British Economy and

everyday life (Chapter 15)

Dr. Nguyen Duy Mong Ha
USSH, VNU-HCM
Content

1. Earning money: working life, Employment

2. Work organizations
3. Industries
4. Wealth
5. Using money & Shopping
 1- Earning money: working life
• Enthusiasm for work now >< traditional lack of enthusiasm for work
(aristocracy: leisure as main outward sign) (Statement: Germans work harder)
• Middle class: non-manual work (describe themselves as working class)
• Skilled manual (“blue collar”) workers are more highly paid than lower
grades of “white collar” workers: lack of ambition (“anti-work outlook)
• At least half of the workforce does non-manual work now (= working class,
not middle class). Working time: 9-to-5 (30-60 mins for lunch break) +
several hours overtime/week (Manual workers start work at 8:00 am)
• Retiring age: 65 (raised in 2024) + relatively short annual holidays
• Look for work: through newspapers, local job centers, privately run
employment agencies + Internet today
• More new job opportunities (communication, healthcare, social care)
Manufacturing Service
Trading
(decline) (rise)

Industries
(state &
private)

Agriculture Economy Fishery

Forestry
Recent changes
• Law against sex discrimination in employment was passed in
1975
• Decline in heavy industries & rise in service occupations: few
jobs for stereotypical “men’s work” and more vacancies for
stereotypical “women’s work”
• More unemployed men than unemployed women (though men
seek for jobs such as child-carer, shop assistants, nurses,
secretaries, office workers... (women are still less paid than men
of the same job?)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjsAQ7VTsPA
 SUMMARY 1 Increase in Service

9-to-5/day Discrimination Law

Types Gender pay gap

Working Gender
hours issues

Employment

Increase
More men than women
Newspapers, local job
centers/ employment Job-seeking Unemployment
agencies, Internet
 2- Work organizations
TUC
CBI • Trade Union Congress (Leader: Secretary)
• Confederation of British Industry • Voluntary association of the country’s
various trade unions (> 100),
• Represent employers in private
industry • Representing employees in all kinds of work
(not National Union of Teachers –NUT)
• Influential in the advice given to • Most are connected with particular
Trade Union and government occupations, many belong to Labour Party
National Famers’ Union (NFU): many • Local branches, chapel… (50% of employed)
rich agricultural employers and • Union membership has declined since
independent farmers, not belong to 1979- weaker now (more female part-time
workers than before), looser contact with
TUC but has large influence the Labour Party, closer with other parties
 SUMMARY 2
Confederation of British Industry
Private, represents employers

Trade Union Congress (Employees),

CBI voluntary, many unions
Linked to Labor Party in the past, lost
contact with Labor Party in 1994
Membership decline since 1979

Labor Party
Other parties Work
(different political Unions organizations TUC
parties)
Many local
branches “chapels

National Farmers’ Union: small

NFU but large influence (traditional
landowners)
 3- Public and private industries
• 1960s: large corporations became dominant & a rise of well-trained
management class (people “work their way up” were preferred, 1980s: newly
hired managers with business qualifications)
• Industry performed poorly >< successful agriculture (big farms)
• Mixture of public and private enterprises
ØNationalized (government-owned) energy industries, transport,
communication services (1945-1980)
Ø1980, Conservative government: turned state-owned to individuals/
shareholders (Thatcherism, privatized, de-nationalized), larger pure
“capitalism”, Government: only education, health care, social welfare
ØNegative effects: cheating (public “watchdog” with regulatory power) +
widening gap between the rich & poor, less job security (“market forces”
rule: more shareholders)
 Large corporations
SUMMARY 3 “management class

Trading
Service
Manufacturing

Industries
(state/public “1945-1980”more state control
Agriculture
& private) From 1980: Conservative, share-holders
State: ???
 4- Distribution of wealth
• 1970s: one of the most equitable distribution of wealth in Europe
• 1990s: one of the least equitable (the rich got richer but the poor not)
• Survey 2007: the “average” (not rich nor poor) decreased, increase of
breadline poor (not enough money for basic things)
• Not flaunt their wealth and also not generally ashamed to be poor, rise
in life expectancy
• No connection between wealth and happiness (higher divorce rate...)
• Try to narrow the gap between the rich and the poor?
• Decreased rate of income tax (from 40% in 1960s to 20% in 2000s) +
take-home pay, earn varying amounts... (poor little hope)
SUMMARY 4
Rich-Poor
gap

Jobs Wealth Average

Income
tax
5- Using money: finance and investment
• London: center of financial world
• Financial Times Stock Exchange Index (FTSE) of 100 largest British
companies
• “The City”: financial institutions and the people working in them
(long uninterrupted history, reputation for the habits of secrecy)
• Preference for continuity and tradition (stability and trust for
investment), no ideas of “high finance”
• Insurance company and pension fund
• High street banks (importance of banks in people’s lives: grumbling
about charges, want longer opening time of the banks)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3drfsSWFmlE
SUMMARY 5
London

Stability & Using Continuity

money & tradition
Trust

Banking
 6-Spending money and shopping
• Not adventurous shoppers, not haggling about prices: Brand name goods (chain
stores)
• Individuality of chain shops/stores, not demand art (may look shabby)
• Quick shopping for what they want (get everything in the
supermarkets/hypermarkets)+ online shopping today
• Shopping centers in high streets (American “Main Streets”)
• Charity shops (second-hand items) and discount stores>< luxury items (specialists)
• Shop corners in residential areas: not just groceries but newspapers, magazines,
sweets, tobacco products
• Shops by Asian owners stay open late (usu. 9 a.m to 8 p.m, some 24 hours, most small
shops: 8.00 am- 5.30 pm), Sundays: shops are allowed to open now (max 6 hours)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X3g8_XSTIig
SUMMARY 6
Chain stores/
Dpt stores/high
street shops

Shopping hours Shopping Supermarkets

Shopping
items
SHOPPING IN LONDON
1. High Street Shopping: Oxford Street
2. Luxury shopping : Knight Bridge
3. Alternative Shopping: Camden Town
4. Food Shopping: Borough Market
5. Antique Shopping: Portobello Market
Homework (Britain – workbook – Chapter 15)