Breathnach, Proinnsias
(2007)
The Services Sector.
In:
Understanding Contemporary Ireland.
Pluto Press, London., pp. 146-157.
ISBN 9780745325958
Abstract
The term ‘services’ refers to a disparate group of occupations which, together,
comprise the so-called ‘tertiary’ sector of economic activity. What distinguishes
service activities from those in the primary (extraction of resource from the
natural environment) and secondary (transformation of natural resources into
usable products) sectors is that they are not directly involved in the production
of material goods. The European Union’s General Industrial Classifi cation
of Economic Activities (generally known as the NACE classifi cation), as
adapted by Ireland’s Central Statistics Offi ce, subdivides services into nine
broad categories: wholesale and retail trade; hotels and restaurants; transport,
storage and communications; banking and fi nancial services; real estate, renting
and business activities; education; health and social work; and a residual ‘other
services’ category. Other, more conceptual classifi cations distinguish, on the one
hand, between consumer services (provided to the general public) and producer
services (provided to businesses) and, on the other, between ‘physical’ services
(e.g., transport, retailing, restaurants) and ‘informational’ services (e.g., administration,
research, education, audiovisual entertainment). Indeed, so important
have information-related activities become in modern advanced economies that
it has been suggested that they should be allocated to a separate ‘quaternary’
sector of economic activity (Gottmann, 1961).
| Item Type: |
Book Section
|
| Keywords: |
Services; Sector; Understanding; Contemporary; Ireland; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Geography |
| Item ID: |
9490 |
| Depositing User: |
Proinnsias Breathnach
|
| Date Deposited: |
17 May 2018 15:50 |
| Publisher: |
Pluto Press, London. |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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