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- Economic sectors and their location
Economic sectors and their location
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Every job fits into one of four sectors. The balance between them tells you a lot about a country's development.
The four sectors
Secondary: manufacturing and construction: making things.
Tertiary: providing services: shops, teaching, healthcare, transport.
Quaternary: research, development and information: scientists, IT specialists.
As a country develops, primary jobs fall, secondary rises and then falls, and tertiary and quaternary grow (the Clark-Fisher model).
Location factors
Secondary: in the past near raw materials and power (coalfields); today near markets, good transport, and cheap or skilled labour.
Tertiary: near customers, in accessible places such as city centres.
Quaternary: near universities and skilled workers, in pleasant places with good communications, such as science parks.
Why employment changes
Globalisation: manufacturing moves to countries with lower costs.
Mechanisation: machines replace workers, especially in farming.
Demographic change: an ageing population needs more care services.
Government policies: for example China's Special Economic Zones, such as Shenzhen from 1980, attracted foreign factories.
Explain why the proportion of people working in the primary sector falls as a country develops.
- Farming becomes mechanised, so fewer workers are needed.
- People move to cities for better-paid jobs in factories and services.
- Rising incomes increase demand for services more than for raw materials.
Answer: Mechanisation and better-paid jobs in other sectors.
Primary: raw materials. Secondary: manufacturing. Tertiary: services. Quaternary: research and IT. Development shifts jobs from primary to secondary and then tertiary and quaternary. Location depends on resources, markets, transport, labour and universities. Changes come from resource depletion, globalisation, mechanisation, demographics and government policy.
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