On Services and Growth Poles in Advanced Economies

Abstract

If seven out of ten new employment opportunities in advanced economies are service-oriented it seems reasonable to expect that service activities are playing a role in the growth and continued viability of those economies. An examination of services in a growth pole context provides a better understanding of that role. In some cases they constitute growth poles in their own right. In others they facilitate the activities of growth poles. Certainly the view of services as in some way subordinate in importance to ‘stronger’ industrial sectors is an oversimplification. Today they are emerging as both causative elements and facilitators in the continuing growth of advanced economies.