Jobs and labour
A job is work done for pay. Choosing a career means thinking about your interests, skills, training needed and how many jobs exist.
Labour issues include fair wages, safe workplaces, working hours, unemployment (people who want work but cannot find it) and insecure jobs. Rules and workers' groups help protect people at work.
Markets and competition
A market is any place or system where buyers and sellers meet. Prices go up when many want a thing that is scarce and fall when sellers have plenty.
Competition means many sellers try to win buyers. It usually brings lower prices and better products. When one seller controls the market (a monopoly), the government may step in to keep it fair.
Finance and money
Money makes trade easy: it is a way to pay, a way to measure value and a way to store value. Finance is how money moves between people who save and people who need to borrow.
- Banks take deposits and pay a little interest.
- Banks lend at higher interest to people and firms.
- Borrowers must repay; interest is the price of using money.
Public finance and social security
Public finance is how a government earns and spends. It earns mainly through taxes. It spends on schools, roads, health, safety and social security, a safety net that helps people who are old, ill, disabled or without work.
A budget compares planned income and spending. When spending is higher than income, the government borrows.
Try it: use the tax slider in the 3D. Write down one service you use that is paid by taxes. Then ask your family what taxes they pay on a bill.
Key formulas and definitions
- Income = wages earned from work
- Savings = income - spending
- Interest = price paid for using money
- Government budget balance = tax revenue - government spending
- Circular flow: work -> wages -> spending -> goods -> tax -> services
Worked examples
1. A family earns 40,000 a month and spends 34,000. What do they save?
Savings = 40,000 - 34,000 = 6,000 a month.
2. Why can competition lower prices?
If one shop charges too much, buyers go to another shop. To keep customers, sellers cut prices or improve quality.
3. A government collects 900 in tax and spends 1,000. What is the budget balance?
900 - 1,000 = -100, a deficit of 100. The government must borrow or find new income.
Common mistakes
- Thinking money alone is wealth. Real wealth is the goods and services people can use.
- Thinking taxes just disappear. They return as roads, schools, health and social security.
- Thinking banks keep all deposits idle. They lend most of it out.
- Thinking competition is always perfect. Some markets are controlled by one or few sellers.