UNIT 5. THE ECONOMY (SOCIAL SCIENCE)

UNIT 5. THE ECONOMY

·         THE PRIMARY SECTOR

Primary sector activities obtain natural products  from nature.

-          Arable farming: cultivation of land to produce crops.  There are dry crops (for example, cereals,) which needs only rainwater, and irrigated crops (for examplem fruit), whihc needs extra water.

-          Livestock farming: farmers buy and sell animals to produce food and other products. There are two types of farming: extensive farming, animals spend a lot of time outdoors, and intensive, in which animals are in farms.

-          Fishing: catching fish and other animals from lakes, rivers, seas and oceans. Deep-sea fishing takes place far away from the coast and coastal fishing, near the coast.

-          Mining: taking natural materials from the Earth´s crust. The underground mining makes tunnels under the Eeather´s surface and the open-cast mining  takes place on the surface.

-          Forestry: exploitation of forests and tree plantations. Deforestation means cutting down forests. The number of forests are decreasing due to human factors.

·         Raw materials

We usually use raw materials to transform them into new products. We can obtain raw materials from underground (sand) or from living things (trees).

·         The primary sector in Spain

In 1900, about 60% of people worked in the primary sector. Nowadays, about 5%. There are crops like olives specially in Andalucía and oranges in Comunidad Valenciana. Pig farming is very important in Extremadura. Spain has got different coasts, for this reason, fishing is quite important too. Mining was more important in the past and the most important forestry product is the cork.

THE SECONDARY SECTOR

Workers in the secondary sector transform raw materials inot manufactured products. It is manufacturing.

-          Energy industries are very important because they produce energy for houses and other industries. We get energy from renewable energy sources like sunlight, wind or water and nn-renewable energy sources as coal, gas.

-          Construction industries: use raw materials to make building and public Works.

-          Consumer goods industries: make clothes, cosmetics etc using products from base industries and capital goods industries.

-          Base industries: transform raw materials into semi-finished products, for example chemical and metal industries.

-          Capital goods industries: use base industry products to manufacture things like machiney and equipment.

·         Manufactured products

Manufactured products can be produced  using craft methods, in which workers use their hands or tools to make their products, or industrial processes in which workers Works in industries and use complex machines to produce large quantities of products.

·         The secondary sector in Spain

This sector is growing, about 30% of active population work in it.  Most industries are in big cities like Madrid, Bilbao or Barcelona. Shoe industries have become more important.

·         The tertiary sector

It is called the service sector too becaus eprovides services to customers.

-          Education: people who work in education help us learn.

-          Healthcare: healthcare workers look after our health.

-          Retail: workers sell us products in shops, supermarkets…

-          Administration: workers organise work in offices.

-          Media and communication: provide us information (newspapers, television, radio, internet).

-          Tourism: gives accommodation and entertainment to tourists.

-          Trade:

o   Domestic trade: buying and selling products within one country.

o   Foreign trade: buying and selling products between different countries. The products we buy are imports and the products we buy are exports.

-          Transport: carry opeople and goods from one place to another. There are three groups:

o   Land transport (road and rail)

o   Air transport

o   Water transport

·         The tertiary sector in Spain

It is the largest sector. About 65% of active people work in it. There are four types of tourism: beach, rural, cultural and adventure.

                In 2013 more tan 60 million tourists came to Spain.

Spain imports machinery, food and textiles and exports chemical products, shoes, fuit and vegetables.

Spain has a big network of motorways, roads, railways, ports and airports.

ECONOMIC SECTORS IN EUROPE

·         Primary sector

In Europe, different types of natural products are produced due to the diveristy of climates. About the 4% of the population of Europe workin this sector.

·         Secondary sector

About 30% of the active population work in this sector

·         Tertiary sector

About 66% work in this sector. Tourims is very importante, specially in France, Spain, Greece and Italy. There are important ports and airoport because Europe has a good road and railway network. Europe imports pretroleum and other raw materials from other continents and exports metal products, cars and chemicals.