Shrinking information sector due to tech-driven innovation

(Harvard Buisness Review, November 03, 2013)

The information industry—which the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics defines as processors, producers, and distributors of data, informational, and cultural products—shed more jobs in the first decade of the millennium than any other sector except manufacturing. Down more than 750,000 jobs, the industry accounts for about 2% of the U.S. market and 4.6% of America’s GDP. The losses seem surprising, given that information businesses have long been assumed to be an engine of the modern economy. The culprit, ironically enough, is tech-driven innovation, which has produced dramatic gains in efficiency and widespread automation.