From 1970 to 2000 service sector jobs more than doubled from 49 to 102 million. In contrast employment in the goods producing industry increased only by 15 per cent. As a measure of the decisive shift in investment flows from goods production to finance, insurance and real estate, we can examine the increase over time in investment in private fixed assets by industry sector. From the end of World War II through the 1970s goods production (mining, construction and manufacturing) accounted for about 32% of the total increase in such investment whereas in the 1980s and 90s the share was only 18%. In contrast in the finance, insurance and real estate sectors investment flows went from 16% in the first period to 30% in the second period (1980s and 1990s).