But automating routine jobs isn't something that might happen in the future. To a large extent, it's something that already happened. Today, just 8 percent of American workers work in the manufacturing sector — less than a third of the share 50 years ago. Another 6 percent work in industries like construction, mining, and agriculture that are involved in producing physical goods.
At the start of the past century, these jobs accounted for a bulk of the work Americans did. But after decades of automation (and some increases in global trade), they've been reduced to a small sliver of the US economy.
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