Grade: 9 Lesson 2

Where in the World Can I Find My Dream Job?

SS.912.FL.1.4 Analyze the reasons why the wage or salary paid to workers in jobs is usually determined by the labor market and that businesses are generally willing to pay more productive workers higher wages or salaries than less productive workers.

SS.912.FL.1.5 Discuss reasons why changes in economic conditions or in the labor market can cause change in a worker’s income and/or may cause unemployment.

Correlated Literacy Standards:

LAFS.910.RL.1.1 Cite strong and thorough textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.

LAFS.1112.RH.1.2 Determine the central ideas or information of a primary or secondary source; provide an accurate summary that makes clear the relationships among the key details and ideas.

SS.912.FL.1.4 Analyze the reasons why the wage or salary paid to workers in jobs is usually determined by the labor market and that businesses are generally willing to pay more productive workers higher wages or salaries than less productive workers.

SS.912.FL.1.5 Discuss reasons why changes in economic conditions or in the labor market can cause change in a worker’s income and/or may cause unemployment.

Where in the World Can I Find My Dream Job?

Lesson #2

Correlated Florida Standards (See Full Text on Cover Page)

LAFS.910.RL.1.1

LAFS.1112.RH.1.2

Essential Questions

  • What are the costs and benefits of various occupations?
  • What is the opportunity cost of getting a higher education as opposed to entering the workforce now?
  • How does the labor market decide which jobs are available?
  • What are the effects of supply and demand on the labor market?
  • What is a recession? Unemployment?
  • Why do wages and salaries vary for workers? What is productivity?

Learning Goals/Objectives

Students will be available to…

  • Identify the opportunity costs ofvarious career choices; costs and benefits.
  • Explain how the labor market may dictate career paths.
  • Evaluate the importance of worker productivity in businesses as it affects salaries.
  • Explain the relationship between recessions and unemployment.
  • Discuss the three types of unemployment: frictional, structural, and cyclical.

Overview

Students will discuss and evaluate various factors related to productivity, efficiency, and income levels. Students will also learn that the state of the economy will dictate what employment opportunities are available. However, people can increase their income and expand their job opportunities by choosing to acquire more education, work experience, and job skills.

Materials

  • Computers and Internet access
  • Availability of video technology
  • Access to the classified section of a local newspaper.
  • Student Activity Sheet: Jobs and Careers (Included in the lesson).
  • Student Activity Sheet: Education vs. Income Activity(Included in the lesson).
  • Occupational Data Chart: This website allows students to compare wages across different occupations and regions.
  • Athlete Wages: This webpage provides average wages for professional athletes.

Key Vocabulary

Opportunity cost, efficiency, productivity, recession, unemployment (frictional, structural and cyclical), supply, demand, salary, and wages.

Time

50 minutes (For a block-scheduled class, you may want to include the optional extension suggestion/home learning assignment).

Activity Sequence

INTRODUCTION/HOOK

  1. Tell the students that today’s class will focus on career availability and economic conditions. They will view several short videos, discuss efficiency and productivity in the workplace, analyze the importance of affects on income based on the economic changes, and review the relationship between productivity and subsequent income levels. (2 minutes)
  2. Discuss the following questions: Why do some athletes make multimillions of dollars per year?Why do the CEO's of major companies make very high salaries while their secretaries make much less?Why do doctors make such high salaries while nurses do not?Explain that wages and salaries are,in part, determined by the supply of and demand for labor, skill, and education levels.(5 minutes)

ACTIVITY

This lesson includes a number of short video clips. (All are included in the lesson file.) A summary of each clip is provided in the lesson. Teachers are asked to preview the clips before showing them in class to better ensure that strong connections are made to the lesson’s objectives/learning goals both before and after the clips are shown. Teachers may use their professional judgment on whether all videos are required to address the lesson’s objectives/learning goals.

  1. Define the following terms: efficiency, productivity, recession, unemployment, supply, demand, salary, wages, and professions. (See the last page of this lesson for the definitions.) (5 minutes)
  1. Show and discuss the following video:Why You Don't Want a PhD in the Humanitiesby ElizabethCornell: As the advisor tells her student, specialization within the humanities is no longer expected or economically viable. Although the student will work hard and spend almost a decade earning a PhD, economic hardship, a lack of appreciation by the university and more hard work awaits. (5 minutes)
  1. Show and discuss the following video: Lucy and the Efficiency Expertby Elizabeth Cornell: is a precipitate of past actions in training or a practice that further indicates the ability or capacity to put knowledge into practice, to implement a form of knowledge performativity and effectively, to operationalize it within particular contexts. This clip satirizes the value we place in skill and efficiency.(5 minutes)
  1. Explain to students that there are different forms of unemployment: frictional, structural, and cyclical.Show the students the following video clip after you review the definitionsfound on the last page of this lesson. CSE B Atlanta Fed- Labor force and unemployment by Joe Calhoun video focuses on economic issues and the Federal Reserve looks at the labor force, the unemployment rate, and other key labor market indicators. Engaging graphics and real-life examples help explain who makes up the labor force and how the unemployment rate is calculated, along with the factors that make this rate fluctuate.(5 minutes)
  1. Show and discuss the following video: Seinfeld Economics: The Revenge by Linda Ghent occurs when an individual is not working and is actively seeking employment. There are three types of unemployment identified by economists: frictional, structural, and cyclical.In this video, George is out of work after quitting his job and is considering a career change. The poor housing market has led to cyclical unemployment. George laments that unions control his desired job of movie projectionist (structural unemployment). He also would like to be a college professor, but requires more human capital (frictional unemployment). (4 minutes)
  1. OPTIONAL:Inform students that unemployment occurs in many places around the world as in this example of unemployment in India. Have students discern what happens when you can’t find a job. India fearsrecession as unemployment soars - 14 Apr 09 has been hard hit by the financial crisis and economic worries. (5 minutes).
  1. Discuss with students the importance of having an income if they plan on spending money! Watch this short music video: Price Tag - Jessie Jby Brian ORoark money is fun. When you can forget about how much things cost, buying things takes on a life of itsown. However, at some point, no matter how much you try to forget, the bills come due. This is one of the realizations of the great recession of 2008-2009. (3 minutes)
  1. Tell the students that capitalism opens up the door for anyone to enter the market as an entrepreneur. CSE 4.2 Stossel Micro 10- Poverty and entrepreneurshipby Joe Calhoun this video,Steve Mariotti explains how his students respond very positively to his life experiences in the import/export business. His students, who people wrote off, as "brain damaged and emotionally upset,” were able to recall business school calculations when they were interested in the entrepreneurial process. Two of his students went on to become entrepreneurs. One student opened a sporting goods manufacturing company while another started a music business and Bulldog Bicycles. The video ends explaining how capitalism opens up opportunities to everyone to make a better life.(4 minutes)
  1. With the time remaining and to be finished as homework, have students utilize career sites and job postings on the Internet or in the local newspaper to find three jobs/careers in their area of interest. Encourage students to identify jobs/careers that vary in their requirements, including education, training and skills.

For comparison purposes, have students complete the activity entitled Jobs and Careers (Included in the lesson).Have students share their results with their fellow students, if time allows. (5 minutes)

CLOSURE

Review with students the importance of choices and decisions in economics. Indicate how career planning and setting financial goals is necessary for future economic success and stability. Review the lesson’s essential questions. (2 minutes)

OPTIONAL EXTENSION SUGGESTION/HOME LEARNING

For a block-scheduled class or as an extension activity, consider utilizing the Education vs. Income Activity. (Included in the lesson). As a follow-up to this activity, ask the students to complete the following:

  1. Based on the color of square paper received in class and the subsequent annual salary, calculate how much money they would earn per month. Calculate the monthly income by dividing their annual income by 12. Explain to students that an average American household, family of four, annual expenses are approximately $53,495 in 2014, as cited on the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
  2. Have students answer the following questions:
  • Based on the statistics found on this site, how much income do you need to stay above the poverty level?
  • How does the economy dictate my earnings? What happens to incomes during recessions? Unemployment?
  • What economic decisions should I make now in order to be productive in the future?

(Answers will vary, but ideally the students will understand the importance of sound economic choices for their future careers.)

Sources/Bibliographic Information that contributed to this lesson:

  • Why You Don't Want a PhD in the Humanities by Elizabeth Cornell
  • Lucy and the Efficiency Expertby Elizabeth Cornell
  • CSE B Atlanta Fed- Labor force and unemploymentby Joe Calhoun
  • Seinfeld Economics: The Revengeby Linda Ghent
  • India fears recession as unemployment soars - 14 Apr 09‬
  • Price Tag - Jessie Jby Brian ORoark
  • CSE B Atlanta Fed- Labor force and unemploymentby Joe Calhoun
  • CSE 4.2 Stossel Micro 10- Poverty and entrepreneurshipby Joe Calhoun
  • Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics
  • U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
  • EconEdlink
  • Education vs. Income Activity
  • Council for Economic Education,

Economic Terms for this Lesson:

From:

  1. Efficiency- An economic state in which every resource is optimally allocated to minimize waste.
  2. Productivity- The amount of output (goods and services) produced per unit of input (productive resources) used.
  3. Recession-A decline in the rate of national economic activity, usually measured by a decline in real GDP for at least two consecutive quarters (i.e., six months).
  4. Unemployment-The number of people without jobs who are actively seeking work.
  5. There are three basic types of unemployment: frictional (looking for work between jobs), structural (working at lower skilled jobs due to current job offerings), and cyclical (based on seasons, for example holiday season).

Jobs and Careers

Name: ______Class: ______

Directions: Complete the chart for three jobs/careers that interest you. Use the classified section of any local newspaper and/or the Internet to complete the chart. Include the source where the job/career is advertised.

Job or Career / Educational Background and/or Previous Experience Required / Special Skills Required / Anticipated Annual Income / Source of Job/Career Advertisement

Education vs. Income Activity

**Note – Pass out colored papers according to the number of students in your class! You will have to make that calculation! As students enter the classroom, have students select a colored paper.

Read the script below:

Ask students to stand up and hold the colored square they chose when they entered the classroom.

TEACHER: “Everyone standing represents the people who start high school. This activity will show the different paths people can choose during their lifetime and the different results.”

Ask the students holding the ORANGE squares of paper to be seated.

  • These people represent 19.6% of the population who did not graduate from high school or earn a GED. On average, they earn $16,234/year, the lowest wages of all workers.

TEACHER: “Congratulations! Everyone remaining finished high school.”

Ask the students holding the RED squares of paper to be seated.

  • These people represent 28.6% of the population who graduated from high school or earned a GED. On average, they earn $24,885/year.

TEACHER: “Congratulations! The remaining students decided to further their education!”

Ask the students holding the GREEN squares of paper to be seated.

  • These people represent 21.0% of the population who dropped out of college without finishing a degree. On average, they earn $28,264/year, which is only a little more than high school graduates. They enter the job market at basically the same level as other high school graduates.

TEACHER: “Congratulations! The remaining finished some kind of post-secondary education!”

Ask the students holding the YELLOW squares of paper to be seated.

  • These people represent 6.3% of the population who received their associate degree. On average, they earn $33,644/year. Jobs requiring an associate’s degree are expected to grow 32% between 2000 and 2010. These people are prepared for this significant change in the job market.

Ask the students holding the BLUE squares of paper to be seated.

  • These people represent 15.5% of the population who completed their bachelor’s degree. On average, they earn $48,892/year, which is almost twice what high school graduates earn.

Ask the students holding the PURPLE squares of paper to be seated.

These people represent 8.9% of the population who completed their graduate or professional degree. On average a master’s degree earns $63,205/year, the doctorate degree earns $86,036/year, and the professional degree earns $96,779/year. Those who receive a professional degree such as a doctor or lawyer earn almost twice what a bachelor’s degree earns.

Source: Finance in the Classroom,

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