Role of Work in Socio-economic Development
Senior 2 · Entrepreneurship
Role of Work in Socio-economic Development
Lesson 1 of 4
18 min
Walk through any sector in Rwanda at 7 in the morning. Tea pickers are already on the slopes, a welder is lighting his torch, a moto driver is waiting at the stage, a nurse is starting her shift, and a grandmother is carrying water home for the family. All of them are working, yet their work is very different: some are paid and some are not, some grow things, some make things, some serve people. Sorting work into types lets you see how a community earns its living and where its development will come from.
Work is any activity in which people use physical or mental effort to produce goods or services, whether or not they are paid for it.
Unpaid work is still real work. Economists note that most of it is not counted in a country’s official output figures, even though every paid worker depends on it.
| Sector | What it does | Rwandan examples |
|---|---|---|
| Primary | Takes raw materials from nature. | Tea and coffee farmers, fishers on Lake Kivu, miners, foresters |
| Secondary | Turns raw materials into goods; builds. | Dairy and tea-factory workers, tailors, carpenters, builders |
| Tertiary | Provides services. | Teachers, nurses, moto drivers, shopkeepers, mobile-money agents, bankers |
Some economists add a quaternary sector for knowledge work, such as software development and research. Developing countries usually have most of their workers in the primary sector; as a country develops, more people move into secondary and tertiary work.
This case is written by Ganzaa. S2 students in Rulindo surveyed the 120 working adults in their village: 66 farm tea or food crops, 18 work in the tea factory or in building, and 36 provide services. Find the share of workers in each sector.
More than half the village depends on farming, which is typical of a rural economy. Every new job at the factory moves the village a little towards secondary work.
Tip
Memory hook. Follow a cup of tea: picking the leaf is primary, processing it in the factory is secondary, selling it in a café is tertiary. For any worker, ask: does this person take from nature, make something, or serve someone?
Solution: (a) primary; (b) tertiary; (c) secondary.
Solution: Yes. It uses physical effort to provide a service that the family needs. It is unpaid domestic work.
Solution: 130 ÷ 200 × 100 = 65%.
Solution: Formal work is registered and taxed, usually with a written contract; informal work is unregistered and usually has no contract or social protection.
Summary
Sources and credits
The village survey, the worked example and the practice items are written by Ganzaa.
This lesson adapts CC BY-SA material and is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.
