06 February 2015

You'll probably never guess the most common job in your state.


NPR used "data from the Census Bureau, which has two catch-all categories: "managers not elsewhere classified" and "salespersons not elsewhere classified." Because those categories are broad and vague to the point of meaninglessness, we excluded them from our map."

As the slider on the (noninteractive) embed indicates, the map at the NPR link is interactive, allowing one to view changes over three decades.  This was the map in 1978:


The "farmer" category shriveled with mergers and corporatization.  "Secretary" receded with the arrival of computers.   As the article notes, the data is markedly influenced by how occupations are categorized and grouped, so this is a blunt instrument at best.  But still interesting.

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