Leaving Cert Business | Unit 6 Categories of Industry

The video introduces the topic of categories of industry, a popular but sometimes uncertain exam topic. The speaker advises providing additional answer points due to potential variations in marking schemes. It's noted that this topic has appeared in 8 out of the last 13 exams, often as a short question or question two.

The primary sector, based on natural resources like agriculture, forestry, and fishing, provides raw materials for the secondary sector and alternative energy sources. Trends include pressure to reduce environmental impact and adopt sustainable farming, climate change affecting production, a move towards renewable energy, rising operational costs (fertilizer, fuel), changing customer tastes (organic, plant-based products), and labor shortages, particularly for seasonal or physically demanding work.

The secondary sector processes raw materials into finished goods, providing direct and indirect employment and impacting exports (e.g., pharmaceuticals, food products). Key trends include rising production costs (raw materials, energy, transport), skill shortages (especially in construction), increased global competition requiring focus on high-quality or specialized products, greater use of automation and advanced technology, growth in construction and infrastructure investment, and dependence on multinational companies.

The tertiary sector provides services to businesses and the public. It supports other businesses through services like insurance, banking, and hospitality. Trends include staff shortages in hospitality and tourism, the impact of the reduced VAT rate for hospitality, rising operational costs (wages, commercial rents, energy prices), increased competition from global companies and digital platforms, and a growth in tourism and service demand as the economy recovers.

The speaker reiterates that common trends across all sectors include shortages, costs, changing demand, and international competition. Students are encouraged to tailor these general points to specific sectors and to add additional points. A practice question is provided, focusing on primary and tertiary sectors in part one, and trends in the services sector in part two, emphasizing that all sectors have equal potential to appear in exams.