Economics · Unit 10

Work, Jobs and Wages

The labor market, wages, and unemployment

Labour is a market, and it behaves like one, but people are not commodities and treating the analogy as complete produces bad conclusions.

The unit covers the labour market, wages and salaries, skills and education, unemployment, and labour unions.

This unit breaks down into 23 short steps and 119 questions, starting at difficulty 1 and building to 5. Below you can see exactly what it covers, how the path is structured, and worked examples with explanations.

Steps: 23
Questions: 119
Difficulty: 1-5

What this unit covers

Wages and Salaries
Skills and Education
The Labor Market
Unemployment
Labor Unions

Where this fits

Follows Businesses and Production.

Where people slip

Unemployment statistics only count people actively seeking work. Someone who has given up looking disappears from the figure, which is why the headline rate can improve for bad reasons.

How the unit is structured

Work, Jobs and Wages runs as 23 short steps that unlock in order. 17 are practice rounds and 6 are challenge rounds that pull together everything before them. Questions start at difficulty 1 and climb to 5 as you progress.

Step 1 · easierStep 23 · harder

Challenge rounds

Example questions

30 real questions from this unit, with the answer and the reason behind it, grouped by what they practise. There are 119 in the unit altogether.

Labor Unions

Odd one outLevel 1
1. Which of these is NOT something a labor union normally does?
- Bakes bread for the whole towncorrect
- Bargains for higher pay
- Asks for safer conditions
- Speaks for workers as a group
Unions bargain for pay, ask for safer conditions, and speak for workers, but they do not bake bread for the town.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
2. Which of these might a union try to improve for its members? Select all that apply.
- Paycorrect
- Working hourscorrect
- Safety at workcorrect
- The weather
Unions bargain over pay, working hours, and safety, but not the weather.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
3. When union workers all stop working to press their demands, this is called a ____.
- strikecorrect
- sale
- refund
- holiday
A strike is when workers stop working together to push for their demands.
True or falseLevel 2
4. Unions bargain over things like pay, working hours, and safety at work.
Answer: True
True, wages, hours, and safety are common things unions bargain about.
Type the answerLevel 2
5. What word means workers stopping work together to push for their demands? It starts with the letter s.
Answer: strike
A strike is a shared stoppage of work used to press demands.
Match the pairsLevel 3
6. Match each union term to its meaning.
Answer: Collective bargaining = Negotiating as a group; Strike = Workers stop working; Union dues = Members' fees; Contract = Agreed terms of work
These are the main tools and ideas of union activity.

Skills and Education

Multiple choiceLevel 1
7. Practicing a skill until you are good at it is one way to build your ____.
- human capitalcorrect
- electricity bill
- grocery list
- phone battery
Practice raises your human capital, the skills and know-how that make you a better worker.
Odd one outLevel 1
8. Which of these does NOT usually build a worker's skills?
- Taking a long napcorrect
- Training
- Going to school
- Practicing
Training, school, and practice build skills, but a long nap does not.
True or falseLevel 1
9. Getting more education and training can raise a worker's chance of earning higher pay.
Answer: True
True, more skills often make a worker more productive and better paid.
Fill the blankLevel 2
10. The knowledge and skills that make a worker more productive are known as human ____.
- capitalcorrect
- holiday
- candy
- weather
Human capital is the term for a worker's productive skills and knowledge.
Put in orderLevel 2
11. Order these steps a person might take to gain job skills, from earliest to latest.
Answer: Go to school -> Get training for a job -> Start the job -> Get better with practice
You usually learn in school, get job training, start the job, then improve with practice.
Sort into groupsLevel 3
12. Sort each into Raises human capital or Does not raise human capital.
Answer: Completing an apprenticeship = Raises human capital; Earning a certificate = Raises human capital; Practicing a new skill = Raises human capital; Forgetting your training = Does not raise human capital; Never learning anything new = Does not raise human capital
Learning and practice build human capital, while forgetting or never learning does not.

The Labor Market

Fill the blankLevel 1
13. The place where workers and employers meet to trade work for pay is called the ____ market.
- laborcorrect
- stock
- candy
- flea
The labor market is where labor (work) is bought and sold.
Multiple choiceLevel 1
14. What do we call the money a worker is paid for their work?
- A wagecorrect
- A tax
- A tariff
- A dividend
A wage is the pay a worker receives in exchange for their work.
Odd one outLevel 1
15. Which one does NOT belong with the labor market?
- A seashellcorrect
- Worker
- Employer
- Wage
Workers, employers, and wages are all part of the labor market, but a seashell is not.
True or falseLevel 1
16. In the labor market, workers offer their time and skills, and employers pay them for it.
Answer: True
True, workers supply labor and employers demand it in exchange for pay.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
17. Which of these can a worker offer an employer? Select all that apply.
- Their timecorrect
- Their skillscorrect
- Their effortcorrect
- The employer's factory
A worker offers their time, skills, and effort, but the factory belongs to the employer.
Guess the numberLevel 2
18. A town has 90 employed people and 10 unemployed people, all in the labor force. How many people are in its labor force?
Answer: 100 people
The labor force is the employed plus the unemployed, so 90 + 10 = 100.

Unemployment

Fill the blankLevel 1
19. When someone wants a job and is looking but cannot find one, we say they are ____.
- unemployedcorrect
- overpaid
- promoted
- retired
That situation, wanting and seeking work but having none, is called being unemployed.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
20. Which of these describe an unemployed person? Select all that apply.
- Does not have a job right nowcorrect
- Is able to workcorrect
- Is looking for workcorrect
- Owns three big factories
An unemployed person has no job right now, is able to work, and is looking for work.
Guess the numberLevel 2
21. Out of 10 people in the labor force, 1 has no job but is looking for one. How many are unemployed?
Answer: 1 people
Only the person without a job who is looking counts as unemployed, so the answer is 1.
Match the pairsLevel 2
22. Match each work situation to its meaning.
Answer: Employed = Has a job; Unemployed = No job but looking; Retired = Stopped working by choice; Student = In school, may not be looking
Each label describes a different relationship to having a job.
Multiple choiceLevel 2
23. A person who is able to work, wants a job, and is looking for one but has no job is ____.
- unemployedcorrect
- retired
- self-employed
- a customer
Being unemployed means having no job while being able and actively looking for work.
Odd one outLevel 2
24. Which of these people would NOT be counted as unemployed?
- A person who chooses not to work and is not lookingcorrect
- A person searching job listings daily
- A recently fired worker applying to jobs
- A person who just finished job interviews and keeps applying
A person who chooses not to work and is not looking is out of the labor force, not unemployed.

Wages and Salaries

Fill the blankLevel 1
25. The money you earn from doing a job is generally called your ____.
- paycorrect
- rent
- tax
- fine
Pay is the general word for the money you earn from work.
Multiple choiceLevel 1
26. Which of these best describes a wage?
- Pay for the hours or work a person doescorrect
- A tax the worker must pay
- The cost of building a factory
- Money a bank charges for a loan
A wage is pay for the hours or amount of work a person does.
Choose all that applyLevel 2
27. Which of these are ways people can be paid for work? Select all that apply.
- An hourly wagecorrect
- A yearly salarycorrect
- Tipscorrect
- A weather forecast
Hourly wages, yearly salaries, and tips are all forms of pay, but a weather forecast is not.
Match the pairsLevel 2
28. Match each pay word to its meaning.
Answer: Wage = Pay by the hour; Salary = Fixed yearly pay; Overtime = Extra pay for extra hours; Bonus = Extra reward on top of pay
Each kind of pay works a little differently.
Sort into groupsLevel 2
29. Sort each example into Wage or Salary.
Answer: Being paid $15 for each hour worked = Wage; Paid per hour on the clock = Wage; A set $40,000 every year = Salary; Same monthly pay no matter the hours = Salary
Wages are paid by the hour, while a salary is a fixed amount per year.
Guess the numberLevel 4
30. If your nominal wage rises by 10 percent but prices also rise by 10 percent, by what percent does your real wage change?
Answer: 0 percent
When pay and prices rise by the same percent, purchasing power is unchanged, so the real wage change is about 0 percent.

Where these questions come from. Each unit starts as a plan of the concepts it should cover and the difficulty it should span. Questions are written against that plan with AI assistance, then checked by a validator that rejects anything without a single defensible answer, an explanation, or plausible wrong options. How we write questions sets out the whole process, and corrections are fixed in the bank and reach the site and the app the same day.

How you practise

This unit mixes 10 different question formats, so you are recalling and applying rather than recognising the same layout every time.

Choose all that apply
Fill the blank
Guess the number
Match the pairs
Multiple choice
Odd one out
Put in order
Sort into groups
True or false
Type the answer

Practise Work, Jobs and Wages

119 questions across 23 steps. Start with step one and crawl at your own pace.

Play this unit

More units in Economics

See all 18 units in Economics →