Services Displace Factories in Driving U.S. Expansion: Economy

Service producers are taking over from manufacturing as the driver of the almost three-year-old U.S. expansion.

The end of the recession in June 2009 triggered the biggest surge in production in a decade, propelled by rising demand from overseas and the need to replenish inventories and upgrade equipment. That is now giving way to increasing sales at places like restaurants, transportation companies and temporary-help agencies, leading to gains in employment that have bolstered the world’s largest economy.