Book 2, Question 107
Why Do People Have Different Jobs?
A baker, a nurse, a bus driver, and a teacher all keep a town working. No one can do every job, so towns work when people split the work. No one can do every job!
From the book
Page from A Million Whys Book 2
More fun facts
- A job is work people do in exchange for payment.
- People with jobs pay taxes on the money they earn, which helps their community and country run.
- Splitting work into separate tasks is called the division of labour. It lets each worker get more skilled and faster at one task.
- In a car factory, one group of workers might only put on the wheels, while another group puts in the engine.
- Focusing on a small range of things to become an expert is called specialisation, like a bakery that only makes cakes.
- The jobs people do can depend on where they live.
- Belfast was once famous for making linen, a cloth made from a plant called flax. Many people there spun linen or built ships.
Questions kids ask
Do the jobs in a place change over time?
Yes. In the English village of Castle Combe, most people were once farmers, but now most jobs there are in tourism.