Pay and Benefits Definition and Types of Employment Skills and qualifications

Definition and Types of Employment
When we speak about employment we usually mean paid work done by a person or a group of people. Labor, in its turn, refers to the routine work that people do in their jobs, whether it is performing manual labor, managing employees, or providing skilled professional services. Manual labor usually refers to physical work that requires little formal education or training, such as shoveling dirt or moving furniture. Managers include those who supervise other workers. Examples of skilled professionals include doctors, lawyers, and dentists. Very often managers and skilled professionals are called white collar workers, as their job does not involve manual labor.
The main goal of economic and social reformers is full employment, that is, availability of living-wage jobs for all employable citizens. But still many people work part-time, that is performing their professional duties only a part of the regular working time. With the growing number of people out of work job sharing becomes more and more popular. This is the practice of dividing a full time job between two people so that each works for half the time. There is also informal employment, or paid work on a casual basis. Jobs are irregular, and workers are often self-employed without earning pensions and without paying taxes. This sort of employment is common in urban areas of developing countries. It may involve service jobs as well as craft industries. Informal employment also includes illegal activities such as theft, prostitution, and selling drugs.
With technological advances, more and more people resort to telecommuting. They work away from the employer’s office, often at home, but maintain close contact with coworkers and managers through electronic mail and telephone. In some situations telecommuting can increase an employee’s productivity; it also decreases time spent driving to and from the office and decreases pollution from automobiles. But some managers feel uncomfortable with the lack of direct supervision they have over their telecommuting employees, and some employees may dislike telecommuting because of isolation from coworkers.
The total number of people a company employs is the payroll or the workforce. If there are too many employees the company is overstaffed and it has to let its employees go. In this case we are talking about downsizing, or rightsizing. When the employees have no choice the redundancies are compulsory. But when the employees can choose to leave the redundancies are voluntary. The payroll can also be reduced by natural wastage, with employees leaving over a period of time for usual reasons.
2. Scan the text again and make a list of different types of employment mentioned in the text. Can you add any other forms of employment which are popular in Belarus?

3. 
   Decide whether the following statements are true or false:
   

1) Manual labor refers to physical work that requires little formal education or training.
2) Very often managers are called white-collar workers, as their job doesn’t involve manual labor.
3) Full employment is absence of jobs for all employable citizens.
4) Informal employment is unpaid work on a casual basis.
5) Self-employment is common in rural areas of developed countries.