Lect15EconGeogTertiary-eLC

ECONOMIC GEOGRAPHY: TERTIARY SECTOR Tertiary Sector or Service Sector encompasses businesses that do not generate an actual, tangible product, but sell products and/or provide services to fulfill human wants and needs in exchange for money Examples include transportation, banking, retailing, education, office-based activities, hospitals and medical services, restaurants, home repair services, auto repair, etc. The Service Sector is often further delineated into three areas: Tertiary which refers specifically to the activities of retailing, restaurants, hotels, transportation, communication, utilities, education, hospitals, plumbers, auto mechanics, janitorial services and others . This sector is also known as Consumer Services and accounts for ~45% of all jobs in the U.S. Quaternary sector refers to the collection, processing, and manipulation of information (data), financial services (banks, investments, etc.), insurance, legal services, computer services, etc .This sector is also known as Business Services and accounts for ~20% of all jobs in the U.S. Quinary sector refers to facilities involved with complex decision making, scientific research, high-level management, government and similar services . This sector is also known as Public Services and accounts for ~15% of all jobs in the U.S. SO, ~80% of all U.S. jobs are in the Tertiary Sector The leading industry (in terms of number of jobs and total value) in the world, as of the beginning of 2020, was in the Tertiary sector: Tourism and Travel This encompassed ~11% of all jobs worldwide (~260 million people), ~ $4 trillion or 11% of combined world-wide GNP. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic this may have changed. Why are there so many jobs in the Tertiary Sector ? High demand for those services , especially in MDCs and DCs, because people have the money to spend on those services, and/or they are essential. High demand in LDCs to provide services for tourists from the MDCs. Increased mechanization of primary and secondary sector activities, thus lower demand for workers in those sectors High level of urbanization , where most service jobs exist. Higher pay and/or better working conditions in many service sector jobs

Why is a service business located where it is? As with any business, to maximize profit and minimize costs Factors: 1) Location to Inputs (raw materials), 2) Location to labor, 3) Location to markets/customers , 4) Transportation costs, 5) Energy costs, 6) Others as discussed earlier. One idea which tries to explain the distribution of services, is that settlements serve as centers of market areas for services . This is the idea of Central Place Theory . It was proposed in the 1930s by German geographer Walter Christaller and works best in MDCs in areas of few physical barriers and that are not heavily industrialized. But it can be applied to other areas as well. It is predicated on two ideas: That there are fewer large settlements (cities) and they are farther apart than smaller settlements (towns, villages, cities, etc.) And those larger settlements provide services for a larger number of people who are willing to travel farther for those services Another key factor is that some settlements have more centrality than others, so the service area of larger settlements covers a large region with smaller settlements within it. This is the degree of centrality for that city. Within this is the idea that certain Central Goods and Services are only provided at a central place and not everywhere . These are often essential services such as hospitals, major government services, or specific services such as professional sports venues, concert facilities, etc. Also incorporated within this is the idea of Range of Scale (also known as Range of Service ), which is the distance people are willing to travel to acquire the service Central Place Theory models an arrangement of settlements (villages, towns, cities, etc.) that is in a hexagonal pattern based on the services provided by them. The areas served are the market area of each settlement from which people are attracted to use that settlement’s goods and services. The size of the market area for a specific sized settlement is determined by two factors: Range of Service and Threshold of Service The Range of Service varies with varying services and has a time component and a distance component. For some services, the time it takes to get to the service is more important than the actual distance to the service and vice versa For example, how far you would go to buy a pizza or a book vs how far you would go to get specialized medical treatment. The Threshold of a Service , which refers to the minimum number of people needed to support the service (business)

Zurich, and others. Tertiary Tier cities of the world stage include such examples as Houston, Miami, Atlanta, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Beijing, Seoul, Manila, Berlin, Vienna, Madrid, Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Rio de Janeiro, Johannesburg, Sydney, and others. Within a country there may also exist more regional command and control centers or cities. For the U.S. these include Boston, Cincinnati, Denver, Kansas City, Seattle, Phoenix, St. Louis, and others. Other cities may be of importance for specializing in certain services. For example, Education centers include Madison (WI), Raleigh-Durham (NC), Athens (GA), etc. Resort centers include Orlando (FL), and Las Vegas (NV). Military centers include Norfolk (VA), and San Diego (CA) while Rochester (MN) is a Medical center.