📘 Part 3: Employment

This episode's vocabulary

To pigeonhole (verb) - to have an often unfair idea of what type someone or something is:.

To start out (phrasal verb) - to begin your life, or the part of your life when you work, in a particular way>

Guidance (noun) - help and advice about how to do something or about how to deal with problems connected with your work, education, or personal relationships.

To put a price/value/figure on something (phrase) - to say what you think the price or value of something is.

To compensate (verb) - to pay someone money in exchange for work they have done or a service they have provided.

To deem (verb) - to consider or judge something in a particular way.

Supply and demand (idiom) - the idea that the price of goods and services depends on how much of something is being sold and how many people want to buy it.

To command (verb) - to deserve and get something good, such as attention, respect, or a lot of money.

Well off (adj.) - wealthy.

To remunerate (verb) - to pay someone for work or services.

Questions and Answers

M: Do you think schools should provide career advice to students?

R: I don't see the harm in it, provided they aren't pigeonholing them before they even get started out in life. Students always benefit from a little guidance. That's literally the role of teachers in the process of learning. Well, and the role of students is to receive the guidance as well.

M: Who should receive a higher salary, young people or older people?

R: I suppose that depends on who you ask, but it makes sense that people who are older generally get paid more since they usually have more experience and can do more. And younger people tend to have well less experience and require greater investment in terms of time and resources. So I suppose it's less about age and more about ability.

M: Do you think doctors should be well paid?

R: Assuming they do their jobs well, yes. It's hard to put a price on saving lives and helping others, but I think people can agree generally that it should be a high one. Doctors work hard and should definitely be compensated accordingly.

M: What kinds of jobs deserve a high salary?

R: Well, the ones deemed economically valuable would be the easiest and most obvious answer, probably. It's also determined by supply and demand. So if you have a skill that's in high demand but not many people can do it, then you can definitely command a higher salary compared to someone with a more easily accessible skill.

M: What kinds of jobs receive a low salary?

R: Generally speaking, it's the jobs that most people can do with minimal training and effort, since the investment and risk are fairly low. For example, a receptionist doesn't require that much technical knowledge compared to something like a senior engineer. So that makes sense that one would be paid less than the other.

M: What jobs are well paid in your country?

R: That's a good question. I feel like everyone feels like they aren't paid enough these days. However, people who are seen to have a lot of responsibility at work, especially for the well-being of others or their property are probably quite well off. That includes lawyers and CEOs, for example.

M: Hey, thank you, Rory, for your answers!

R: No problem.

Discussion

M: Right. Some schools provide career advice. It's like when they tell you, oh, you will be good at teaching, you should be a doctor. So they do some tests and they tell you that, okay, so teaching is for you, or teaching is not for you. Rory, you've used a nice one to pigeon hole.

R: Yeah. So if you pigeonhole people, then you just, you basically assigned them a role before they have had a chance to develop, essentially. So maybe someone grows up being told, oh, you'll be a wonderful teacher, like for their whole lives, and then they feel like they have to go and do that, because everybody said that this is what they should do. But maybe they wanted to try something else, or maybe they miss out on other opportunities because of this. So that's pigeon holing.

M: Yeah. So a pigeon is a bird. Like usually we see them in the city. So pigeons. Flying rats, dear listener, right? And a verb is to pigeon hole. One verb, one word, pigeon hole. It's usually disapproving to have an often unfair idea of what type of a person someone is or what something is. So, for example, like, you see a person and then, oh, like, he's an alcoholic, for example. And like, how do you know? You know? So you are pigeonholing people.

R: Yes, you assign them a role without any flexibility at all.

M: Yeah, or what can happen during these career advice tests, like you do a test and then they pigeonhole you. Oh, like you are an IT person. You are a marketing person. You will be good at medicine. Okay? So they pigeon hole people. Students benefit from a little guidance. So schools should give guidance on students' future career. So students benefit from career advice.

R: Hopefully.

M: Receive a higher salary or receive a low salary.

R: But that just means be paid a little or be paid a lot.

M: And people who are older generally get paid more. So they get more money. They get paid more due to their experience. They have more experience. Younger people tend to, so usually, younger people tend to get paid less. To be well paid, dear listener. So to get a good salary or to be well paid. And Rory told us that it's difficult to put a price on saving lives.

R: If you put a price on something, then you say how much it is.

M: Yeah, like, it's difficult to put a price on saving lives, like, how much is it?

R: Well, wait, well, yes, it's difficult, but there is a price on what it is. If we type an average doctor salary in the UK. So the price for saving lives is between 32,000 and 120,000 pounds.

M: Ah, okay.

R: Roughly speaking. So there you go, that's how much it costs to save a life. So you can also say that doctors should definitely be compensated accordingly. So to be compensated is a synonym for to get paid. Like they receive compensation, they receive a salary.

R: Or, if you're really fancy, you could say remunerated.

M: Ooh, but isn't it something extra than a salary?

R: Depends. Some people consider it... I suppose some people consider it to be a kind of an essential part. It depends on how desperate you are, but I'm pretty sure that remunerated isn't to do with extra stuff, as far as I know. It's just to do with payment. But the key thing is, what level of word is that? What level of word is it, Maria? Tell me.

M: Oh, I think it's like C-1, C-2, let's check with the Cambridge online dictionary.

R: I am looking at the Cambridge online dictionary because I only just thought of this word here, but I don't see anything for the level. That's very sad. Well, compensate is C-1, so I assume remunerate is C-2.

M: Yeah. So remuneration is formal, and it means payment for work or services. So for example, doctors get remuneration for their work. Remuneration. And usually we talk about a remuneration package. Like with bonuses, with a salary with something extra. Jobs that deserve a high salary should be economically valuable to society.

R: But that's just because we live in a capitalist society. So that's how we decide how things are paid.

M: It's also determined by supply and demand. So the phrase is supply and demand, no articles.

R: Is that a binomial by any chance?

M: Yeah.. It's a nice phrase. So it means that what people want and what they can give to society.

R: What? No... Supply... Like the law of supply and demand is just, well, the more readily accessible something is, like the supply, then the easier it is to access. But it also relies on demand, so it's got to be something that's available a lot, and people need to have a demand for it as well. But if you've got a lot of something and people don't want it, then it's a high supply, but a low demand. Economics.

M: Yeah. Who receives a low salary? Usually people who can do something with minimal training. Okay? So what requires minimal training? What requires minimal education or no education? Well, you get a low income. Usually it's something like manual labor, like something that everybody can do.

R: Well, depends on the kind of manual labor, I suppose.

M: Yeah, it does depend, like, because I'm thinking about it now, like a good construction worker, for example. Like a quality person who can, you know, fix your pipes or fix things at your home gets a lot of money.

R: This is very difficult to find, trust me.

M: Yeah, especially in England.

R: I don't know about England.

M: Yeah, or Rory gave a good example, and you should give quality examples, real life examples in speaking part three to illustrate your idea, like we do in essays. And here Rory gave a good example, real life. For example, a receptionist. Yay! Oh, nice one. A receptionist doesn't require that much technical knowledge. Or, for example, people who clean hotel rooms, what do you call them?

R: Cleaners?

M: Yeah.

R: Housekeeping?

M: Housekeeping. Yeah, like people who clean things in general, like the usual stuff, so they usually get a lower salary. And we can compare a receptionist to a senior engineer in the company. So a senior engineer usually has* a high education, some special training, so they would be paid more. Well paid jobs in your country, dear listener. Hmm, well, it depends on where you live, but in Scotland...

R: Ooh, Maria is going to tell me about Scotland, because I don't actually know what the most well paid jobs are.

M: Google. Yeah, dear listener, now, could you please open your Google and Google jobs that are well paid in Scotland, in Thailand?

R: Well, you could also just do what I did, and then just give a very general answer. So I just said, I used words like, probably, or that's a good question. And then I think everyone feels like they aren't paid enough, and then talking about they're probably quite well off.

M: Check it out, Rory. High paid jobs in Scotland. Breakfast assistant.

R: What?

M: Breakfast assistant.

R: What's a breakfast assistant?

M: Oh, my God... Oh, I have no idea. Who is a breakfast assistant? Who kind of helps you to have your breakfast? I have no idea. Could you Google? What is this? Then dentists, aircraft pilots, finance officers, delivery drivers. Medical practitioners, all right, dear listener?

R: Well, that makes sense...

M: Okay, okay. Breakfast assistant. Breakfast assistance responsibilities include interacting with guests by taking orders, responding to any questions or complaints, clearing the eating area. So it's a waiter.

R: What? Why don't they just say it's a waiter?

M: I have no idea.

R: Okay, that's a bit weird. But anyway, there you go, we've all learned a new collocation for a new job,.

M: Yeah, but anyway, like, jobs that are well paid in your country, you could say dentists, medical practitioners, so pretty much doctors and IT specialists. Okay? Yeah, there you go. But that's just a list. You'd have to explain why.

M: Yeah, yeah. But still, like, if you want to give examples.

R: That's true.

M: And also then you say, like people who have a lot of responsibilities, who deal with the well-being of others.

R: Responsibilities like looking after your breakfast.

M: Directors, CEOs, okay? Like chief executive officers are usually well paid, and you can use a synonym. So they are well off. So people who are well off, they are rich. And now, Rory's vocabulary show...

R: It is. It's the part of the show where I ask Maria questions about the kinds of grammar and vocabulary we use in our episode. But Maria has to guess what ones I'm talking about. So guess along with her as we go. The first question was, do you think schools should provide career advice for students? And I used an expression that described the idea of making decisions about what people are and restricting their agency over this. But what was that expression?

R: To pigeon hole, to pigeon hole people.

R: Yes. Nice. Our next question talked about higher salaries, and I said that younger people require more time and investment given to them, but I didn't say it was given to them. I used a different word.

M: Get paid?

R: Maria...

M: Oh, they require greater investment.

R: Greater investment in terms of time and resources. My third question was, do you think doctors should be well paid? And I said that they should be paid what they are worth, but I didn't say they should be paid. I used a special word to describe this.

M: They should be compensated.

R: Yes. Question after that was, what kinds of jobs deserve a high salary? And I used a special phrase to describe the idea of, if you have something and people want it, this will determine what you are paid. But what was that special phrase?

M: Supply and demand.

R: Oh, yes, we are supplying you with the answers that you demand and the vocabulary. The question after that was, what kinds of jobs receive a low income? And I talked about how it's important to... Well, know a lot in a special area, but I didn't say that. I used a different collocation to describe this idea of knowing a lot in a particular area.

M: Technical knowledge. To have a lot of technical knowledge.

R: And our last one, what kinds of jobs are well paid in your country? So here I talked about people who did a lot or who had control over lots of things. But I didn't use this word control. I used something else.

M: To have a lot of responsibility at work.

R: Yes, it could be responsibility or responsibilities. Oh, but Maria, no bonus question for you this time, because you got one of the answers wrong. You did get it right eventually. But no bonus question, because not 100%. I'm sure you're very disappointed.

M: Thank you very much for listening, and we'll get back to you in our new episode! Bye!

R: Bye!

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