Employment & Unemployment (CIE IGCSE Economics)

Between 2007 and 2017, the average wage in China tripled, while it fell in Brazil. The rise in average wage in China was particularly high in the tertiary sector. Farm workers experienced a smaller rise. In June 2017, unemployment in China was only 4% while it was 13.5% in Brazil. Despite the lower unemployment, China’s inflation rate was lower than that of Brazil.
 
Discuss whether or not a country with high wage rates will have a high unemployment rate.

Discuss whether or not a government paying higher state benefits to the unemployed will reduce unemployment.

Refer to the source material in your answers.

Germany’s economy is one of the best-performing economies in the European Union (EU). Germany has low unemployment rates and a surplus on the current account of the balance of payments. Single parents, long-term unemployed, immigrants, elderly, and low-skilled workers have not always benefitted from Germany’s economic performance. This has created increasing levels of relative poverty.

Explain two possible causes of low unemployment.

In 2016, the Indonesian government increased its spending on healthcare and education and considered raising the school leaving age. The government also planned to increase taxation. Such a move might conflict with its aim of reducing unemployment at a time when a number of countries were at risk of entering a recession.

Explain two benefits to a government from a fall in unemployment.

Explain, using information from the extract, one reason why a relatively poor country may have a low unemployment rate.

Refer to the source material in your answers.

Analyse, using Table 1.1, the relationship between educational spending and the unemployment rate.

Refer to the source material in your answers.

There was a global surplus of steel in 2017. In mid-2017, the US government considered imposing tariffs on steel imports to protect its declining steel industry. Cheap imports from other countries were reducing employment in the US steel industry. The pattern of US employment was also being affected by improvements in education

Analyse how improvements in education can affect the pattern of employment

Analyse, using Fig. 1.1, the relationship between changes in the economic growth rate and the unemployment rate over the period shown.

Refer to the source material in your answers.

During a recent recession in Europe, Spain had an unemployment rate of over 25%. This led to high levels of emigration from Spain into higher-wage European economies such as Germany and the UK. This has created both opportunities and problems in countries where immigration was higher than emigration.

Analyse how a recession in one country could cause unemployment in another country.

In 2016, the trade union representing doctors in the UK was involved in collective bargaining with the government over proposed changes to doctors’ contracts. The trade union considered that the aim of the changes was to reduce the cost to the government of providing healthcare. It may also result in fewer individuals training to become doctors in the future.

Analyse the impact of a reduction in government expenditure on healthcare on a country’s unemployment rate.

In 2016, there were fears that the Singaporean economy could enter a recession because of falling demand from China, its biggest export market. One of the results of a recession is likely to be a fall in consumer spending. A previous recession in 2008 had led to unemployment increasing from 1.6% to 3.4%. Singapore’s central bank therefore decided to intervene in the foreign exchange market to influence the value of the currency.

Analyse the consequences of rising unemployment on a government’s spending and tax revenue