Agriculture and its related industries provide 9.2 percent of U.S. employment

In 2012, 16.5 million full- and part-time jobs were related to agriculture—about 9.2 percent of total U.S. employment. Direct on-farm employment provided over 2.6 million of these jobs. Employment in the related industries supported another 13.9 million jobs. Of this number, food services and drinking places accounted for the largest share—10.8 million jobs—and food manufacturing supported 1.5 million jobs. The remaining agriculture-related industries together supported another 1.5 million jobs. This chart appears in ERS’s data product, Ag and Food Statistics: Charting the Essentials, on the ERS website.