Industry 1980 1997

Question

Agriculture 290 727
Mining 994 586
Construction 4,473 5,513
Manufacturing 21,165 18,633
Transportation 4,623 6,247
Trade 20,258 28,813
Finance and Insurance 5,295 7,367
Services 17,186 37,380
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• The table above shows the number of employees, in thousands, in particular industries in 1980 and 1997.
• A firm that sells employee health insurance is interested in how it should allocate its sales force over the different industries.
• • Why would this firm be interested in a table such as this?
• • What type of plot would you recommend to show the distribution of the workforce over industries in each year? Explain your reasoning.
• Management is particularly interested in knowing which industries have experienced the most growth in the number of employees. What single graph do you recommend to show changes in the size of the workforce in the different industries?
• • Prepare the chart that you chose. Explain the order you chose to show the categories.
• • How does the chart highlight industries that have smaller employment in 1997 than in 1980?
• What message does your graph convey about the changing nature of employment? By focusing on the growth and using a single pictorial representation, what is hidden?
• Think of an example in your personal or business life and prepare a similar table and analysis to the one shown above. Compare two variables such as the number of hours or the amount of money spent in the various activities for the year 2000 and the year 2010. Answer the questions above for the particular activities you have chosen.