewer workers can produce more when technology and productivity change.
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How the Three-Sector Model Emerged
The field-factory-office framing is a simplified way to group economic activity, not a precise description of every job. A software engineer employed by a car company, for example, may be counted as part of manufacturing in one statistical system and services in another. The report says the model remains useful because it helps show broad patterns in where people work.
Fisher described services as a broad collection of activities, while Clark used cross-country employment figures to chart movement from agriculture toward manufacturing and services. Clark also observed that industry’s share of employment does not keep rising indefinitely: it reaches a peak and then declines. Fourastié’s account linked that pattern to differences in the pace of technical progress across sectors.
The source draws on several kinds of evidence, including Lebergott’s historical U.S. estimates, national census figures and ILO modelled estimates. Those sources use different methods and time periods. The historical comparison is presented as a long-term pattern, rather than a single uniform dataset covering every country.
“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 Comparisons
The episode’s sector totals depend on how statistical agencies classify work. Mining, for example, is usually placed in the primary sector in the source’s account, but Clark and Japan’s census classify it as secondary. Jobs that combine technical, administrative and production duties can also be difficult to assign to one box.
The figures come from different sources and are not a single continuous international series. The material supplied does not provide all underlying tables or methodological details for every statistic, including the global comparison around 2001. The claim that automation could perform up to 90% of work is Meyer’s stated thesis; the source does not provide a method, definition of “work,” or evidence that would establish that forecast.
The Series Turns to Automation
Work After Work is described 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 activity. This opening installment establishes the sector model that the author says will frame later discussions, from tractors to chatbots.
The source says episode 48 will put Meyer’s automation thesis “on trial.” It does not provide a publication date for that episode or details of the evidence it will use. Until then, the proposed automation sector remains an argument for future examination, distinct from the historical employment figures in the first installment.
Key Questions
What is the Work After Work series?
It is a planned 60-episode series published by ThorstenMeyerAI.com about economic structure, changes in employment and the effects of machines on work. The first episode was published November 2, 2026.
What are the three sectors?
The primary sector takes resources from nature, the secondary sector makes or builds things, and the tertiary sector provides services. The source notes that classifications can vary, including for mining and some technical jobs.
What does the report say about U.S. farming employment?
It cites Stanley Lebergott’s estimate that farming accounted for 73.7% of the U.S. labor force in 1800, compared with an ILO modelled estimate of 1.5% in 2025. The figures come from different sources and methods.
Does the episode establish that automation will replace 90% of work?
No. That figure is presented as Thorsten Meyer’s thesis, not a confirmed finding. The supplied material does not specify a measurement method or evidence establishing the forecast.
Source: ThorstenMeyerAI.com
