What’s the future of the American economy? This chart, compiled from the most recent jobs data, offers us an interesting peek. It reveals which industries have added jobs over the last four years, during a time when most sectors were slashing them. Click here to see a larger version over at Wired.

So, the two sectors that added the most jobs shouldn’t be too surprising: Internet technology and renewable energy. Both are the clear front-runners to lead the global economy for decades to come. More surprising is the fact that the US is actually quite laggard in its clean tech development and deployment compared to nations like Germany, Spain, and China — which suggests that the sector would be a prime candidate for further stimulus should the government decide it’s worth addressing the fact that the unemployment rate continues to hang around a woeful 9-10%.

Clean energy needs further large-scale investment to compete against the well financed (and heavily subsidized) fossil fuel companies. Better yet, pricing the carbon emissions of polluting industries would label the playing field.

This chart shows that America’s future lies in clean energy, and we’re plodding along in that direction as it is. But further encouragement from government could speed the process — and reduce global warming emissions and put people to work at the same time.

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Image: Screengrab via Wired