Changing employment structures (Cambridge International IGCSE Geography)

Specification link

This page covers section 9.1.2 of the CIE IGCSE specification .

• 9.1.2- The changing employment structure of low-income countries (LICs), middle-income countries (MICs) and high-income countries (HICs).

Changing employment structure

Spec point — "The changing employment structure of low-income countries (LICs), middle-income countries (MICs) and high-income countries (HICs). "

• Employment structures change as economies develop

  • The primary sector dominates in the pre-industrial period, while the secondary and tertiary **sectors steadily grow

  • This structure is generally found in** low-income countries (LICs), as they have low-cost production and low-skilled jobs

    • As economies grow, the reliance on the primary sector for jobs begins to decline
    • LICs such as Ethiopia, Afghanistan and Madagascar are in this stage

  • During the industrial phase, employment in the secondary sector increases as manufacturing shifts from high-income countries (HICs) to emerging, low-cost economies

  • This is known as the global industrial shift

    • The primary sector continues to decrease and the tertiary sector increases
    • **Medium-income countries (MICs) **such as China and India have moved into this stage

  • In the post-industrial phase, the tertiary and** quaternary sectors increase** whilst the secondary and primary sectors decrease

    • The tertiary sector dominates employment and GDP in the post-industrial period
    • High-income countries such as Germany, Australia and the USA are in this stage

The Clark-Fisher Model

• As an economy advances, the proportion of people employed in each sector changes
• Places like the UK and the USA are ‘post-industrial societies’, where most work in the tertiary or quaternary sectors
• Places such as China and India are ‘industrial societies’, where many people work in the secondary sector
• Bolivia and Mozambique are ‘pre-industrial societies’, where most people work in the primary sector
• The Clark Fisher Sector Model above illustrates these trends, as do the examples below:

Employment by economic sector

Exam Hint You should be able to identify a country's stage of development by examining a pie chart or graph of the economic sectors.

A low-income country will be dominated by primary economic activities, an middle-income country is likely to have fairly equal amounts of each type of economic sector employment, and finally, a high-income country will be dominated by tertiary economic activities.

Causes of changes over time

• There are several reasons for the change in percentages employed in each sector:

  • Increasing mechanisation in agriculture leads to a decrease in the number of jobs available
  • People moving to urban areas to find jobs in secondary and tertiary sectors
  • Increasing mechanisation and global changes then lead to a decrease in secondary employment in some countries - this is known as deindustrialisation
  • Technological improvements lead to an increase in tertiary and quaternary employment
  • International corporations often set up factories in LICs where land and labour costs are lower