Primary Industry: industry concerned with extracting natural resources
from the ground or the sea, e.g. agriculture, fishing, forestry, mining and
quarrying. The output of such primary production often needs further processing.
Secondary Industry: the manufacturing of goods using the raw materials
from primary industry.
Tertiary Industry: does not produce anything but involves work in the
service sector of the economy. It includes activities associated with commerce
and distribution (wholesaling and retailing) as well as banking, insurance,
administration, transport, tourism, health, education and entertainment
services.
How do employment patterns differ between countries?
LEDC
NIC
MEDC
High primary (farming)
Little mechanisation on farms
Little manufacturing
In early stages of economic development
Informal service sector in the cities is quite strong
Strong manufacturing sector
Many transnationals move to NICs to take advantage of cheap labour and
land
Farming mechanised
Automation of manufacturing or transfer of manufacturing
to NICs
Very strong tertiary sector with large numbers employed in health,
education and tourism
Growth of jobs in the knowledge economy based on the processing of
knowledge and information using telecommunications
How do employment patterns change over time?
Primary: decreases
Secondary: increases at first, then decreases
Tertiary: increases
Mechanisation of farms reduces need for farm
workers. Rural workers migrate to the urban areas
Raw materials become exhausted leading to loss of mining jobs
Rural depopulation of farmers in MEDCs. Workers prefer the better paid
and less physically demanding jobs in the tertiary sector
Industrialisation initially requires a large
secondary workforce
Factory jobs eventually replaced by automation
Manufacturing industries increasingly move from MEDCs to NICs where land
and labour are cheaper
Large and growing informal service sector
in urban areas of LEDCs as workers migrate from the countryside
As a country develops, demand grows for services such as health,
education and tourism
Strong growth in MEDCs of jobs in the knowledge economy based on
the processing of knowledge and information using telecommunications
Increase in producer services for manufacturing industry, e.g. market
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