IV. Communicative practice. Situations

1. Role play a family talk between the wife and the husband. The problem to be discussed is whether it’s worthwhile working too hard (having extra job). Use the words: leisure, to finance, to be better off, to earn living, to make both ends meet, luxury goods, to care about, job status, benefit of working, unemployment benefit, travel expenses.

2. Role play a talk between the parents and their son (daughter). What profession is in greatest demand in Russia now? What career had she or he better choose? Why? How can she or he earn high wages? Would s/he choose the same career even if the pay was less good?

3. Financial services (such as banking and insurance) boomed during the 1990s in Russia. The demand for these products increased sharply as the industry was deregulated and as it took advantage of its stronger position in world markets. Analyze the situation in terms of real earnings and answer the question: “Why can students studying economics expect to earn more than equally smart students studying philosophy?”

4. Explain how an increase in the real wage could cause everyone in employment to work fewer hours but still increase the total amount of work done in the economy.

5. A British film producer says that the industry is doomed because film stars are paid an outrageous amount of money. Evaluate the argument being sure to use the concept of economic rent.

6. Why can a top golfer in the UK earn more in a weekend than a university professor earns in a year?

7. Show why the following statements are incorrect: a) There is no economic reason why a sketch that took Picasso one minute to draw should fetch a price of 100000 pounds. b) Unemployment can result only from greedy and unrealistic wage claims by workers.

8. Suppose you’ve been dissatisfied with your wage. Would you try to move from your industry or from your firm without moving from the industry? Would you try to change the job through private contacts? Do you have your CV prepared for job-seeking via recruiters? Russia is still learning about recruitment. The exaggerated role of family, friendship and other kinds of personal links inherent in Russian society is a difficult barrier to overcome. Would you apply to a recruiting agency if you searched for a job? Do you know that there are 90 recruiting companies in Moscow and 130 across the whole of Russia? What is your view of the problem in terms of labour market?

9. Developing software is a fascinating activity with abundant challenges and rewards. The demand for software developers, testers and support personnel is going up, not down. It will continue to go up in the foreseeable future. The United States alone has 346000 unfilled jobs for information technology workers, according to a January 1998 report of the Information Technology Association of America. There is a severe shortage of qualified workers in the information technology field. Pay is rising all the time. Comment on the situation in terms of labour market.