Economics - Work - Revsion Guide

WORK


2.1 Why People Work & the Nature of Work


Why people work:
o Pay ­ Many people work full-time to fund their lifestyles
and to pay for other family members who don't work.
Pay can be a motivation factor, so some people may
work in order to provide for…

previously manufactured goods are now imported, therefore
decreasing the need for manufacturing jobs.



Specialisation
Advantages of Specialisation/Division of Labour
To the business:
o Specialist workers become quicker at producing goods.
o Production becomes cheaper per good because of this.
o Production levels are increased.
o Each worker can concentrate on…

Wages and Salaries
WAGE
An individual's payment usually for a week's work
SALARY
An individual's payment usually for a month's work
Higher wages usually result from:
o Skills
o Qualifications / training
o Special talents (footballer / singer)
o Experience
o Dangerous work
o Supply and demand of labour
SUPPLY…

REMEMBER!
The lower the supply of labour for a particular industry the
higher the wage rate e.g. professional footballers
The greater the supply of labour for a particular industry - the
lower the wage rate e.g. cleaner




Gross Pay ­ The total amount of money a job will pay,
before…

o State Benefits ­ if benefit payments were low, workers
would be more willing to work as they wouldn't be able
to survive on such low benefits.

Derived Demand

Derived demand is where workers are not wanted for the
businesses own sake, but for what they can contribute to
production.…

lower wages in that occupation because businesses
could pay less because there a lots of workers available
(supply of labour goes up.)

o Shortages of Labour ­ If there is a shortage of labour
in a particular industry, businesses will need to offer
higher wages. This will encourage more workers…

o Qualifications ­ school leavers who leave with no
formal qualifications could be unemployed for longer
periods of time because they have no experience.
o Age ­ older people may find it harder to get jobs as they
expect higher wages are considered too old to train for
new positions.…