Editing Tertiary sector of the economy (section)

== Theory of progression ==
For the last 100 years, there has been a substantial shift from the primary and secondary sectors to the tertiary sector in industrialized countries. This shift is called '''tertiarisation'''.<ref name=eurofound>[http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/emire/GREECE/TERTIARIZATION-GR.htm Definition by the European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140720074155/http://www.eurofound.europa.eu/emire/GREECE/TERTIARIZATION-GR.htm |date=July 20, 2014 }}</ref> The tertiary sector is now the largest sector of the economy in the [[Western world]], and is also the fastest-growing sector.
In examining the growth of the service sector in the early nineties, the [[Globalism|globalist]] [[Kenichi Ohmae]] noted that:

{{Blockquote|In the United States, 70 per cent of the workforce works in the service sector; in Japan, 60 per cent, and in Taiwan, 50 per cent. These are not necessarily busboys and live-in maids. Numerous of them are in the skilled category. They are earning as much as manufacturing employees, and often more.<ref>The Borderless World: Power and Strategy in the Interlinked Economy.</ref>}}

Economies tend to follow a developmental progression that takes them from heavy reliance on agriculture and mining, toward the development of [[manufacturing]] (e.g. automobiles, textiles, [[shipbuilding]], steel) and finally toward a more service-based structure. The first economy to follow this path in the modern world was the [[United Kingdom]]. The speed at which other economies have made the transition to service-based (or "[[Post-industrial economy|post-industrial]]") economies has increased over time.

Historically, manufacturing tended to be more open to [[international trade]] and competition than services. However, with dramatic cost reduction and speed and reliability improvements in the transportation of people and the communication of information, the service sector now includes some of the most intensive international competition, despite residual [[protectionism]].