Copper mine near Tucson, Arizona.
© GalinaSt/stock.adobe.com
industry, group of productive enterprises or organizations that produce or supply goods, services, or sources of income. In economics, industries are generally classified as primary, secondary, tertiary, and quaternary; secondary industries are further classified as heavy and light.
This sector of a nationâs economy includes agriculture, forestry, fishing, mining, quarrying, and the extraction of minerals. It may be divided into two categories: genetic industry, including the production of raw materials that may be increased by human intervention in the production process; and extractive industry, including the production of exhaustible raw materials that cannot be augmented through cultivation.
The genetic industries include agriculture, forestry, and livestock management and fishingâall of which are subject to scientific and technological improvement of renewable resources. The extractive industries include the mining of mineral ores, the quarrying of stone, and the extraction of mineral fuels.
Primary industry tends to dominate the economies of undeveloped and developing nations, but as secondary and tertiary industries are developed, its share of the economic output tends to decrease.
This sector, also called manufacturing industry, (1) takes the raw materials supplied by primary industries and processes them into consumer goods, or (2) further processes goods that other secondary industries have transformed into products, or (3) builds capital goods used to manufacture consumer and nonconsumer goods. Secondary industry also includes energy-producing industries (e.g., hydroelectric industries) as well as the construction industry.
Molten steel being poured into a ladle from an electric arc furnace, 1940s.
Library of Congress, Washington, D.C. (Digital File Number: LC-DIG-fsac-1a35062)
Secondary industry may be divided into heavy, or large-scale, and light, or small-scale, industry. Large-scale industry generally requires heavy capital investment in plants and machinery, serves a large and diverse market including other manufacturing industries, has a complex industrial organization and frequently a skilled specialized labour force, and generates a large volume of output. Examples would include petroleum refining, steel and iron manufacturing (see metalwork), motor vehicle and heavy machinery manufacture, cement production, nonferrous metal refining, meat-packing, and hydroelectric power generation.
Light, or small-scale, industry may be characterized by the nondurability of manufactured products and a smaller capital investment in plants and equipment, and it may involve nonstandard products, such as customized or craft work. The labour force may be either low skilled, as in textile work and clothing manufacture, food processing, and plastics manufacture, or highly skilled, as in electronics and computer hardware manufacture, precision instrument manufacture, gemstone cutting, and craft work.
This broad sector, also called the service industry, includes industries that, while producing no tangible goods, provide services or intangible gains or generate wealth. This sector generally includes both private and government enterprises.
The industries of this sector include, among others, banking, finance, insurance, investment, and real estate services; wholesale, retail, and resale trade; transportation; professional, consulting, legal, and personal services; tourism, hotels, restaurants, and entertainment; repair and maintenance services; and health, social welfare, administrative, police, security, and defense services.
An extension of tertiary industry that is often recognized as its own sector, quaternary industry, is concerned with information-based or knowledge-oriented products and services. Like the tertiary sector, it comprises a mixture of private and government endeavours. Industries and activities in this sector include information systems and information technology (IT); research and development, including technological development and scientific research; financial and strategic analysis and consulting; media and communications technologies and services; and education, including teaching and educational technologies and services.
This article was most recently revised and updated by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica
