Chapter 7.3: Economic Patterns
(I) There are different parts in the economy:
Primary sector - extracting natural resources from the earth
Secondary sector - manufacturing: from raw material to prepared goods
Tertiary sector - provides services
(II) Historical Patterns:
- Traditionally, Canada's economy was mostly primary. E.g. wheat farming
- In WWII, war supplies were needed so many were in the secondary sector.
- Today, most are involved in tertiary
- demography can help us understand economic trends.
New economy - There are advances in automated and communication technologies.
Advantages: high employment rate, low prices, convenience
Disadvantages: competition, monopoly, gap between haves and don't-haves.
Other Economic Trends
- outsourcing and downsizing; restructuring and "right-sizing".
- self-employment
- contract-based and part-time jobs are more common
- replacement of manual labout with technology
Future Predictions
- Several career changes
- upgrading and development would be constantly required
- I.T. and service sectors
- flexible working conditions
Unemployment rate - the percentage of the number of people who are not in the work force over the total population.