Flare , UC Berkeley's data visualization lab, put out this great graphic on Americans' reported occupations from 1850-2000. We learned about this from Chris Blattman , who teaches Political Science and Economics at Yale, via Mark Thoma . Blattman takes issue with what seem to be some glaring ommisions (teacher, doctor/nurse, truck driver, lawyer), thought that may be a categorization issue rather than an ommission. (If anyone knows, please share). Still this is a remarkable portrait of the shifting occupations over time. Click here for the full, interactive version.