Understanding the labour market

1) Read the text "The Labour Market" and answer these questions.

1. According to the text, what two things can a company do to increase its output?

2. What is the relationship between the price of labour and the demand for it?

3. What does the "point where the lines cross" in Figure 1 represent?

4. What are the three things mentioned that can cause a shift in the demand for labour?

5. How is a worker's "productivity" defined in the text?

2) A. Match the economic terms (1-6) with their definitions (A-F).

1. Labour Market	A. The amount of a product or service a company produces.
2. Output	B. How much a worker produces in a certain time.
3. Supply	C. The economic system where workers offer labour and employers buy it.
4. Demand	D. The employers' need for labour.
5. Productivity	E. The satisfaction a consumer gets from a purchase.
6. Utility	F. The amount of labour workers provide.

B. Now, complete the sentences using the terms from the table above.

1. When the **** is strong, it is easy for people to find jobs.

2. A company can increase its **** by hiring more workers or using better technology.

3. The **** for skilled software engineers is very high at the moment.

4. If the **** of qualified candidates is low, companies have to offer higher salaries.

5. Training employees can significantly improve their ****.

3) Look at the following sentences from the text. They show a cause-and-effect relationship.

* "If there is an increase in demand for their product, they will `need to` increase output."

* "As the price of labour increases, the demand `decreases`."

* "If new technology can replace workers, `then` there will be an overall decrease in demand for labour."

* "When worker productivity falls, companies `will pay` less for labour."

Now, complete these sentences logically.

1. If the minimum wage increases significantly, ... .

2. As a company grows, ... .

3. When a worker's skills become outdated, ... .

4) Study the following scenarios. Use the vocabulary from today's lesson (e.g., labour market, supply, demand, output, productivity, wages).

Scenario A: The New Factory

A large tech company is building a new factory in your town. It will create 2,000 new jobs.

What might happen to wages for other jobs in the area?

How could this increase the output of the local economy?

Scenario B: The New Software

A bank introduces new software that automates 50% of the tasks currently done by its accountants.

What will be the effect on the demand for accountants at this bank?

What could the bank do with the accountants whose jobs are replaced?

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