Sectoral shift in employment
Topic: Tertiary, Quaternary and Quinary Activities · NCERT: Class 12, Ch 6 "Tertiary and Quaternary Activities"
Meaning
The sectoral shift in employment is the change in where people work as a country develops. In the early stages of development, most people work in the primary sector, which means farming, fishing, forestry and mining. As the economy grows, more people take factory jobs in the secondary sector. In a developed economy, most people work in services (the tertiary sector) and a moderate share works in industry. Service jobs keep rising, while primary and secondary jobs stay flat or fall. This shift is a common sign of economic development.
Example
In big Indian cities such as Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Kolkata, services give most of the jobs. Shops, offices, banks, hospitals, schools and transport employ far more people there than farms or factories do.
Don't confuse with
- Shift in share of GDP: a sector's share of income can grow faster than its share of jobs. In India, services produce more than half of the country's output but give a much smaller share of its jobs.