Workers
| English | Chinese | Pinyin |
|---|---|---|
| wages | 工资 | gōng zī |
| demand for labour | 劳动需求 | láo dòng xū qiú |
| skills | 技能 | jì néng |
| qualifications | 资格 | zī gé |
| trade unions | 工会 | gōng huì |
| minimum wage | 最低工资 | zuì dī gōng zī |
| non-wage factors | 非工资因素 | fēi gōng zī yīn sù |
Why some jobs pay more
- A surgeon earns far more than a cleaner. A footballer more than a teacher. Why?
- Wages 工资 are set by the demand for and supply of each kind of labour.
Economics case lab
Classify real examples by the economic idea they show.
In a free labour market, wages are determined by:
Wages are the price of labour, set by demand and supply.
How wages are determined
- Wages are a price — set where the demand for labour 劳动需求 meets the supply of it.
- High pay comes from high demand (valuable skills 技能) and low supply (few can do it).
A car assembly line is capital-intensive (many machines, few workers) and uses the division of labour — each worker repeats one task
A job is likely to pay highly when:
Scarce, in-demand skills command high wages.
A trade union may raise wages above the free-market level.
Unions bargain collectively to push pay above the market rate.
Training and qualifications raise pay partly by restricting the ______ of labour.
Fewer qualified workers means scarcer, better-paid labour.
Why wages differ
- Skills and qualifications 资格: training restricts supply and raises pay.
- Danger, hours, responsibility: harder jobs may pay more to attract workers.
- Trade unions 工会 and the minimum wage 最低工资 can raise pay above the market rate.
Division of labour splits one big job into small repeated tasks, one per worker, raising output
Which are non-wage factors affecting job choice? (Select all that apply.)
Pay is the wage factor; the others are non-wage factors.
Choosing a job
- People weigh pay against non-wage factors 非工资因素: job satisfaction, security, hours, location, prospects.
- This is why a well-paid but unpleasant job may still go unfilled.
Scarcity of skill, not effort, drives high pay. A job pays well when few people can do it and many employers want it — supply and demand, not how "hard" it feels.
You've got it
- wages are a price: set by labour demand and supply
- high pay = high demand (valuable skill) + low supply (scarce skill)
- non-wage factors (satisfaction, hours, security) also shape job choice