Interesting Stat of the Day showing how the US economy has changed from a manufacturing economy (almost all of the top 10 employers in 1955 are related to the manufacturer and support of the automobile) to a service economy (i.e. large retailers). I believe the top 10 in 1955 would be skewed even more towards the automobile if Ford Motor Company were included (they didn’t go public until 1956 so I believe they weren’t included in the Fortune 500 back then).
| Stat of the Day | ||||||
| 9/23/2010 | ||||||
| Top U.S. Corporate Employers | ||||||
| Rank | 1955 | # of Employees | Rank | 2010 | # of Employees | |
| 1 | General Motors | 576,667 | 1 | Wal-mart | 2,100,000 | |
| 2 | U.S. Steel | 268,142 | 2 | IBM | 410,830 | |
| 3 | General Electric | 210,151 | 3 | UPS | 408,000 | |
| 4 | Chrysler | 167,813 | 4 | Target | 351,000 | |
| 5 | Standard Oil of New Jersey | 155,000 | 5 | Kroger | 334,000 | |
| 6 | Amoco | 135,784 | 6 | Sears Holdings (incl. K-Mart) | 322,000 | |
| 7 | CBS | 117,143 | 7 | General Electric | 304,000 | |
| 8 | AT&T Technologies | 98,141 | 8 | Hewlett-Packard | 304,000 | |
| 9 | Goodyear Tire & Rubber | 95,727 | 9 | Bank of America | 283,000 | |
| 10 | Firestone Tire & Rubber | 90,000 | 10 | AT&T | 272,450 | |
| Source: 247Wallst.com, Fortune 500 database 1955 and 2010 | ||||||