Look at the phone in your pocket. Its metals were mined in one continent, its chips designed in another, its parts assembled in a third, and its app store is coded across the globe — then sold to you in a British high street. That single object is a map of the modern economy and of globalisation: the growing web that ties the world's places tightly together.
The four sectors of the economy
- Primary — taking raw materials from the earth or sea: farming, fishing, mining, forestry.
- Secondary — making things (manufacturing): turning raw materials into products, such as steel or cars.
- Tertiary — providing services: shops, teaching, healthcare, transport, banking.
- Quaternary — knowledge and information work: research, IT, software and design.
A single loaf of bread touches several sectors: a farmer grows the wheat (primary), a bakery turns it into bread (secondary), a shop sells it (tertiary), and the software that tracks the delivery lorries and stock was written by coders (quaternary). Most modern products work like this, weaving several sectors together.
| Sector | Example job | Grows in... |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | Farmer | lower-income economies |
| Secondary | Factory worker | emerging economies |
| Tertiary | Nurse, shopkeeper | developed economies |
| Quaternary | Software engineer | the most developed economies |
How employment changes with development
In a lower-income economy, most people work in the primary sector (mainly farming). As a country industrialises, workers move into secondary factory jobs. As it develops further, most jobs become tertiary services, with a rising slice of high-tech quaternary work.
Globalisation, TNCs and trade
Globalisation is the way people, money, goods and ideas move ever more freely across the world, driven by cheaper transport, container shipping and the internet. A big role is played by Transnational Corporations (TNCs) — companies that operate in many countries, often designing in one and manufacturing in another. Trade (buying and selling between countries) links it all, and the digital economy means services and code can now be sold anywhere instantly.