The subprime sector, which produced loans worth more than $500 billion in the first nine months of last year, could shrink significantly.

A figure of less than 50 indicates the sector is shrinking.

We cannot afford them; so that sector of the economy must shrink.

"The private sector is shrinking away and with it the middle class of this country is being destroyed," a prominent Panamanian said.

Still, the modest growth over all tends to obscure the dynamism within the industry, as some sectors shrink and others grow rapidly.

But there will be areas in which we allow sectors to shrink so that others may grow.

It's too soon to say, however, which sectors will shrink and which will grow.

Manufacturing workers, on the other hand, have struggled to find new jobs because the overall sector is shrinking around the United States.

Perhaps certain parts of it are more efficient than they were 10 or 15 years ago, but the sector is shrinking.

In Jettenbach itself, the agricultural sector was steadily shrinking.