What does it mean to say that the demand for labour is a derived demand?

It means the demand for labour stems from (is derived from) the demand for the goods or services that labour produces, rather than being demanded for its own sake.

According to marginal productivity theory, at what point will a profit-maximising firm stop hiring additional workers?

A profit-maximising firm will employ workers up to the point where the marginal revenue product of labour (MRP) equals the marginal cost of labour (the wage rate).

Why would a firm hire an additional worker whose MRP exceeds the wage rate?

The firm would hire that worker because MRP exceeding the wage means the worker adds more to revenue than to costs, increasing profit. The firm stops hiring only when MRP equals the wage.

Define each component in the MRP formula: what is the marginal physical product of labour?

The marginal physical product of labour is the additional output produced by employing one more unit of labour.

In the MRP formula, what does marginal revenue represent?

Marginal revenue is the additional revenue gained from selling one more unit of output.

AQA A-Level Economics 7136

Economic Methodology and the Economic Problem

Topic overview Economics as a social science, and positive and normative statements The economic problem, factors of production and opportunity cost Production possibility diagrams

Individual Economic Decision Making

Topic overview Consumer behaviour and utility Imperfect information Aspects of behavioural economic theory Behavioural economics and economic policy

Price Determination in a Competitive Market

Topic overview Demand, the demand curve, income and wealth Substitutes, complements and consumer preferences Price elasticity of demand and total revenue The determinants of price elasticity of demand Income and cross elasticity of demand The determinants of supply Price elasticity of supply Equilibrium, disequilibrium and how a market clears Shifts in demand and supply, and the price mechanism The interrelationship between markets

Production, Costs and Revenue

Topic overview Production, productivity and specialisation Costs of production in the short and long run Economies and diseconomies of scale Revenue and profit The law of diminishing returns and returns to scale Technological change

Perfect Competition, Imperfectly Competitive Markets and Monopoly

Topic overview The characteristics of the four market structures Price takers, price makers and non-price competition Competitive markets The objectives of firms Profit maximisation and the divorce of ownership from control Profit maximisation and the shutdown condition Price taking, entry and exit, and long-run equilibrium Efficiency in perfect competition and its assumptions Monopolistic competition in the short run Monopolistic competition in the long run The characteristics of oligopoly and barriers to entry The kinked demand curve and price rigidity Collusion, cartels and price leadership Non-price competition in oligopoly The advantages and disadvantages of oligopoly Monopoly power and barriers to entry The monopoly diagram and supernormal profit The costs and benefits of monopoly Price discrimination The dynamics of competition Creative destruction and the competitive market process Contestable and non-contestable markets Static and dynamic efficiency Market structure and resource allocation Consumer and producer surplus

The Labour Market

Topic overview The demand for labour and marginal productivity theory The supply of labour Wage determination in competitive labour markets Wage determination in imperfectly competitive labour markets Trade unions and wage determination The National Minimum Wage Discrimination in the labour market

The Distribution of Income and Wealth: Poverty and Inequality

Topic overview Income, wealth and the causes of their distribution Equality, equity, the Lorenz curve and the Gini coefficient The arguments about inequality The problem of poverty Progressive taxation and transfer payments Means-tested benefits, universal benefits and the poverty trap Wealth taxes and state provision Evaluating redistribution

The Market Mechanism, Market Failure and Government Intervention

Topic overview How markets and prices allocate resources The meaning of market failure Public goods, private goods and quasi-public goods Positive and negative externalities Merit and demerit goods Market imperfections An inequitable distribution of income and wealth Indirect taxes and subsidies Price controls, state provision and regulation Pollution permits and the extension of property rights Evaluating intervention and the mixed economy Government failure Competition policy Public ownership, privatisation, regulation and deregulation

The Measurement of Macroeconomic Performance

Topic overview The objectives of government economic policy Macroeconomic indicators and index numbers Uses of national income data

How the Macroeconomy Works

Topic overview The circular flow of income The aggregate demand and aggregate supply curves What shifts short-run and long-run aggregate supply Macroeconomic equilibrium and economic shocks Consumption and investment Government spending and net exports The accelerator, saving and investment Aggregate demand and the level of economic activity The determinants of aggregate supply

Economic Performance

Topic overview Short-run and long-run economic growth The economic cycle and output gaps Demand-side and supply-side shocks Measuring unemployment and the types of unemployment The determinants of employment and policies to reduce unemployment Inflation and deflation The quantity theory of money Consequences of inflation and deflation The balance of payments on current account Output gaps and the growth-inflation conflict Reconciling policy objectives in the AD/AS model

Financial Markets and Monetary Policy

Topic overview The characteristics and functions of money Financial markets and their role Debt, equity and bond yields Commercial banks, investment banks and the balance sheet Liquidity, profitability, security and credit creation The instruments and institutions of monetary policy How bank rate changes affect the economy What the MPC considers, and the exchange rate channel The functions of a central bank The bank rate and the MPC's decisions Exchange rate movements and the macroeconomy The monetary policy transmission mechanism Quantitative easing and unconventional policy The regulators and the risks banks face Liquidity ratios, capital ratios and systemic risk

Fiscal Policy and Supply-Side Policies

Topic overview Fiscal policy and aggregate demand Types of tax The budget balance and the national debt The purposes of public expenditure and taxation The principles of taxation Budget deficits, surpluses and their effects The national debt and fiscal rules Supply-side policies and how they work Market-based and interventionist supply-side policies

The International Economy

Topic overview The causes and characteristics of globalisation The impact of globalisation on developed and developing economies Multinational corporations Comparative and absolute advantage The effects of trade and changing trade patterns Tariffs, quotas and the tariff diagram Arguments for and against protectionism Trading blocs and the World Trade Organisation The components of the balance of payments Causes of current account imbalances and investment flows Correcting imbalances and their consequences How exchange rates are determined in a floating system Government intervention and fixed exchange rates Floating rates and currency unions Growth, development and less-developed economies Measuring development: the HDI and other indicators Investment and education as drivers of development Corruption, governance and institutional barriers Infrastructure, human capital and property rights Market-based and interventionist development strategies Aid and trade as development strategies Growth, globalisation and inequality

The Labour Market

7 subtopics
27 things to know
Papers 1 and 3

What The Labour Market covers

The labour market is examined on Papers 1 and 3. It applies demand and supply to labour, then examines what happens when the market is imperfect: monopsony employers, trade unions, a minimum wage and discrimination.

Where it is assessed

Papers 1 and 3

Markets and market failure, then the synoptic paper.

Check the AQA specification ↗

The 7 subtopics

Each one has its own page.

What you need to know

Answer each one before you reveal it.

Your recallNot started

Numbers

What is the marginal revenue product of labour, and when does a firm stop hiring?

Numbers

How is marginal revenue product calculated, what is it when MPP is 30 units and MR is £24, and what shape is the labour demand curve?

Numbers

How do capital and the product price affect labour demand, and what is its elasticity?

Key term

Why is the demand for labour typically more elastic in the long run than in the short run?

Numbers

What broad factors influence the supply of labour to an occupation?

Numbers

How do migration and the size of the working population shift labour supply?

Evaluation

How do absolute and comparative advantage differ, and where must the terms of trade lie?

Evaluation

What is the marginal cost of labour, and where does a competitive firm stop hiring?

Numbers

Why does a profit-maximising firm stop hiring when MRPₗ equals the wage rate?

Numbers

What happens to wages and employment when labour demand or supply shifts?

Key term

What does free entry and exit mean in the context of a perfectly competitive labour market?

Process

How do imperfect information and trade unions distort a labour market?

Evaluation

How does a monopsonist set its wage, and how does that differ from a competitive market?

Process

What shape is the MRP curve in a monopsony labour market diagram?

Process

What determines the bargaining power of a trade union?

Key term

When are unions most likely to win a pay rise, and how does the law affect them?

Numbers

What happens to wages and employment when a trade union is introduced into a perfectly competitive labour market?

Evaluation

How can a minimum wage raise aggregate demand and productivity, and what does it do to spending on in-work benefits?

Evaluation

How does a minimum wage affect inequality, poverty and incentives to work?

Key term

What are the costs of a minimum wage for prices, jobs and competitiveness?

Key term

Why is the impact of a minimum wage on employment considered an empirical question?

Numbers

How do ethnic and gender discrimination show up in the labour market?

Numbers

What are taste-based and statistical discrimination, and what do they cost the economy?

Evaluation

Why does wage discrimination cause allocative inefficiency, and who gains from it?

Evaluation

Why is unequal pay for equally productive workers an economic problem?

Numbers

State the formula for calculating the marginal revenue product of labour (MRP).

Numbers

State the formula for the marginal cost of labour in a perfectly competitive labour market.

Take The Labour Market further

The same content, four other ways.

Commonly confused

Pairs that lose marks when they are blurred together.

Marginal revenue product vs Marginal physical product
Marginal revenue product: extra sales income generated by one additional worker. Marginal physical product: extra output generated by one additional worker.
Monopsony vs Monopoly
Monopsony: a market dominated by one buyer. Monopoly: a market dominated by one seller.
Economic rent vs Transfer earnings
Economic rent: earnings above the minimum needed to retain a factor. Transfer earnings: minimum payment needed to retain a factor.

Questions from this topic

Each one with the model answer underneath.

1
What does it mean to say that the demand for labour is a derived demand?
Model answer
It means the demand for labour stems from (is derived from) the demand for the goods or services that labour produces, rather than being demanded for its own sake.
2
According to marginal productivity theory, at what point will a profit-maximising firm stop hiring additional workers?
Model answer
A profit-maximising firm will employ workers up to the point where the marginal revenue product of labour (MRP) equals the marginal cost of labour (the wage rate).
3
Why would a firm hire an additional worker whose MRP exceeds the wage rate?
Model answer
The firm would hire that worker because MRP exceeding the wage means the worker adds more to revenue than to costs, increasing profit. The firm stops hiring only when MRP equals the wage.
4
State the formula for calculating the marginal revenue product of labour (MRP).
Model answer
MRP of labour = Marginal Physical Product of Labour (MPP) × Marginal Revenue (MR).
5
Define each component in the MRP formula: what is the marginal physical product of labour?
Model answer
The marginal physical product of labour is the additional output produced by employing one more unit of labour.
6
In the MRP formula, what does marginal revenue represent?
Model answer
Marginal revenue is the additional revenue gained from selling one more unit of output.

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Economic Methodology and the Economic Problem

Individual Economic Decision Making

Price Determination in a Competitive Market

Production, Costs and Revenue

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Monopsony means a market dominated by one buyer.

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The Labour Market revision questions

What does The Labour Market cover in AQA A-Level Economics?: 7 subtopics: the demand for labour and marginal productivity theory, the supply of labour, wage determination in competitive labour markets, wage determination in imperfectly competitive labour markets, trade unions and wage determination, the national minimum wage and discrimination in the labour market. Each one has its own page with questions and model answers.
How is The Labour Market organised?: By the AQA 7136 specification, subtopic by subtopic, so it matches the order you are taught it in.

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