1. Types of Economic
Activities
Powerpoint Templates

2. Economic Development
Economic development refers to how advanced an economy is. Economists and geographers have found that a nation’s level of economic development is often closely tied to the types of economic activities its people engage in.
Refer to the first paragraph in the Jarrett book on page 297 for an example about countries and what economic activities that they engage in.

3. Primary Economic Activities
The most basic, or primary, economic activities in all societies involve the production of foods and the extraction of resources.
What are some examples of economic activities that would be considered primary?
Do you think a country would be considered more or less developed if it had a HIGH level of primary economic activities? Explain your answer.
This link has a video that quickly describes each of the parts of economic development.

4. Secondary Economic Activities
The manufacture and production of goods (like making textiles and furniture) is considered the secondary level of economic activity.
Secondary economic activities add value to raw materials by processing them or by changing their form.
Examples of secondary economic activities would be a log being cut into wooden planks and then made into furniture or iron ore changed into steel and then made into rail road tracks.
What is another example of a secondary economic activity?

5. Tertiary Economic Activity
Tertiary economic activities deal with services. Services include occupations such as a teacher, nurse, doctor, accountant, retailer, truck driver or musician.
In the US, more than 80% of the labor force are tertiary workers. They perform some form of service rather than producing a good.
Is it important that a country has an equal percentage of people participating in each level of economic activity?
Why or why not?

6. Quaternary Economic Activity
Quaternary activities consist of those involving information processing and management. Occupations in this category would include computer programmers or the general manager of a company.
What countries do you think would have a high level of people employed at the quaternary economic level?
What are some countries that would have low percentages of people employed at the quaternary level?

7. Putting it all together
What would be an example of a quaternary activity in the pencil example above?

8. Let’s see what you know….

9. Use your fingers to show whether the image is primary, secondary, tertiary or quaternary.

10. Urcomunicacion, “InvestigadoresUR” August 20, 2008 via Wikipedia, GNU.
Quaternary

11. Régis Lachaume, “Pátzcuaro-Trad-Fishing-3” December 2005 via Wikipedia, Public Domain.
Primary

12. L. Lartigue, “A class in a newly rebuilt secondary school in Pendembu Sierra Leone” Between via Wikipedia, Public Domain.
TertIary

13. Chuquicamata, Chile, site of the largest circumference and second deepest open pit copper mine in the world.
Nanosmile, “Chuquicamata-002” October 2, 2005 via Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution Share.
Primary

14. Primary
Hinrich, “Ueberladewagen” Summer 2005 via Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribute.

15. Secondary
Large electric phosphate smelting furnace used in the making of elemental phosphorus in a TVA chemical plant in the Muscle Shoals area, Alabama
Alfred T. Palmer “TVA Phosphate Smelting Furnace” June 1942 via Wikipedia, Public Domain.

16. Primary
Heikki Valve , “TJ Harvesteri” Before Ocober 29, 2005 via Wikipedia, GNU Free Documentation License.

17. DAVOS-KLOSTERS/SWITZERLAND, 30JAN09 - Lord Carey of Clifton(VLTR), Archbishop of Canterbury ( ), United Kingdomduring, Jonathan Sacks, Chief Rabbi of the United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth, United Kingdom, Mustafa Ceric, Grand Mufti of Bosnia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Jim Wallis, Editor-in-Chief and Chief Executive Officer, Sojournes, USA, , captured at the press conference 'Religious leaders call for the peace in the middle east' at the Annual Meeting 2009 of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, January 30, 2009.
World Economic Forum, “Religious Leaders World Economic Forum – 2009” January 30, 2009 via Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution.
TertIary

18. Secondary
Magnes Manske, “HMS Dauntless D33” August 6, 2008 via Wikipedia, Public Domain.

19. Veronica538, “Truckdriver” May 6, 2008 via Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution.
TertIary

20. Quaternary
Dr. Marcus Gossler, “Graz University Library” October 3, 2005 via Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution.

21. Secondary
Andreas Praefecke, Wolfsburg, Germany: VW-Werk Private photograph, February 2003 (uploader has written permission to license as GNU-FDL

22. Quaternary
Lawrence Jackson, “Obama Health Care Speech to Joint Session of Congress” September 9, 2009 via Wikipedia, As a work of the federal government this image is in the public domain.

23. Primary
Fanghong, “Grazing Yaks” February 4, 2007 via Wikipedia, Creative Commons Attribution.

24. What’s the connection between a country’s level of development and the types of economic activities taking place?

25. In a “less developed” country…
Most people are engaged in primary economic activities, such as agriculture or mining.
Many of the people engage in subsistence farming or work for large-scale, commercial farming operations.
What is subsistence farming?
Why would being engaged in primary economic activities be an indicator of a less developed country?

26. In a “newly industrialized country”…
Many of the people are engaged in secondary economic activities, such as manufacturing products or automobiles to be exported.
Some newly industrialized countries include China and Thailand.
What could be a cause of so many manufacturing businesses taking place in newly industrialized countries?

27. In a “more developed country”…
The majority of workers are engaged in tertiary or quaternary activities.
Most people provide services or process information.
The US and France are examples of more developed countries.
Where would a more developed country (with the majority of workers performing tertiary and quaternary activities) fall on the Human Development Index? Explain your answer.

28. Chapter Study Cards Demographic Data Economic Data Social Data
Human Development Index –
Demographic Data
Economic Data
Social Data
Levels of Economic Development
Less Developed Nations
Newly Industrialized
More Developed Nations
Economic Activities
Primary
Secondary
Tertiary
Quaternary