Quinary sector - What is it? characteristics, examples, and more

quinary sector

The economic sector includes non-profit services.

What is the quinary sector?

The quinary sector is an economic sector that includes non-profit services, such as health, culture, education, public security, among others; and also to various activities linked to government institutions, necessary for the functioning of the economy.

This sector includes all organizations that are linked to health care, education, training, and recreation, in which the consumer is considered the first beneficiary, an "equal" in the service production process. The aspect that most distinguishes quinary services from the rest is that those provided in this category have the purpose of changing and modifying the recipient in a lasting and important way.

The drastic changes in the economy, due to the exponential modernization as a result of technology and globalization, have meant that fewer people work in the primary and secondary sectors, and instead opt for carrying out their activities in the tertiary sector.

Post-industrial growth, as well as increasing urbanization across the globe, has made economic growth largely dependent on the provision of services, which is critical to understanding today's modern economies.

Due to the very heterogeneous and perhaps disorderly tertiary category, one response to its limitations has been to extend it to two additional sectors: quaternary and quinary. The quaternary sector, among other activities, brings together financial, administration, technology, or consulting services.

For its part, the quinary sector includes non-profit activities and domestic work carried out in homes.

Characteristics of the quinary sector

The main characteristics of the quinary sector are the following:

• It does not pursue profit with the development of its activities.
• Many of the organizations that carry out their work in the quinary sector are part of the public or government administration.
• They are integral. Taken as a whole, these services follow the trajectory of the life cycle of an individual, who at birth is cared for in a public hospital, then as he grows and develops, he is instructed in the various educational levels; his safety is protected by law enforcement agencies; if he wants to have fun, he has the possibility of going to places that offer cultural and recreational activities, and finally, when he dies, he can be buried in a municipal cemetery.
• It generates progress in the gross national product and in the per capita since it has the purpose of improving the social personality of the clients, their norms of conduct, their opinion regarding society, and that of their own image.
• The structure of the services provided in this sector facilitates the passage or entry to job opportunities or occupations. Quinary services create new opportunity structures and, to some degree, transform the existing division of labor.
• There is a basic need, persistent and ongoing in the quinary sector, to obtain the cooperation of consumers in the process of providing services. The beneficiaries of the services must behave as citizens in their interaction with the entities that attend to their needs.
• Sometimes it is not paid. Despite the importance of the work performed, there are cases in which it is not financially remunerated, as is the case with the domestic work carried out by housewives in their residences.

Examples of the quinary sector

Some examples of the quinary sector are the following:

• Public hospitals: they provide free health services to the population that requires them.
• Citizen security: surveillance and investigation work carried out by police agencies.
• Public education: free education services provided by state institutions at the primary, secondary, and university levels.
• Non-governmental organizations(NGOs): independent and non-profit organizations that are born from civil and popular initiatives, and are linked to social, cultural, or development projects that generate structural changes where they operate.
• Cultural institutions: entities that are dedicated to activities related to music, theater, painting, sculpture, recreational activities, among others.
• Housework: Unpaid work done by housewives in their homes.

 

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