Division of labour and specialisation
Answers are for parents and teachers.
1
12 workers made 3 600 items in 10 hours. Find one worker's hourly productivity.
30
2
In an assembly shop in the first month 10 workers assembled 4 000 items in 20 days; in the second month (with a new machine) the same 10 workers assembled 5 600 items in 20 days. What was one worker's daily productivity in the second month?
28
3
How does the division of labour appear when your family prepares a meal? Write one example.
Sample: one cuts vegetables, one cooks, one lays the table – the job is finished faster.
4
Rishton's pottery workshops sell their goods all over the country. What could have helped this area specialise (two reasons)? What risk arises if demand for pottery falls?
Sample: local clay and the skills of many generations of masters. If demand falls, many families' incomes drop at the same time, because the area depends on one product.
5
Why does a single shop in a small town often sell bread, milk, soap and notebooks together, while a big city has many shops selling only one kind of product?
Specialisation depends on market demand: in a small town there are few buyers for one kind of product, while a big city has so many buyers that specialising in one kind pays off.