What are the different types of economic activities?

Economic activity, or industry, is what people do to create wealth and earn a living. All jobs can be grouped into one of for economic activities or employment sectors:

Primary activities are the way we obtain natural resources from the land or sea. Farming, mining and fishing are primary activities (photo A).
Secondary activities are the way we make, or manufacture, goods from natural resources. Making steel, cars or mobile phones are secondary activities (photo B).
Tertiary activities are services provided for people. Education, healthcare and tourism are tertiary activities photo C).

Quaternary activities are the way research and development is provided for other industries, known as the knowledge economy. Research and development (R&D) and bio-technology are quaternary activities (photo D).

The jobs people do in the UK have changed over the past two hundred years (graph E). In 1800 we were still a pre-industrial economy and most people worked as farmers. Following the Industrial Revolution during the nineteenth century, more people began to work in the manufacturing industries and we moved to an industrial economy.

By 1900, almost half the workforce worked in factories. Since then, as we have grown wealthier, more people work in services. Meanwhile, the number of jobs in primary and secondary activities has declined and we have become a post-industrial economy. Many of our natural resources and manufactured goods are now imported from other countries.

In the UK today, few people work in primary industries such as farming. There are still some people working in secondary, or manufacturing, industries, though a lot fewer than there used to be. Most people now work in tertiary and quaternary industries, otherwise known as services and the knowledge economy (graph F).

The COVID-19 pandemic is unlikely to change the type of jobs we do, but it might change the way we work. For example, office workers are likely to spend time working from home and retail workers are more likely to work online than in shops.