Geography - Economic Change

Economic Change

Primary industry = the extraction of raw materials from the ground or the sea e.g. fishing, mining, farming

Secondary industry = manufacturing of the goods collected by the primary industry e.g. manufacturer, factory worker

Tertiary industry = providing or offering a service e.g. shop assistant, teacher, doctor

Decline in primary sector: 1950s = 26% and 2000 = 3%

·         Mechanisation – fewer agricultural workers needed as machines do double the work in half the time = in last 30 years – 1996 tractors had 100 horsepower

·         Raw materials = used up and are now cheaper to import – 2007 = 5500 workers + 1 million tonnes of raw materials // 1913 = 1 million workers + 287 million tonnes

·         Dirty jobs = people preferred the clean jobs that were less physically demanding as the jobs in the primary industry were seen as being ‘dirty’

Decline in secondary sector: 1950 = 55% and 2000 = less than 30%

·         Deindustrialisation = mechanisation resulted in there being less of a need for factory workers as machines now did people’s jobs

·         Globalisation = companies had more freedom as to where they moved their companies and factories to – M&S now have factories in Portugal + Morocco

·         It was much cheaper to manufacture products abroad, meaning that factories were increasingly located in places like China where there was cheap land and labour

·         Increased number of TNCs like Coca-Cola and Nike who were moving their factories to LICs – Coca Cola has a factory in India that uses 1 million litres of water every day

Demographic changes:

·         People are marrying later and having fewer children = more time for leisurely activities and are therefore spending their extra money on services in the tertiary sector

·         People have more disposable income which means that they can spend their money on tertiary services – gym memberships in Manchester are rising by 12% every year – 4 million investors

·         There is an increasing ageing population as the life expectancy is increasing and older people are retiring earlier and are now richer. Companies like Saga are using this information to run services like garden centres due to older people enjoying activities like gardening, as well as providing package holidays as old people grow more adventurous = ‘Grey Pound’ + ‘Silver Surfer’

Factors affecting the location of the primary industry:

Main factor = accessibility of raw materials

E.g. China clay Quarry, Cornwall

·         More than 120 million tonnes of china clay has been extracted

It is a favourable location because:

·         Kaolin is only found in SW England

·         The reserves are expected to last for at least 100 years

Primary industry:

·         Factories in Stoke-on-Trent demanded kaolin for porcelain production, which led to the Cornish Clay Company forming

·         By 1860, 65000 tonnes of kaolin was being mined per year

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