Labour markets
The following graph (Figure 6) shows some changes in the labour market from 1995 to 1999. As you can see, the number of employed people increased over this period. But so has the number of unemployed. This is because, while more jobs have been created, they have not been enough to absorb the new people entering the labour market (i.e. the growth in the economically active population).
But behind these overall figures are many changes in the labour market that have taken place over the last ten years. These include:
As we saw above, many of the formal industrial sectors of the economy have declined. These have included certain mining sectors as well as formerly protected manufacturing sectors such as textiles and clothing. The main economic growth over the last ten years has come from the new service sectors such as transport, finance, communications and many others. This change in the labour market is reflected in the sectoral shares of GDP that we saw previously.
The other significant change in our economy over the last ten years has been that whereas jobs have been lost where the workforce is the most unskilled and the least educated, new jobs have been created for the educated and skilled sections of the labour force. This up-skilling of the labour market is a global trend.
The third key development in the economy has been the privatisation, informalisation and casualisation of various elements of production. In general, capital has shifted investment towards ways of producing things that would lessen cost, and make it easier for labour to be controlled and disciplined.
Figure 6: Developments in the Labour Market (1995 and 1999)
All these factors combined mean that the changes in the labour market over the last few years can be characterised as:
a decline in formal sector jobs, and a growth of informal sector jobs;
a decline in primary and secondary sector jobs and a growth in service (or tertiary) sector jobs;
a decline in demand for unskilled work and growth in demand for skilled work.
The product life cycle
Marketing - Product life cycles
The product life cycle is an important concept in marketing. It describes the stages a product goes through from when it was first thought of until it finally is removed from the market. Not all products reach this final stage. Some continue to grow and others rise and fall.
The main stages of the product life cycle are:
Introduction – researching, developing and then launching the product
Growth – when sales are increasing at their fastest rate
Maturity – sales are near their highest, but the rate of growth is slowing down, e.g. new competitors in market or saturation
Decline – final stage of the cycle, when sales begin to fall
This can be illustrated by looking at the sales during the time period of the product. A branded good can enjoy continuous growth, such as Microsoft, because the product is being constantly improved and advertised, and maintains a strong brand loyalty.
Extension strategies extend the life of the product before it goes into decline. Again businesses use marketing techniques to improve sales. Examples of the techniques are:
Advertising – try to gain a new audience or remind the current audience
Price reduction – more attractive to customers
Adding value – add new features to the current product, e.g. video messaging on mobile phones
Explore new markets – try selling abroad
New packaging – brightening up old packaging, or subtle changes such as putting crisps in foil packets or Seventies music compilations