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TAS KS

I. Give the English equivalents to:

Людские ресурсы, общая рабочая сила, предложение труда, пенсио н- ный возраст, обязательный выход на пенсию, дополнительный доход, работа по совместительству, квалифицированный труд, неквалифицированный труд, полуквалифицир ованный труд, социальные услуги, повышать уровень жизни, стимул, повышать эффективность труда, высокопродуктивный.

H. giving a worker more things to do within the same job.

III.Answer the following questions:

1.What is labour?

2.What does the supply of labour depend on?

3.What are the main population groups “who do not work”?

4.How does education influence the number of young people available for work?

5.In what way does the age of retirement affect the supply of labour?

6.What are the results of reducing of the working week?

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7.What is “moonlighting”? How does it affect the supply of labour?

8.What is more important than the actual supply of labour?

9.What is skilled, semi-skilled, unskilled labour?

10.How do you understand the idea of “specificity”? Give some e xamples.

11.Enumerate the major factors affecting the efficiency of labour. Speak on each of them.

12.Think of possible disadvantages of job rotation, enlargement and enrichment.

IV. Are the following statements true or false? Correct the false ones:

1.Labour is the supply of physical human resources which is available to engage in the production process.

2.The number of young people available for work depends on the education available.

3.Pupils and students are usually withheld from the labour force if education is a matter of parental instruction.

4.Moonlighting decreases the supply of labour available to entrepreneurs.

5.The quality of labour is as important as the actual supply of labour.

6.Where there are more great incentives, labour will be more efficient.

7.If labour is supported with well-chosen tools and adequate power supplies, it will be highly productive.

V. Render the text in English:

Человеческий капитал включает врожденные способности и талант, а также образование и приобретенную квалификацию. Человеческий капитал создается тогда, когда человек инвестирует в самого себя. Инвестиции в человеческий капитал со временем окупаются, давая отдачу в виде более высокой зар а- ботной платы или способности выполнять работу, приносящую большее удовлетворение. Студенты имеют возможность производить огромные инвестиции в образование, а наниматели могут платить образованным людям больше. Высшее образование не увеличивает производительность работника, однако оно свидетельствует о том, что работник обладает качествами, полезными для фирмы. Образование увеличивает доходы, и поэтому инвестиции, вложенные в образование, окупаются. Однако время, проведенное на работе, также приносит свои плоды. Опытный работник гораздо ценнее для своей фирмы, чем новичок. Р а- ботники, имеющие некоторый опыт, являются более производительными, чем неквалифицированные; соответственно с приобретаемым опытом растет и оплата.

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UNEMPLOYMENT

Not everyone wants a job. Those people who do are called the labor force. The labor force comprises all those people holding a job or registered as being willing and available for work.

The participation rate is the percentage of the population of working age who declare themselves to be in the labor force. The postwar growth of the labor force has been caused less by an increase in the population of working age than by an increase in participation rates, most notably by married women. The unemployment rate is the percentage of the labor force without a job but registered as being willing and available for work.

Of course, some people without a job are really looking for work but have not bothered to register as unemployed. These people will not be included in the official statistics for the registered labor force, nor will they appear as registered unemployed. Yet from an economic viewpoint, such people are unemployed. This is an important phenomenon. Economists used to classify unemployment as frictional, structural, demand-deficient, or classical.

Frictional Unemployment. This is the irreducible minimum level of unemployment in a dynamic society. It includes people whose physical or mental handicaps make them almost unemploy able, but it also includes the people spending short spells in unemployment as they move between jobs in an economy where both the labor force and the jobs on offer are continually changing.

S tructural Unemployment. In the longer run the pattern of demand and production is always changing. In recent decades industries such as textiles and heavy engineering have been declining in the UK. Structural unemployment refers to unemployment arising because there is a mismatch between skills and job opportunities when the pattern of demand and production changes. For example, a skilled welder may have worked for 25 years in shipbuilding but is made redundant at 50 when the industry declines in the face of foreign competition. That worker may have to retrain in a new skill which is more in demand in today’s economy. But firms may be reluctant to take on and train older workers. Such workers become the victims of structural unemployment.

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Demand-deficient Unemployment. This refers to Keynesian unemployment, when aggregate demand falls and wages and prices have not yet adjusted to restore full employment. Aggregate demand is deficient because it is lower than fullemployment aggregate demand. Until wages and prices have adjusted to their new long-run equilibrium level, a fall in aggregate demand will lead to lower output and employment. Some workers will want to work at the going real wage rate but will be unable to find jobs. Only in the longer run will wages and prices fall enough to boost the real money supply and lower interest rates to the extent required to restore aggregate demand to its full-employment level, and only then will demand-deficient unemployment be eliminated.

Classical Unemployment. This describes the unemployment created when the wage is deliberately maintained above the level at which the labor supply and labor demand schedules intersect. It can be caused either by the exercise of trade union power or by minimum wage legislation which enforces awage in excess of the equilibrium wage rate.

The modern analysis of unemployment takes the same types of unemployment but classifies them rather differently in order to highlight the behavioral implications and consequences for government policy. M odern analysis stresses the difference between voluntary and involuntary unemployment.

The natural rate of unemployment is the rate of unemployment when the labor market is in equilibrium. This unemployment is entirely voluntary. A worker is involuntarily unemployed if he or she would accept a job offer at the going wage rate. So, frictional, structural and classical types are voluntary unemployment and demand-deficient is involuntary unemployment.

TAS KS

I. Give the English equivalents to:

Рабочая сила, процент рабочих, временная безработица, структурная безработица, классическая безработица, безработица вследствие снижения совокупного спроса, добровольная безработица, выну жденная безработица, структура спроса производства, совокупный спрос, полная занятость, уровень полной занятости, денежная масса, ставка реальной заработной платы, ставка равновесной заработной платы, естественная норма безработицы.

paid on a weekly basis and it will depend on the hourly wage rate and the number of hours which constitute the basic working week.

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III.Answer the following questions:

1.What is labour force?

2.What is unemployment rate?

3.Who is considered to be unemployed?

4.How do economists classify unemployment?

5.How is functional unemployment characterized?

6.Who becomes a victim of structural unemployment?

7.What does demand-deficient unemployment refer to?

8.How is classical unemployment described?

IV. Are the following statements true or false? Correct the false ones:

1. The labour force only comprises those people holding a job.

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2.People who haven’t bothered to register as unemployed will not be included in the official statistics for the registered labour force.

3.Frictional unemployment refers to unemployment arising because there is a mismatch between skills and job opportunities when the pattern of demand and production changes.

4.Demand-deficient unemployment happens when aggregate demand falls and wa g- es and prices have not yet adjusted to restore full employment.

5.Classical unemployment arises when the wage is deliberately maintained below the level at which the labour supply and labour demand schedules intersect.

6.The natural rate of unemployment is the rate of unemployment when the labour market is in disequilibrium.

7.Voluntary unemployment only includes classical unemployment.

V. Render the text in English:

Чтобы измерить безработицу, необходимо знать, сколько людей хотят иметь работу при текущих ставках заработной платы, но в действительности не имеют ее.

Человек, который не работал предыдущую неделю, но был болен, н а- ходился в отпуске, бастовал или не мог работать из-за плохой погоды, считается занятым. Человек, ожидающий разрешения возвр атиться на работу или приступить к работе на новом месте в течение следующих 30 дней, но не работавший предыдущую неделю, считается безработным.

Существуют три способа потерять работу и стать безр аботным. Первый

– если человека увольняют, поскольку фирма, в которой он работает, з акрыв а- ется. Второй случай, когда человек временно отстр анен от работы. Например,

вавтомобильной промышленности, когда спрос на автомобили резко понижается, фирма заявляет рабочим, что работы нет, но она надеется нанять их вновь

вслучае, если спрос возрастет. Третий способ – добровольно оставить работу и стать безработным по собственному желанию.

Безработица растет во время спадов и у меньшается в периоды подъемов и роста экономической активности. Каждый раз, когда наступает спад, доля безработных растет. Как только начинается подъем и расширяется экономическая активность, доля безработных снижается.

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S UPPLY AND DEMAND

Demand. If production is undertaken in order to supply the “wants” of mankind demand must be the most basic idea in economics. Every individual demands goods and services. When all the ind ividual demands are put together the resulting composite demand is what the industry must supply if people are to achieve satisfaction. In defining demand economists cannot equate “demand” with “want”, because an industry cannot be expected to supply goods and services without payment. In attempting to discover the demand for a particular commodity we only consider demand that is backed by purchasing power. M an’s wants are unlimited, but his demand for a particular item is very often limited if the price he must pay is too high. The demand for goods or services is therefore that quantity consumers will be prepared to buy at a given price, in a given period of time.

Demand is not fixed, but varies with changing conditions. The demand for silk stockings has been completely altered by the invention of nylon fiber, and the demand for bicycles in advanced nations has been greatly reduced by the development of motor vehicles. The chief factors affecting demand may be divided into the factors affecting the individual consumer or family of consumers and those factors affecting the total demand of the whole market.

Factors Affecting the Demand of Households.

a) The Tastes of the Households. Every family is different, and even me m- bers of the same family have different preferences. We may demand goods because they satisfy innate wants; or because they are fashionable; or because we have been convinced by advertising that they are desirable. The demand for all such goods will rise, and the demand for goods which are not to our taste or less well promoted will decline.

b) The Income of the Household. Family income is always decisive as to whether a commodity is demanded or not. M any families own a car, some own two cars, and many are resigned to the fact that they will never be in the car-buying income range.

c) The Necessity of the Commodity, and its Alternatives if Any. Some goods are demanded by everyone because they are necessities. Some goods become necessities because they are habit-forming, like tobacco and alcohol. Where a commodity has alternatives it is not a necessity, but the alternative must be in the sameprice range.

d) The Price of Other Goods. If the price of a commodity is high compared with the price of other goods the demand for it will be relatively weak. If the goods are close substitutes for one another (for instance, motor cycles and motor scooters),

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the price of one will be seriously affected by a lower price of its competitor.

Factors Affecting the Total Market Demand. a) The Size and Structure of the Population.

If there are many people to be fed, clothed, and housed demand will tend to be strong, especially if the population is able to back its “wants” with purchasing power. The structure of the population will influence demand for particular items. A bulge in the birthrate for any reason will alter demand as the children born develop through to maturity. In the early years the demand for children’s clothes, toys, etc., will be increased. Gradually the increased demand will change to school books and games equipment, later to cosmetics and motor cars. Finally, an increased demand for wheelchairs and bearing aids may result.

b) The Distribution of Income among the Population.

Some societies are so organized that classes of rich and poor persons appear. Others are organized to achieve greater equality of wealth. A progressive system of taxation, which taxes the rich to help the poor, is often used to achieve greater equality. M arket demand will be stronger in egalitarian societies than in those where obvious inequalities exist, for the mass of the people there can back their “wants” with purchasing power.

The Consumer’s S cale of Preferences.

The result of these conditions often called the determinants of demand, is a scale of preferences for each customer. High on each consumer’s scale of preferences come the things he needs most or likes best. Lower on the scale come things he will buy if income permits, once all the more satisfying items have been purchased. The scale changes with the pressure of daily events. We all know of things we have been meaning to buy for years, but somehow their purchase eludes us because more pressing requirements prevent them reaching the top of our scale of preferences. Every consumer subconsciously has a personal demand schedule for each class of goods, which reflects his individual attitudes and inclinations . This schedule takes for granted that the only thing that has changed to alter the demand is the price of the commodity. All other conditions of demand, like family income, or personal taste, or fashion, have not changed. The phrase “ceteris paribus” (“ot her things being equal”) is often used in economics to describe a situation where only one aspect of situation is deemed to be changed.

Supply. The responses that entrepreneurs make to the demands of consumers bring on to the market a wide variety of goods and services.

The total quantity of a good, or service, made available to the general public

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as a result of the business decisions of the entrepreneurs in the industry is called the supply of that good or service.

Factors Affecting Supply.

a) The Price of the Commodity.

The price of the commodity affects the prospect of profitability of an enterprise. Every entrepreneur is assumed in economics to be engaged in production in order to achieve maximum profit. He must certainly achieve a normal return on capital invested, or there is no incentive at all to stay in the industry. Good prospects of profitability will encourage him to come in and produce the supplies required. He will expand the production of his enterprise until output reaches such a level that profit is at a maximum.

b) Conditions of Supply.

They are the costs of production, the state of technological development (the more advanced the technology, the greater the flood of supplies that pours on to the market), natural influences (hurricanes, tornadoes, hail, frost, and drought disrupt output) and abnormal political influences (war, strikes, civil unrest, government interference prevent the normal activities of production).

Thus, we must note that just as want is the basis of demand, the prospect of profitability is the basis of supply; and just as consumers vary in their demand for goods, suppliers vary in their ability to supply. This is shown in the Laws of Supply and Demand summarized as follows:

1.When the price of a commodity falls the quantity that is demanded will be increased.

2.When the price of a commodity rises the quantity that is supplied will be in-

creased.

3.Prices will adjust to that level which equates demand and supply.

4.All increased supply lowers market price and causes an e xtension of demand.

5.A decreased supply raises market price and causes a reduction of demand.

6.A decreased demand lowers price and also brings about a reduction of supply.

7.An increased demand raises price and also brings about an extension of supply.

TAS KS

I. Give the English equivalents to:

Спрос и предложение, покупательная способность, товары и услуги, предприниматель, прибыльность (рентабельность) предприятия, вложенный капитал, расширять производство, поставщики.

II. Give one word from the text which matches the following definition:

A thing used instead of something else; things that are desired; any article

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that can be bought and sold; a person who buys goods; a person who buys goods that he will use himself; the amount of a particular good or service that will be bought by consumers at a given price; all the money coming in to an individual or a business firm.

III.Explain in your own words:

1.The population is able to back its “wants” with purchasing power.

2.M any families will never be in the car-buying income range.

3.Every entrepreneur must achieve a normal return on capital invested.

4.The great flood of supplies pours onto the market.

IV. Answer the following questions:

1.What is the demand for a particular good or service? Distinguish “demand” from “want”.

2.What is the supply of particular goods or services? What motivates an entrepreneur to supply a commodity or service?

3.What are the determinants of demand and supply?

4.What is the basis of a scale of preferences?

5.What are the seven laws of demand and supply?

V.Are the following statements true or false? Correct the false ones:

1.M an’s wants and demands are unlimited.

2.Price is decided by the interaction of demand and supply.

3.Demand is set.

4.If there is an alternative to a commodity, then it is no longer a necessity.

5.The price of a substitute cannot seriously affect the price of a good.

6.A progressive system of taxation strengthens the purchasing power of consumers.

7.The least preferred items are put on the top of the scale ofpreferences.

8.Even when a good is free, the amount wanted will be limited.

9.Supply describes the behavior of buyers.

VI. Explain what will happen to the demand for apples if:

1.Workers get a 10% pay raise.

2.The price for oranges and p ears has fallen.

3.A health report is published saying that apples should be part of everyone’s diet.

VII. Explain what will happen to the supply of apples if:

1.Workers on farms growing apples get a 10% pay raise.

2.A new type of tree is introduced which produces 50% more apples per acre of

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