Colorado now ranks third in the United States for job growth in high-tech industries, adding over 50,000 jobs between 1990 and 1997. It has some 2,500 high-tech companies employing 165,000 workers out of a total workforce of two million. Kansas has also diversified. Production agriculture continues to play an important role, employing over 30,000 people statewide. Growth in such manufacturing sectors as aerospace is strong, but has been surpassed by the service sector, particularly in business and professional health services.
Services now rank as the dominant sector of the Kansas employment base.
From 1986-1995, Kansas added nearly 150,000 new jobs and now has its highest employment rate ever. Chicago is perhaps the most concrete illustration of the restructuring of the U.S. economy. This transformation has enabled Chicago to maintain its position as a center of manufacturing for the U.S. Heavy industry in particular has been restructured through greater use of information technology and flexibility in the production and distribution processes. Robots and computer network links between assembler and supplier plants are now widely used in the automobile industry. Innovation has also come to financial services, and Chicago-based firms have developed expertise in several high technology sectors, including printing and biotechnology research.