1.1 Work/income

Economic and management sciences

Grade 6

The economic cycle

Module 2

Work / income

A family is a group of people of which you are a member. All families do not have the same composition. Some consist of a father and mother with children, while others have only a father or a mother with children. However, the composition does not matter, as everybody works together to meet the others’ needs. Your parents usually generate the income to pay for all the services and products required by the family.

Inside the family is also an economic system. While Dad, and sometimes Mom too, are the main providers of the family’s income, children often receive an amount of pocket money from their parents that they have to manage in a judicious and responsible manner. The pocket money is sometimes supplemented with other amounts that are received on birthdays. This often encourages children to open a savings account at the bank. In this way many children become part of the economic cycle at an early age.

The members of a family try to maintain the highest possible standard of living. They work in order to generate an income that will meet their basic needs. The more a household earns, the higher their standard of living will be.

People work in exchange for money. This is known as an income. The money is then used to obtain the goods and services required to survive. The more money you earn, the bigger your contribution to the economic cycle of the country will be, and the better everybody’s quality of life will be.

Unemployment

However, everybody does not have a job, and such people are called unemployed.

Assignment

Discuss in your groups the issues with regard to unemployment and make a poster to present your views.

• Do you know anyone who is unemployed?
• How is that person’s standard of living and state of mind affected by the fact that he/she is unemployed?
• Does he/she want to work?
• Is unemployment a problem in our country?
• What do you think are the main causes of unemployment in SA?
• What does the government (locally and nationally) do about the problem?
• What other suggestions can you make to resolve this problem?

[LO 2.3]

How do you decide what career to pursue? Sometimes a boy or a girl follows in their parents’ footsteps. At other times children select careers that differ from those that their parents had in mind for them. One of the most important requirements when choosing a career is that you must enjoy what you are doing – particularly if you are the breadwinner, because then you have to continue your career for a big part of your life while your family depends on you.

Every person has specific interests and preferences and you must try to reconcile these interests with your choice of a career. That is a winning recipe for job satisfaction!

CASE STUDY: Meet Jonathan de Wee
Klaas de Wee	Jonathan de Wee
Meet Jonathan de Wee. He is 24 years old and grew up near Cape Town. He passed Grade 10 at the Excelsior High School in Belhar.Jonathan grew up in a family where his father and cousin were builders, and from an early age he spent weekends and holidays on the building sites. His father, Klaas de Wee, is a well-known builder, and his cousin, Gert Whites, learnt from Klaas how to build. Jonathan loves the outdoors and decided early on in his life that an academic career did not interest him a lot. His father tried to teach him as many building skills as possible and tried to provide him with as much knowledge of the building industry as possible, and at the end of Grade 10 Jonathan decided to exchange his schoolbooks for cement, bricks and a trowel.He is doing very well in his job and is already attempting large projects on his own. His father is close to retirement and Jonathan will soon take over the business from him.

Assessment