economic sectors
Types of commerce
Economic sectors are broad categories that divide an economy by the type of activity performed.
The traditional division distinguishes primary (extracting raw materials), secondary (manufacturing), and tertiary (services) sectors, sometimes extended to quaternary (knowledge work) and quinary (high-level decision-making).
Analysts use sector classifications to track where economic activity concentrates: The service sector now dominates most developed economies.
In investing, sectors often refer to industry groupings: tech sector, healthcare sector, energy sector.
- agricultureCultivation of land, livestock
- automotive industryMotor vehicle manufacturing sector
- constructionProcess of building something
- biotechnologyEngineering using living systems
- hospitalityGenerous treatment of guests
financial services · manufacturing · heavy industry · retail · chemical processing · information technology · forestry · renewable resources · green energy · entertainment · consulting · transportation · service industry · small business · tourism · shipbuilding · logging · oil and gas
economic sectorsshadow economy
Unrecorded commercial activity
black market · underground economy · gray market · subsistence economy