Edexcel IGCSE Geography Your notes

Economic Sectors
Contents
Classification of Economic Sectors & Employment
Location of Economic Sectors
Changes in Economic Sectors

© 2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. Get more and ace your exams at savemyexams.com 1
 Classification of Economic Sectors & Employment
Your notes
The four economic sectors
An economic activity is the production, purchase or selling of goods and services
Economic activities can be grouped into four sectors:
Primary activities are the growth or extraction of raw materials - farming, fishing,
mining and forestry
Secondary activities are when materials are processed to produce a finished
product, for example, car manufacture, food processing
Tertiary activities involve the provision of a service, including retail, transport,
schools, healthcare etc.
Quaternary activities include the provision of specialist information/knowledge
such as research and development, information technology etc.

Worked Example
Identify what is meant by an economic sector
(1 Mark)
A. The chain of production in manufacturing
B. An economic shift in employment
C. A classification of types of employment
D. A classification of employment structures
Answer:
C (1) - a classification system for types of employment
The other answers are not related to employment sectors which are the four
groups - primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary

Examiner Tips and Tricks

Remember the economic sectors can also be used to group employment types. For
example, a farmer is employed in the primary sector whereas a teacher is employed in
the tertiary sector.

Changes over time

© 2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. Get more and ace your exams at savemyexams.com 2
 Economic sectors are an indicator of a country's economic development using either:
The amount each sector contributes to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Your notes
The percentage of the population they employ
The proportions of each economic sector's GDP and employment changes over time:
In the pre-industrial period, the primary sector dominates with steady increases in
the secondary and tertiary sectors
As countries develop, the reliance on the primary sector for GDP and
employment rapidly decreases
During the industrial period, the amount of GDP and employment in the secondary
sector increases to become dominant and then decreases
The primary sector continues to decrease and the tertiary sector increases
Developed countries such as the UK, Germany and France began to move out
of this stage in the 1960s
Newly industrialised (emerging) nations such as China and India began to move
into this stage at that time
In the post-industrial phase, the tertiary and quaternary sectors increase whilst the
secondary and primary sectors decrease
The tertiary sector dominates employment and GDP in the post-industrial
period

The Clark-Fisher Model

Causes of changes over time

There are several reasons for the change in percentages employed in each sector:
Increasing mechanisation in agriculture led to a decrease in the amount of jobs
available
People moving to urban areas to find jobs in secondary and tertiary sectors

© 2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. Get more and ace your exams at savemyexams.com 3
 Increasing mechanisation and global changes then lead to a decrease in secondary
employment in some countries - this is known as deindustrialisation
Your notes
Technological improvements lead to an increase in tertiary and quaternary
employment

Examiner Tips and Tricks

You should be able to look at a pie chart or graph of the economic sectors and work
out a country's stage of development. A developing country will be dominated by
primary economic activities, an emerging country is likely to have fairly equal amounts
of each type of economic sector employment, and finally, a developed country will
be dominated by tertiary economic activities.

© 2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. Get more and ace your exams at savemyexams.com 4
 Location of Economic Sectors
Your notes
Factors influencing the location of economic
sectors
Every type of economic activity has a particular location
The location is affected by both physical and human factors
These factors relate to the needs of the economic activity
Physical factors include:
Raw materials: industries require raw materials to produce goods
Land: how much land costs and how much is available
Energy: where the industries get their power supply from
Climate: some industries benefit from particular climates
Human factors include:
Capital: the money that is available to set up and run the economic activity
Transport and communications—accessibility by road, air and rail is important to
many industries
Market: how close the industries are to the market
Labour: all industries need workers
Government policy: tax incentives, cheaper rent

Factors affecting primary activity location

Primary economic activities include agriculture, mining, forestry and fishing
Distance from the market and cost of transport are particularly important for mining
due to the bulky products
Climate would be more important for agriculture
Climate - precipitation, sunshine hours and temperature all affect the type of crops
grown or livestock
Land - The amount of land available, cost, soil type and resources (coal, gold)
Market - Some crops need to be very close to the market, such as soft fruits
(strawberries)
Government policies - Whether subsidies are available
Labour - In developed countries, there are few workers needed due to mechanisation
Transport - Access to roads to transport crops, animals, quarried/mined materials,
timber

© 2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. Get more and ace your exams at savemyexams.com 5
Factors affecting secondary activity location
Secondary economic activities involve car manufacturing, food processing, and Your notes
shipbuilding.
The importance of the location factors depends on:
The weight of raw materials and the finished product as heavier, bulky products cost
more to transport
The size of the factory required for car manufacture needs much more space than
food processing or clothing production
Raw materials - How close the activity needs to be to raw materials and the types of raw
materials will depend on the industry
Industries needing heavy or bulky raw materials will be located near the raw
materials
Land - Large areas of land are often required for factories, so the cost and amount of the
land are important
Water - a nearby water supply may be needed for industrial processes
Market - Access to the market is important to be able to sell the goods made
Government policies - Tax incentives, grants, and loans may be available if the
economic activity is located in a particular area
Energy - A power source is needed; this used to be coal or water
During the Industrial Revolution, this meant that factories were located near coal
fields
Energy is now provided by electricity, which can be accessed in many areas
In developing/emerging countries where energy infrastructure is poorer, factories
are located near energy sources
Labour - Mechanisation means that not as many workers are required
Transport - Access to roads is essential to bring in raw materials and send out the
product
Factories may also be located near to ports

Factors affecting tertiary activity location

Tertiary economic activities involve providing a service such as healthcare or retail. The
most important factor for location is usually:
Proximity to the customers
Land - The amount of land depends on the type of economic activity; large retail parks
need lots of land
Market - Needs to be close to the customers or service users

© 2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. Get more and ace your exams at savemyexams.com 6
 Energy - A power source is needed—electricity, which can be accessed in many areas
Labour - Workers needed both skilled and unskilled Your notes
Transport - It needs to be accessible for customers, workers and in the case of retail, to
bring in the products
Factors affecting quaternary activity location
Quaternary economic activities involve high technology, such as research and
development. The most important factors in their location:
Proximity to skilled workers and universities
Pleasant working environment
Land -Science parks need large areas of land, usually near a university on the rural-urban
fringe
Energy - A power source is needed—electricity, which can be accessed in many areas
Labour - Skilled labour is needed, often university graduates
Transport - Needs to be accessible to the workers

Worked Example
Using evidence from the photograph, suggest three reasons why the location
shown in figure 1a was chosen for the retail park.
(3 Marks)

Bexhill Retail Park - Dr-Mx licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0

© 2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. Get more and ace your exams at savemyexams.com 7
 Figure 1a: Retail park
Answer: Your notes
Any three of the following:
Close to a main road for accessibility (1)
Flat land (1)
Houses nearby for workers/customers (1)
Space for car parking (1)

Examiner Tips and Tricks

Remember, if a task asks for evidence from the map, photo, or graph in a question,
then you can only use information that you can see on the source. You would not get a
mark for stating 'cheap land' in the worked example because there is no evidence of
this in the photograph.

Changing location of economic activities

The location of economic activities does not stay the same but changes over time

Primary activities
The location of primary activities may be affected by several factors:
Drought, soil erosion, flooding and other events may lead to decreased growth of
crops/raising of livestock
Raw materials may run out in an area or become economically unviable
Climate change may affect the types of crops which can be grown

Secondary activities
The location of manufacturing activities or secondary economic activities has
changed significantly:
Transport is faster and cheaper, which means products can be moved around the
world
An increase in transnational corporations (TNCs) with factories and offices in many
countries
Factories were once tied to a power source of coal supplies or water
Electricity is now available almost anywhere
The internet means instant communication with factories and offices around the
world is possible
Government policies in emerging and developing countries are aimed at attracting
manufacturing, often using tax incentives

© 2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. Get more and ace your exams at savemyexams.com 8
 Cheaper labour, less strict health and safety, cheaper land and more workers are all
available in developing and emerging countries
Your notes
These reduce costs and increase profits
Raw materials may no longer be available in the area
These changes have led to a reduction in secondary economic activities in developed
countries such as the UK
This is known as deindustrialization
Tertiary activities
The location of tertiary and quaternary economic activities is increasingly located in
rural (greenfield) areas on the rural-urban fringe due to several factors:
There is more open space for expansion and car parking
Land is cheaper
More accessible
Located near the suburbs and commuter village, good access for workers and
customers
Increase in science parks, business parks and retail parks where similar businesses
are located together
This process is known as decentralisation

Quaternary activities
The location of quaternary activities is often on the rural-urban fringe on greenfield
sites, near universities or other quaternary businesses
The activities are often focused on regions as a result of government investment in a
particular area
Improvements in infrastructure, particularly communication make areas attractive to
quaternary activities

© 2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. Get more and ace your exams at savemyexams.com 9
 Changes in Economic Sectors
Your notes
Causes of change in employment
As countries develop, the number of people employed in each economic sector
changes
This can be seen in the Clark-Fisher Model and the pie charts below
In developing countries, such as Kenya, more people are employed in the primary
sector because:
often, a significant percentage of the rural population are subsistence farmers
the countries depend on raw material exports to developed and emerging
countries
In emerging countries, such as China, the dependence on secondary economic activity
increases because:
factories are located in emerging countries due to lower costs
more raw materials may be available in these countries
government policies aim to attract companies to locate there
In developed countries, such as the UK, there is dependence on tertiary economic
activities because:
education levels are higher so people want tertiary sector jobs, which are, on
average, higher paid than secondary and primary jobs
deindustrialisation means there are fewer jobs in secondary economic activities
mechanisation means there are fewer jobs in primary and secondary economic
activities
there is a higher demand for services because people have more disposable
income

© 2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. Get more and ace your exams at savemyexams.com 10
 Your notes

Employment by economic sector

Factors which affect the numbers of people employed in the different economic
sectors include:
availability of raw materials
globalisation
technology
demographic changes
government policies

Availability of raw materials

Raw materials may have run out or be economically unviable to obtain
Crop production and livestock may be reduced due to drought, flood, pest/disease or
soil erosion
Improvements in technology may reduce the amounts of raw materials needed

Globalisation
Transnational corporations (TNCs) have factories and offices in many countries
Lower costs tend to be in developing and emerging countries
The internet and improved communication mean that service activities such as call
centres can be located anywhere in the world
Industries such as textiles and steel manufacturing are increasingly located in emerging
countries

Technology
There are fewer jobs in farming, mining and many factories due to mechanisation

© 2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. Get more and ace your exams at savemyexams.com 11
 The Internet means companies can manage factories and offices located in many
different countries
Your notes
Improvements in transport have reduced the friction of distance
Demographic change
An increasing population means that there is a greater demand for products and
services
People have more disposable income to spend on leisure and other services
The demand for goods and services is affected by the age structure of the population
An increasing population means there are more workers available

Government policies
Government policies target particular economic activities to locate in their country
using :
tax incentives
infrastructure improvements (new railways, airports)
grants/cheap rent
International treaties impact what countries can trade
In communist countries, governments have much more control over industry types and
location

© 2025 Save My Exams, Ltd. Get more and ace your exams at savemyexams.com 12