Service enterprises include many kinds of familiar businesses. Examples include dry cleaners, shoe repair stores, barber shops, restaurants, hospitals, and hotels. (71)In many cases service enterprises are moderately small because they do not have mechanized services and limit service to only as many individuals as they can accommodate at one time. For example, a waiter may be able to provide good service to four tables at once, but with five or more tables, customer service will suffer.
(72)In recent years the number of service enterprises in wealthier free-market economies has grown rapidly, and spending on services now accounts for a significant percentage of all spending. For example, private services accounted for about 20 percent of U.S. spending in 1994. Wealthier nations have developed postindustrial economies, where entertainment and recreation businesses have replaced most raw material business such as the mining, and some manufacturing industries. Many of these industries have moved to developing nations, especially with the rise of large multinational corporations. As postindustrial economies have accumulated wealth, they have come to support systems of leisure, in which people are willing to pay others to do things for them. (73) In the United States, vast numbers of people work fixed schedules for long hours in indoor offices, stores, and factories. (74) Many employers pay high enough wages so that employees can afford to balance their work schedules with purchased recreation. (75) People in the United States, for example, support thriving travel, theme park, resort, and recreational sport businesses.