📚 IGCSE Economics: The Role of Workers in the Labour Market | IGCSE经济：劳动力市场中的工人角色
In every economy, the labour market is the arena where workers offer their time, skills, and energy in return for wages, while firms hire those resources to produce goods and services. The worker is never a passive object in this process; individual choices about study, effort, mobility, and collective organisation all influence the wage level, the volume of employment, and the efficiency of production.
在每个经济体中，劳动力市场都是工人以时间、技能和精力换取工资，企业则为生产商品与服务而聘用这些资源的竞技场。在这一过程中，工人绝不是被动的客体；个人关于求学、努力、流动与集体组织等选择，都会影响工资水平、就业量以及生产效率。
1. The Labour Market and Its Participants | 劳动力市场及其参与者
The labour market is a factor market, because labour is one of the four factors of production. Workers are the suppliers of this factor, and firms are the demanders. The price of labour is the wage rate, and the quantity bought and sold is the number of workers employed.
劳动力市场属于要素市场，因为劳动是四大生产要素之一。工人是该要素的供给方，企业是需求方。劳动的价格是工资率，买卖的数量则是受雇工人的人数。
Workers do not simply sell hours; they sell a bundle of abilities, attitudes, and experience. For this reason, employers must consider not only the wage they pay, but also training costs, supervision costs, and the risk that a worker may leave.
工人并不是简单地出售工时；他们出售的是能力、态度与经验的综合体。因此，雇主不仅要考虑支付的工资，还要考虑培训成本、监督成本以及工人离职的风险。
Workers seek the best combination of wage, security, and working conditions they can obtain.
工人寻求所能获得的最佳工资、保障与工作条件的组合。
Employers seek the most productive workers at the lowest possible cost.
雇主寻求以尽可能低的成本获得最具生产率的工人。
In a competitive market, both sides continuously negotiate through recruitment, voluntary job changes, and dismissal.
在竞争性市场中，双方通过招聘、自愿跳槽和解雇等机制不断进行博弈。
2. Labour Demand: A Derived Demand | 劳动需求：派生需求
The demand for workers depends on the demand for the goods or services they produce. Economists call this a derived demand. A bakery needs bakers only because customers want bread; an airline needs pilots only because passengers want to fly. If consumers stop buying a product, the corresponding workers will eventually lose their jobs, no matter how hard they have worked.
对工人的需求取决于他们生产的商品或服务的需求。经济学家称之为派生需求。面包店需要面包师，只是因为顾客想要面包；航空公司需要飞行员，只是因为乘客想要飞行。如果消费者不再购买某种产品，无论相关工人多么努力工作，最终都可能失业。
One useful tool is the marginal revenue product (MRP) of a worker: the extra revenue a firm earns by employing one more unit of labour. The firm will employ an extra worker only if the MRP exceeds or equals the wage that must be paid.
一个有用的工具是工人的边际收益产品（MRP）：企业因多雇一单位劳动而获得的额外收入。只有当 MRP 大于或等于必须支付的工资时，企业才会增雇工人。
MRP = Extra output × Price per unit of output
边际收益产品 = 额外产出 × 单位产出价格
When the demand for a product rises, MRP rises, so the demand for labour shifts to the right. Conversely, a fall in consumer demand lowers MRP and reduces the demand for labour. The same logic explains why workers in growing industries, such as renewable energy, often see rising wages, while those in declining industries face redundancy.
当产品需求上升时，MRP 上升，劳动需求曲线向右移动。反之，消费者需求下降会压低 MRP，并减少对劳动的需求。同样的逻辑可以解释为什么可再生能源等成长行业的工人往往看到工资上涨，而夕阳行业的工人则面临裁员。
3. The Supply of Labour | 劳动的供给
Labour supply is the total amount of work time that workers are willing to offer at different wage rates. It depends on the size and age structure of the population, the skills workers possess, and their willingness to enter different occupations and locations.
劳动供给是工人愿意在不同工资率下提供的总工时。它取决于人口规模与年龄结构、工人拥有的技能，以及工人进入不同职业和地区的意愿。
An increase in effort or in the number of workers will shift the supply curve to the right. A fall in the working-age population, or a rise in the preference for leisure, will shift it to the left. Supply is also affected by expectations: if workers believe that new technology will make their skills useless, they may leave the labour force or retrain.
努力程度上升或工人人数增加会使供给曲线右移；劳动年龄人口下降或休闲偏好上升则会使曲线左移。供给还受预期影响：如果工人认为新技术会让自己的技能过时，他们可能退出劳动力市场或选择再培训。
The table below lists the main determinants of labour supply.
下表列出了劳动供给的主要
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