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Thorsten Meyer AI has launched the first episode of Work After Work, a 60-part series about how economies and jobs have changed. Episode 1 uses a three-sector model to trace employment’s shift from farming toward manufacturing and services, while presenting a forecast about automation as the author’s thesis rather than an established outcome.
Thorsten Meyer AI published the first episode of Work After Work on November 2, opening a planned 60-episode series about economic change and the future of work. The roughly seven-minute episode explains a three-sector framework—primary work that takes resources from nature, secondary work that makes goods, and tertiary services—and uses historical estimates to show how employment has shifted away from farming.
The episode describes the framework as a map of work, not a precise classification for every occupation. Farming, fishing and forestry are examples of the primary sector; manufacturing, construction and energy supply fall under the secondary sector; and trade, transport, health, education and government are among the services grouped into the tertiary sector. The source notes that statistical conventions differ: mining, for example, is classified as primary in many accounts but has been placed in the secondary sector by some authorities.
Historical figures in the episode show the scale of the shift. Citing estimates by economist Stanley Lebergott, it says farming accounted for 73.7% of the U.S. labor force in 1800, 40.2% in 1900 and 12% in 1950. It gives the International Labour Organization’s modelled estimate for 2025 as 1.5%. For China, the episode reports the primary sector’s share of employment fell from 83.5% in 1952 to 22.2% in 2024; for Japan, it cites a decline from 53.8% in the 1920 census to 3.2% in 2020.
The episode also addresses the claim that the United States no longer makes things. 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. These are separate measures: fewer factory jobs do not, by themselves, mean lower manufacturing output.
Field, Factory, Office: The Three Sectors Behind Every Job
Thorsten Meyer AI opens a planned 60-episode series with a map of how work moved from farming toward manufacturing and services—and a clearly labeled thesis about what automation might change next.
Three sectors, three kinds of activity
Economies can produce essential goods while the share of workers in each sector changes. The categories offer a broad view of that structural shift.
From nature
Work that takes resources directly from the natural world.
Farming · fishing · forestryMaking goods
Work that turns materials and energy into products and infrastructure.
Manufacturing · construction · energy supplyProviding services
Work that supports people, businesses and public life.
Trade · transport · health · education · governmentThe long move away from farming
Historical estimates cited in the episode show agriculture’s share of employment falling across several economies. Each figure belongs to its own date and statistical context.
United States · farming share
Share of the labor force; estimates cited from Stanley Lebergott, with a modeled 2025 estimate from the ILO.
China and Japan · primary sector
Reported employment shares at the dates cited in the episode; country series are shown separately.
Fewer factory jobs can coexist with more output
The episode challenges the claim that the United States “no longer makes things” by comparing two distinct measures.
U.S. factory employment is reported to be below its June 1979 peak.
Inflation-adjusted U.S. manufacturing output in 2025 compared with 1979.
How the three-sector idea took shape
The episode traces the framework through economists who named and studied broad patterns of structural change.
Allan G. B. Fisher
Added “tertiary” to the primary and secondary categories. His book The Clash of Progress and Security was published in 1935; he later argued that employment shifted toward industry and, even more, services.
Colin Clark
In The Conditions of Economic Progress, he compared employment patterns across countries and described movement from agriculture to manufacturing and then services.
Jean Fourastié
His book argued that services would absorb workers released as technology increased productivity in other areas of the economy.
“From agriculture to manufacture, and from manufacture to commerce and services” Colin Clark · as summarized in the episode
Automation: a thesis, not a settled forecast
Historical patterns can help frame questions about the future. They cannot guarantee how future employment will develop.
of work could be performed by automation, the episode suggests
Meyer proposes that automation could become a sector of its own. The source does not define what “work” measures, provide the underlying assumptions, or give a precise timeline beyond “within a decade or a few decades.” This is presented as a thesis, not an established outcome.
From broad shifts to specific questions
Work After Work is planned as a daily series of 60 episodes about how economies are built, where work moves, and which tasks may remain human.
How Employment Changed Sectors
The three-sector model helps readers understand why employment patterns can change even when societies continue to produce essential goods. The episode’s figures show that a much smaller share of workers can produce food as farming changes, while employment expands in manufacturing and services. That shift shapes where jobs are found and which skills economies rely on.
The manufacturing comparison makes a related point: job counts and output are not the same measure. The figures cited for the United States indicate that factory employment has declined from its historical peak even as inflation-adjusted output rose. The episode presents this as evidence against the broad claim that the country no longer manufactures, while leaving the causes of the changes to be explored across the series.
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Economists Behind the Three Sectors
The episode traces the model’s development through economists who named and measured the sectors. It credits New Zealand economist Allan G. B. Fisher with adding “tertiary” to the familiar primary and secondary categories. Fisher wrote his book The Clash of Progress and Security in 1934; it was published in 1935. The episode says he later set out the three-way division and argued that employment in developing economies shifted toward secondary and, to a greater extent, tertiary activity.
In The Conditions of Economic Progress (1940), Colin Clark compared employment patterns across countries and described movement from agriculture to manufacturing and then to services. The episode also cites French economist Jean Fourastié, whose 1949 book argued that services would take in workers released as technology raised productivity elsewhere. These are historical interpretations of structural change, not guarantees about how future employment will develop.
“from agriculture to manufacture, and from manufacture to commerce and services”
— Colin Clark, as summarized in the episode
Limits of the Sector Forecast
The sector categories do not classify every job consistently. A software engineer employed by a carmaker, for example, may be counted as part of manufacturing in one statistical system and services in another. The source also mixes estimates from different countries, periods and statistical approaches, so the figures should be read with their stated dates and definitions.
The episode’s suggestion that automation could become a sector of its own and perform up to 90% of work is explicitly presented by Meyer as a thesis, not a confirmed forecast. The source does not specify the measure of work, the assumptions behind the figure or a precise timeframe beyond “within a decade or a few decades.”
The Series’ Next Questions
Work After Work is planned as a daily series of 60 episodes on how economies are built, how work has moved and which tasks may remain human as machines take on more activity. The first episode points ahead to later topics including tractors and chatbots. The source says Episode 48 will examine the automation thesis, but it gives no release dates for that installment or a schedule beyond the daily-series description.
Key Questions
What is Work After Work?
It is a planned 60-episode daily series by Thorsten Meyer AI about economic change, the movement of work between sectors and automation.
What are the three sectors?
The primary sector takes resources from nature, the secondary sector makes goods, and the tertiary sector provides services. Statistical systems differ on where some activities, including mining, belong.
What does the episode say about U.S. manufacturing?
It reports that 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.
Is the automation forecast established fact?
No. Meyer labels the idea that automation could become a sector performing up to 90% of work as his thesis. The source does not provide the forecast’s measurement method or assumptions.
Source: Thorsten Meyer AI
