Economics - What does overall supply of labour depend upon?

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Economics                                                                        Mr Ratinckx

  1. What does overall supply of labour depend upon?

The overall supply of labour is affected in several different ways. First of all, the working population is considered to be in between 16 and 65 years of age. The inactive population is therefore those younger than 16 and those over 65 years. If there was a huge baby boom in the foreseeable future then the benefits of this would not be felt until some years later when they would become part of the working population. However, in order that the government can gain maximum tax revenue is if more people are in full time education and higher education with the prospect of working in a high paid job. Initially, this would be quite difficult but it would relieve the pressure placed on by the dependency ratio. Other factors that affect the supply of labour are that the death rate is always decreasing therefore the population is increasing. The current health service is going to be put under even more sustained pressure as the more people get older and live longer. This also adds to the increasing dependency ratio. Many people who immigrate to Britain will then, on the whole, add to the overall supply of labour. Another very important factor is that women are getting married later on in life so that they can pursue a career.

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  1. How do you account for the increase in inactive males in recent years?

There are many reasons that men become increasingly inactive in recent years. One reason is, in recent years the primary industry has decreased substantially and the tertiary and services sector has grown considerably. Many men were involved in the primary sector such as factory, coal mining, and farming. Over the last few decades those manufacturing industries have slowly reduced and more tertiary and services have been growing. The tertiary and services sector have a tendency to employ more women, possibly because they are ...

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