Work

Work

Why people work
1. Pay
2. Job satisfaction
  1. Motivation - doing something because you want to do it e.g. voluntary work
Types of employment
1. Temporary - work that will last only for a specific period of time (usually a number of weeks or months) e.g. christmas retail staff
2. Seasonal - work that is only required during a particular period of a year (e.g. some agricultural work)
3. Full time - working the standard amount of working hours for a week
4. Part time - working a fraction of the standard amount of working hours a week
5. Shift work - work patterns that don't follow standard working hours (e.g. a nurse may work morning shifts)
Why people may not work
1. Education
2. Child care
3. Retirement
Economically inactive - those not working
Specialisation - where each worker concentrates on only one small aspect of the entire production process
1. Benefits
  1. Output is produced more quickly - leads to increased productivity (output per person)
  2. Workers become more skilled due to repetition
2. Limitations
  1. Workers and production will become interdependant (rely on each other) to complete the finished product and this may cause problems if an area of production fails
  2. Jobs may become repetitive and boring causing poor job satisfaction
  3. Morale may fall as jobs are more repetitive
  4. Workers are less flexible if they specialise in one task
How people are paid
1. Salary - pay as an annual total, no overtime paid
2. Wage - pay calculated on an hourly rate multiplied by hours worked, overtime is payable after hours of work have been met
3. Commission - payment for achieving a certain target e.g. a level of sales
4. Bankers Automated Clearing Service (BACS) - automatic transfer of funds between bank accounts e.g. employers to employees
5. Fringe benefits - workers are paid in ways other than money (company car, health insurance etc.)
6. Expenses - payment given to workers to compensate for any expenditure necessary to complete the work e.g. travelling costs
Wages and salaries
1. Gross pay - a workers pay before deductions for tax, national insurance and pensions
2. Net pay - pay after deductions (take home pay)
3. Income tax - tax calculated as a percentage of a workers income e.g. 20% of income
4. Tax code - workers have different tax codes which relate to the different amount of tax - free allowance a worker might get
5. National Insurance Contributions (NIC) - a tax paid by workers which entitles the worker to qualify for benefits when needed e.g. job seekers allowance
6. Pension contributions - deductions from pay that contributes to a pension
7. P45 - a document provided by an employer when an employee leaves their job
8. P60 - a document provided by an employer on an annual basis showing total pay and deductions for the year
What affects pay?
1. Supply of labour
  1. Monetary facors
    1. Level of wages
    2. The higher the wages, the more willing workers will be to supply their labour
  2. Non-monetary factors
    1. Gender
    2. Ethnic origin
    3. Taxation
    4. State benefits
    5. Religion
2. Demand for labour
  1. Derived demand - businesses demand workers because they are needed to produce goods and services to sell
  2. Government influence - e.g. minimum wage, maternity/paternity pay
3. Differences in wages
  1. Training and skills - the more training and skills, the higher the wages
  2. Gender - women are likely to be paid less than men, due to women more likely to have a career break (children)
  3. Age - older workers are likely to be paid more than younger workers
  4. Trade unions - protect workers rights and often negotiate pay awards
  5. Government influences
4. Why do wage rates change?
  1. Surplus of labour - more workers will want to work that there are jobs available; this is likely to lead to lower wages in this occupation as business can afford to pay less
  2. Shortages of labour - in an industry or business - higher wages will be needed to attract more workers to supply their labour
Unemployment - those who are not currently working but who are available for work
1. Costs of unemployment
  1. Monetary costs
    1. Loss of income (except benefit payments)
    2. Receive benefits
    3. Not paying tax
  2. Non monetary costs
    1. Loss of skills
    2. Health (especially mental health)
    3. Family breakdown (higher martial breakdown rates)
2. Duration of unemployment
  1. The costs of unemployment are normally made worse by extended periods of time
  2. Why does the duration of unemployment vary
    1. Skills and training - more skills, the more likely they will find jobs
    2. Qualifications - school leavers without qualifications are more likely to be unemployed as they are less attractive to businesses
    3. Age - older people will find it harder to get jobs as they are expensive and thought to be too old to train
3. Government strategies to hep the unemployed
  1. Tax allowances - allows a worker to earn up to a certain level before they start paying income tax, increasing these makes it more attractive for the unemployed to work as they pay no or less tax
  2. Jobseekers allowance - benefits paid to the unemployed, based on evidence that the worker is seeking work
  3. New deal - training for young unemployed workers (under age 25)
  4. Education - vocational qualifications are encouraged and introduction of diplomas
  5. Apprenticeships - increased funding for this area, so unemployed can gain specific job related skills

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	Created by thomasb11 over 9 years ago