Tertiary Sector: Services, Healthcare, and Education
The Tertiary Sector: An Overview
1. The Tertiary Sector
The tertiary sector encompasses a wide array of activities, including facilitating the flow of goods, people, services, and information. It also involves financing economic activities, training and educating workers, providing healthcare, and supplying leisure products. This sector has experienced significant growth due to shifts in industrialized societies over the past fifty years, allowing labor to move from farming and manufacturing. This shift has been accompanied by an increased standard of living and a greater demand for services by businesses. The growth and dominance of the tertiary sector are known as the tertiarization of the economy or the service economy. This sector plays an increasingly important role in the global economy, although its relative weight varies depending on a country’s level of economic development. There are notable differences between developed and developing countries in terms of the quantity and quality of services provided.
2. Public and Private Services and Financialization of the Economy
One common way to classify tertiary sector activities is by ownership.
Public Services: These are created and managed by the government to guarantee basic services to the general population. This includes the civil service, defense, justice, fire service, education, and healthcare.
Private Services: These are created and managed by private companies with the aim of obtaining financial benefits, such as a newspaper. Private companies may also provide services that are also offered by the public sector, although this is usually regulated by the state.
Financialization of the Economy: Banking and finance are crucial services. They provide a secure system for storing money, enabling people to do business and generate more money. While these activities don’t employ many people, the rest of the economy depends on them, as does the value of all non-financial activities combined. This is why, in addition to the tertiarization of the economy, we also say that the economy has been financialized.
3. Healthcare and Education
Healthcare: This includes all activities related to preventing and treating human illnesses. It has a significant impact on health and is one of the most important tertiary sector activities. Healthcare can be provided by private companies or government bodies. Due to the high cost of private healthcare, public healthcare services play a significant role. There is a great inequality between developed and developing countries in terms of healthcare, depending on investment (facilities, workforce) and results (life expectancy, mortality rates).
Education: The education sector of a country includes all services used to provide people with education and training. The education sector is also very important because it is related to a country’s scientific progress and innovation. Education is a service provided by both private companies and the government.