Sectors
Business: Edexcel IGCSE, topic 1.3.1
The 3 Sectors
There are 3 main sectors in the economy:
Primary sector
- The primary sector produces raw materials. These are natural resources that can be used to make products or provide services.
- Natural resources can be:
- Extracted from the ground like oil, coal and gas
- Collected like trees in the forestry industry
- Grown like crops in the farming/agriculture industry
Secondary sector
- The secondary sector manufactures goods
- This is the next stage of the supply chain.
- Businesses in this sector turn raw materials into finished goods.
- E.g. A paper manufacturer makes paper out of wood collected by the forestry/logging industry.
Tertiary sector
- As discussed previously these services can take a wide variety of forms and can exist to serve customers, businesses or a combination of both.
- A simple example is the healthcare industry, which provides a wide range of healthcare services to people.
- Another example is Facebook, which provides a social media service to customers while also providing an advertising service to businesses.
Test yourself on Sectors
Which of the following are in the primary sector?
Which of the following are in the secondary sector?
Which sector is healthcare usually in?
Instagram (owned by Facebook) operates in which sector?
Which sector would forestry be classified as?