A service is a job or work done for someone else. All the service trades form a service economy.
Good examples are:
- Government is perhaps the largest example.
- Hospitals and the health services generally.
- Banks and financial services.
- Motor trade services. All services except actual products such as parts and petrol (which are obviously goods or products).
- Painting a house as opposed to building it.
The old split between product and service is now often a service–product continuum. Many products are being transformed into services.An example is IBM, which made computers, now is mainly a consultancy for businesses which use computers. That has been so at least for the past 40 years.