Final answer:
The largest single component of the supply side of GDP in the United States is the services sector, constituting over 60% of GDP. The manufacturing sector, including durable and nondurable goods, has decreased to about 30% of GDP since 1960.
Step-by-step explanation:
The largest single component of the supply side of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in the United States is the services sector. According to historical data, services have increasingly become a larger part of the economy, making up over 60 percent of the production side components of GDP. This trend reflects the shift from a manufacturing-based economy to one dominated by services, which include industries such as finance, health care, and education.
In contrast, the manufacturing sector, which includes both durable and nondurable goods, has seen a decline from 45 percent of GDP in 1960 to about 30 percent in 2016. In the past, nondurable goods used to outweigh durable goods, but in recent years, the tide has shifted, and now durable goods have a higher share, albeit still lower than 20 percent of GDP. Structures, another component, consistently hover around 10 percent of GDP.