Question

Write an essay on `work’. Focus on both the range of occupations, which exist and how they change.

Answer 1

Work means carrying out activities that require the expenditure of mental and physical effort and can be paid or unpaid. It has the objective of the production of goods and services that cater to human needs. Mainly, paid work is considered as real work, and paid workers are referred to as being employed.

There are two types of occupations, namely informal and formal.

Informal employment is found in the unorganised sector of the society, whereas formal employment is found in the organised sector of the society.

Informal employment is mostly unrecorded and the workers are not paid on a regular basis. Also, the payment is made either in terms of money or as goods or services.

Informal employment mostly includes physical work, whereas informal employment both physical and mental work is involved. Also, workers are paid a regular salary in terms of money.

Before industrialisation, in traditional societies, the work was performed in the house itself. This formed the informal employment. However, after industrialisation, with the advancement of technology, work shifted from home to factories and offices, forming the formal sector of employment.

These occupations change gradually. For instance, as the variety of work expanded and became complicated, it led to a specialised division of labour. Human labour was replaced by machines and Industrialisation broke down processes into simple operations that could be precisely timed, organised and monitored.