Tertiary Sector: Services, Trade, and Socioeconomic Impact
Tertiary Sector
Introduction
The tertiary sector encompasses education, health, safety, leisure, and transport. Recent socioeconomic changes have led to increased service needs, making the service sector dominant. These needs are unevenly distributed based on factors like a country’s development level, population density, and wealth distribution.
Classification of Activities
Services to People
These activities cater to basic needs such as education, health, justice, tourism, and hospitality. They are often guaranteed by the state and are public. In contrast, consumer services are provided by private companies.
Services to Companies
These activities support agricultural and industrial enterprises.
Distribution Services
Communication and transportation services enable the movement of goods and people across the globe.
Social Services
Social services address the basic needs of people, often referred to as the welfare state. Taxes from citizens finance these public services.
Education
Education promotes personal autonomy, social integration, and vocational training. It contributes to scientific and technical progress and enriches a country’s culture. Priorities include establishing compulsory education, ensuring free service, and promoting equal opportunities.
State Intervention in Education
The state governs educational levels, subjects, courses, and stages. It also encourages vocational education and training (VET), higher education, and provides program support and scholarships.
Quality Indicators in Education
Key indicators include enrollment rates, student-faculty ratios, and university attendance rates.
Health
Health is a basic necessity, ensuring the population’s right to life and decent living. The objective is to establish a robust healthcare system, extend lifespans, and reduce inequalities in disease prevention and treatment. This requires significant investment in skilled professionals, healthcare facilities, primary care, specialist care, and drug subsidies.
Services to Companies
This includes administration, business management, and banking services.
Business Administration
Business administration encompasses economic activities, human resources, accounting, taxation, insurance, advertising, legal services, and IT. Its economic significance is high as it generates jobs and skilled labor. Outsourcing of certain services is also prevalent.
Financing Activities
These activities channel capital movements and include banks, savings banks, and investment firms. Services offered include loans, savings management, payment processing, and currency exchange, all for interest or commissions.
Tourism
Tourism is a recreational activity involving temporary movement of people outside their usual residence for over a day. It fulfills basic needs and has a significant economic impact, creating jobs, fostering the development of other sectors, and encouraging infrastructure development.
Types of Tourism
- Cultural tourism
- Coastal tourism
- Mountain tourism
- Exotic landscape tourism
Tourism Trends
Current trends include increasing the quality of tourist offerings, diversifying supply and destinations, addressing imbalances in natural ecosystems, mitigating pollution (air, water, and soil), improving working conditions in tourism, and managing price increases for products and services.
Trade
Trade involves the exchange of goods and services for other services or money.
Types of Trade
- Domestic trade: Occurs within a country’s borders.
- International trade: Occurs between countries.
Economic Importance of Trade
Trade creates wealth and generates jobs.
Types of Domestic Trade
- Wholesale: Large companies purchase goods in bulk, with prices increasing as the number of distributors rises.
- Retail: Includes shops, supermarkets, and hypermarkets.
Trends in Domestic Trade
Retail constantly adapts to consumer habits, changes product displays, incorporates technological advancements, enhances sales strategies, and innovates retail spaces.
International Trade
International trade involves the exchange of goods and services between countries.
Exports and Imports
- Exports: Goods and services a country sells to others.
- Imports: Goods and services a country buys from others.
Trade Balance and Balance of Payments
- Trade balance: The difference between a country’s export and import values.
- Balance of payments: If a country’s revenues exceed its payments, it has a surplus. If payments exceed revenues, it has a deficit.
The Role of the State in International Trade
The state’s role ranges from non-intervention to protectionist measures.
- Tariffs: Taxes paid by importers.
- Quotas: Limits on import quantities.
- Import restrictions: Restrictions on specific foreign goods.
- Subsidies: Financial aid to promote exports.
Trading Blocs
In the face of globalization, major economic blocs encourage trade among member countries. Examples include the EU, NAFTA, ASEAN, and Mercosur.