GEOGRAPHY FORM 4 STUDY PACK

NAME OF TEACHER: MRS MUSHANINGA

SYLLABUS CODE: 0460

WEEK 2 : (LESSON 2)

TOPIC: EMPLOYMENT STRUCTURE

 LEARNING OBJECTIVES
 Define employment structure.
 Identify and classify industries into primary, secondary and tertiary and
be able to give illustrations of each.
 Describe and explain how the proportions employed in each sector
changes with respect to the level of development.

Command words Define - Give the meaning or definition of a word or

phrase.
Identify Pick out something from information you have
been given.
Describe - Write what something is like or where it is.
Describe may be used for questions about resources in
the question paper (describe the trend of a graph, the
location of a settlement on a map, etc.).
It may also be used when you need to describe
something from memory (describe a meander, etc.).
Describe and explain-say what it is like and give
reasons for this.
Explain - Write about why something occurs or
happens.

INSTRUCTIONS

Read the notes.

Watch the video clip and write short notes.
Answer the question given at the end of this paper and submit your work.
Media files
Complete geography. Simon Chapman page 164
Instant revision GCSE Geography page 92

http://youtube.com/watch?v=s8yULAzXf2Q employment structure

 KEY WORDS / TERMS
Employment Structure

Industry: Industry is any business activity or commercial enterprise. This can

include anything from teaching to fishing and accounting to house building.

MEDCs – more economically developed countries.

LEDCS – less economically developed countries.

Comparing employment structures –

MEDCs vs LEDCs
 The employment structure of a country shows how the labour force is divided between
the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors. Different countries have different
employment structures. The employment structure of a given country can tell you quite a
lot about its economy.
 In the richest countries, for example, there will usually be more people working in the
tertiary/quaternary sector than in the primary and secondary sectors. In the poorest
countries, there tend to be more people working in the primary sector than in either the
secondary or tertiary sectors.

Look at the diagram below. Based on the employment structure, which countries do you think
are the richest and poorest?
CIA FACTBOOK, 2013

In the richest country (USA), most people work in the tertiary sector. In the poorest country
(Nepal), most people work in the primary sector. In Brazil, the labour force is more evenly
distributed between the three sectors.

Note that the quaternary sector has been included in the tertiary sector.

Employment structure in the industries

As a country develops from an LEDC to an MEDC, employment in the primary

sector decreases, employment in the tertiary sector increases and employment in
the secondary sector increases (before falling back to almost the initial value).
 Employment in primary, secondary and tertiary industries

REASONS FOR THE DIFFERENCES IN EMPLOYMENT OVER TIME

 The primary sector is the most important because most societies start of as being
subsistence based. There may be some basic secondary to construct homes and
farming equipment. There is no tertiary because people are relatively uneducated
and have no free time or disposable income.

 Overtime countries begin to specialise in certain agricultural products and use

more machines. Therefore less people are needed to work on the land, but people
are needed to build equipment. People and countries start to generate income
which can be invested in factories and infrastructure therefore expanding the
importance of the secondary sector. The wealthy begin to have more leisure time
and greater disposable income so may demand a greater number of services.

 As a country becomes wealthy the cost of labour become too much to make the
secondary sector profitable so factories close and the importance declines
(deindustrialisation). However, people are now more educated with greater income
and free time to enjoy shopping, sport, etc. which expands the tertiary sector. The
high levels of education and the demand for new innovative products also allows
the quaternary sector to grow in importance.

Employment structure of an MEDC e.g. UK

 Low proportion of people working in primary industry.

 Mechanisations of jobs in the primary sector.
 Also, as primary resources have become exhausted (e.g. coal)
 A lot of resources are now imported.
 The number of people employed in the secondary sector is falling.
 Mechanisation - as machines are taking over jobs in factories.
 The tertiary sector is the main growth area.
 Most people work in hospitals, schools, offices and financial services.
 Greater demand for leisure services as people have more free time and
become wealthier.
 More jobs become available in the tertiary sector.

Employment structure of an LEDC e.g. Ghana

 The majority of people work in the primary sector.

 This is due to the lack of machinery available in farming, forestry and
mining.
 Farming is very important because people often grow the food they eat.
 Few people work in secondary industries due to the lack of factories –
 machinery is too expensive
 Multi-national companies rely on the raw materials available in Ghana to
assist in manufacturing
 products
  Tertiary sector can be larger than secondary sector.
 Most informal work is in the tertiary sector
 Growth of jobs in tourism

Triangular Graphs

Triangular graphs are excellent for showing three connected pieces of data that
add up to 100%. In Geography we can use them to present any number of things
including:

•Population structure: old dependents, young dependents and economically active

•Employment structure: primary sector, secondary sector and tertiary sector.

NB
• When reading check the axis labels carefully
• Always check which way the scale is going 0 to 100 or 100 to 0.
• Remember that each axis of the graph is read in a different direction
• When you have read the graph, check that you have done it correctly by
seeing if your three figures add up to 100%
Class activity
Exercise 1
1 Define the terms below
A employment structure
B primary sector
C tertiary sector
Secondary sector. [6]
2 classify the jobs below into primary, secondary and tertiary sector.
Teaching, farming, construction, water in a hotel, car assembling, hair dressor.[6\]
3 Describe the relationship between the primary, secondary and tertiary industry.
[3]

PRACTICE QUESTIONS
1