- What are economic sectors?
- Primary sector
- Secondary sector
- Third sector
- Quaternary sector
- Public and private sector
- Economic sectors in Mexico
- Economic sectors in Colombia
We explain what they are and what are the economic sectors. In addition, the characteristics of each one. We analyze those of Mexico and Colombia.
What are economic sectors?
The economic sectors classify the productive activity of a Condition or territory based on its different stages. In other words, an economic sector represents a specific segment of the production circuit, which traditionally can be primary, secondary Y tertiary, depending on where it occupies in the general production chain.
In other words, every productive circuit is broken down into economic sectors, within which it is possible to find very diverse activities, which have characteristics in common. For example, the initial activity of any production process is the collection of raw material, for which it is the primary sector that is in charge of it, whether it is minerals, organic substances, food, etc.
Primary sector
The primary sector or extraction sector is the initial sector of the circuit. Their job is to obtain the raw material directly from the natural environment. This work often involves industrial sites in the environment, so it has an important ecological impact.
The products of the primary sector, despite their importance, are the ones that have the least added value in the chain, since they serve as a supply for the secondary sector, and rarely go directly to the consumer final. And the more stops the product makes on its way to it, the more value added it will accumulate. For this reason, many of the underdeveloped economies subsist exclusively on the sale of raw materials, being forced to import manufactured products.
Examples of primary sector activities are: cattle raising, the farming, fishing, mining, the timber industry, etc.
Secondary sector
The secondary sector transforms the raw material into ready-to-eat products.The secondary sector or transformer sector, is in charge of processing and transforming the raw materials supplied by the primary sector into a good of consumption, ready for distribution and commercialization, or a semi-finished product that will feed other industries of the secondary sector.
This process normally involves the intervention of specialized machinery, if not physicochemical procedures that can be an important source of pollution, although not as much as the primary sector turns out.
Once the manufactured product leaves the secondary sector, it is ready for consumption and will therefore have accumulated added value, that is, it will be more expensive, since different energy, industrial, labor, etc. processes were involved in its manufacture. . For that reason, this sector is the most developed by the industrial powers of the world.
Examples of secondary sector industries are construction, manufacturing industry, the energy industry and also mining (it is considered both from the first and second sectors).
Third sector
The tertiary sector or sector services, is in charge of supplying the various economic actors (final consumers and intermediate segments) with various services, instead of manufactured products. That is, they are service providers, whether administrative, logistical, technical, distribution, communications, etc.
The tertiary sector is the sector with the highest employment and the highest growth in the contemporary world, and one of the sectors with the least degree of automation and mechanization yet.
Examples of tertiary sector industries are Business hotels, material transporters, travel agencies, transport companies, human Resources, etc.
Quaternary sector
There is often talk of the emergence at the beginning of the 21st century of a quaternary sector, made up of specialists and professionals dedicated to the work of research, developing and innovation, whose main axis is the generation and management of knowledge. This sector includes companies with high technology, to universities, etc.
Public and private sector
Private sector ventures only require the state as a regulatory framework. We will often hear about the public sector and the private sector. In this case, it is not a question of economic sectors, but of social sectors: the segments in which a society can be understood.
There are many of them, but these two are extremely important because they concentrate the fundamental separation between public life and private life, or as established by the roman law, the beef public and private.
Thus, the public sector is one that is administered by the government, that is, by the Condition. It is made up of public companies, state agencies, institutions (ministries, registries, etc.), all under the organization of the state criteria, that is, everything being property of the society whole.
On the other hand, the private sector is that of individuals, of third parties that carry out initiatives, ventures and organizations with capital own and without requiring the State except to guarantee the minimum framework of operation of the law. Any type of business own is a perfect example of the private sector, sustained in the private property.
Economic sectors in Mexico
The Mexican economy is the second largest in Latin America (after Brazil). Agricultural production plays a vital role in it, contributing almost a quarter of the nation's GDP, its spearheads being horticulture and the export of tropical fruits and vegetables.
The same goes for the Petroleum, an important source of income today. In other words, in Mexico, as in almost all of the so-called "Third World", the primary sector of the economy prevails in importance.
However, another important and growing sector is energy, managed by the State, and an enormous contribution from the services sector linked to sightseeing, hotels and gastronomy, given that Mexico is one of the most visited tourist countries in the planet.
Economic sectors in Colombia
Like many of the countries in the region South AmericanColombia is a country in which the primary sector is the most important, due to its enormous exports of coffee, flowers and meat foods, which support a very high percentage of its economy, being industries with a long history and high demand abroad.
However, in recent decades the service sector has grown enormously, especially those related to the Health, the Commerce, transport and telecommunications. This, however, has had a positive impact on the primary and secondary sectors, allowing greater effectiveness of their work and higher performance.