Labour, Wages and Population: notes

Labour

• Working population: people able and willing to work.
• Wages: set by the demand for and supply of labour in that job. Skilled jobs pay more because skilled workers are scarce.
• Trade union: a group of workers who bargain together for pay and conditions.
• Unemployment types: frictional (between jobs), seasonal (farm work), structural (an industry declines) and cyclical (a downturn).
• Mobility: occupational is changing job type; geographical is moving to another place.

Population

• Birth rate and death rate: births and deaths per 1000 people each year.
• Natural increase: birth rate minus death rate.
• Age structure: a high share of children means a high dependency ratio.
• Optimum population: the size that gives the highest output per person.
• Migration: people moving in (immigration) or out (emigration).