UNIT  9  ECONOMIC  SECTORS

Work: refers to the productive activities which people do for money.

Active population: group of people between 16 and 65 who are able to work.

• employed: they have a job
• unemployed: they haven´t got a job

Inactive population: people who don´t work (children, retired, housework) and people who can´t work (disabled).
Economic sectors: primary, secondary and tertiary (=service).

PRIMARY  SECTOR

Workers obtain products and resources from nature (raw materials) without any transformation.

Activities:

• agriculture = crop farming
• livestock farming
• fishing
• mining

Agriculture= crop farming: farmers cultivate the soil to grow crops. They can be dry crops (cereal like wheat, olive tree, vine) or irrigated crops (cereal like corn or rice, vegetables, fruit trees).

Livestock farming: stock farmers raise animals like cattle (cows), pigs, sheeps, goats, poultry (hens, dicks, geese, turkeys).

Fishing: fishermen catch fish from the sea. They go fishing near the coast (coastal fishing) or far from the coast (deep sea fishing). They have also fish farms where they raise fish in big tanks.

Mining: miners obtain mineral from the Earth. They work in quarries from which they obtain stone, sand, gravel or slate, and also in mines from which they extract valuable minerals.

SECONDARY  SECTOR

Workers transform raw materials into manufactured products.

Activities:

• industry
• construction

Industry:

• consumer industry: food, footwear, textile, leather, furniture
• manufacturing industry: chemical industry (medicines, paper, fertilizers), metal (steel) industry (machines), car industry, naval industry (boats, ships), aeronautic industry (aircrafts), energy industry (from coal and oil, wind farms).

Construction: houses, buildings, industries.

TERTIARY  SECTOR = SERVICE SECTOR

Workers provide services for other people. It includes the activities that transport the productos, store them, promote them and sell them.

Objectives:

• private services: to make money
• public services: to provide social care and attention

Activities:

• education
• health care
• finance
• communication
• administration
• transport
• trade
• tourism

Trade: to boy and sell products.

• domestic trade: commercial activities within a country
• foreing trade: commercial activities between different countries.
• exports: my country sells (cars, shoes)
• imports: my country buys (petroleoum, computers)

Transport:

• land: railway, motorway, train, bus, car, motorbike, underground
• sea: boat, ship; main ports in Algeciras, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia
• air: plane; main airports in Madrid and Barcelona

Tourism:

• beach tourism: to the coast in summer
• snow tourism: to the mountain in winter
• rural tourism: to small villages and countryside
• cultural tourism: to old cities, monuments, museums.