Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives (0457): Topic: Employment – Revision Notes

These notes condense the Employment study guide. Read that first if anything here is new.

They follow the Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives (0457) syllabus for examination in 2025, 2026 and 2027, Version 2 (published April 2025). Employment is one topic in the section 3 topic list, which the syllabus says is for all components: Component 1 Written Exam, Component 2 Individual Report and Component 3 Team Project. The skills come from section 2 (assessment objectives) and section 4 (details of the assessment).

Topic knowledge is not assessed. The syllabus says so plainly. These notes show how to use Employment to practise the skills that are: research, analysis and evaluation (AO1), reflection (AO2), and communication and collaboration (AO3).

Practise with the Employment practice questions. See the 0457 course hub and the 0457 checklist.

The assessment in one table

Component	What the syllabus says	Marks and weighting
1 Written Exam	Four compulsory questions on sources; 1 hour 25 minutes; no prior knowledge assessed	70 marks, 35%
2 Individual Report	Global issue that divides opinion; own question as title; 1500-2000 words	60 marks, 30%
3 Team Project	Local issue; Explanation of Research and Planning (300-400 words), Evidence of Action, Reflective Paper (750-1000 words)	70 marks, 35%

Key terms

Syllabus terms (section 3)

Term	Syllabus meaning
Issue	An important subject or problem for discussion
Perspective	A viewpoint on an issue based on evidence and reasoning
Research	The systematic study of a global issue to find evidence and develop understanding
Evidence	Information about a global issue that helps to develop understanding or prove that something is true or false
Argument	A series of statements containing reasons and evidence which support a claim about a global issue

Component 1 terms (section 4) with employment examples

Term	Short meaning	Employment example
Claim	Something stated as true, which may or may not be supported	“Wage subsidies create jobs.”
Fact	Can be checked and shown true or false	“The scheme ran for twelve months.”
Opinion	A personal belief or judgement	“Office work is boring.”
Generalisation	A broad statement applied to a whole group	“Employers never train young staff.”
Prediction	A statement about the future	“Robots will replace most drivers.”
Value	A belief about what matters	Fairness, security, freedom, efficiency
Vested interest	Gaining or losing from the outcome	An app company commenting on gig workers’ rights
Bias	One-sided presentation	Quoting only happy workers

Topic vocabulary you may meet in sources (useful for reading, not marked for itself)

Term	Meaning
Unemployment	Available and looking for work but without a job
Underemployment	Working fewer hours or in a lower-skilled job than you want
Informal employment	Work with no legal contract or social protection
Gig economy	Short tasks arranged through apps, often paid per task
Automation	Machines or software doing tasks people used to do
Decent work	The ILO’s term for fair, safe, secure, productive work

Real evidence at a glance

Who / what	Finding	One evaluation point
ILO report, 2018	More than 60% of the world’s employed population, about two billion people, work in the informal economy	Informal work is unrecorded, so the figure is an estimate built on surveys and national definitions
UN Sustainable Development Goal 8, adopted 2015	Aims for “full and productive employment and decent work for all”	A goal shows what governments agreed, not what has been achieved
Frey and Osborne, Oxford, 2013	About 47% of US jobs at high risk of computerisation	A prediction; it judged whole occupations, not tasks
Nedelkoska and Quintini, OECD, 2018	About 14% of jobs across OECD countries highly automatable	Task-based method gives a much lower figure; shows method shapes predictions
Uber BV v Aslam, UK Supreme Court, February 2021	Uber drivers were “workers”, entitled to rights such as the minimum wage and holiday pay	Shows perspectives in tension: flexibility versus security
UK four-day week pilot, June-December 2022	61 companies, about 2,900 staff; 56 companies said they would continue	Volunteer firms and campaigning organisers; results may not generalise

Must-know distinctions

• Fact vs claim. A fact can be checked. A claim may be true or false and needs evidence.
• Opinion vs perspective. An opinion can be unsupported. A perspective, in the syllabus definition, rests on evidence and reasoning.
• Prediction vs fact. “Jobs will disappear” cannot yet be checked. Judge the method behind it.
• Correlation vs cause. Unemployment and automation rising together does not prove one caused the other.
• Bias vs vested interest. Vested interest is a reason a source might be biased. Bias is the one-sided presentation itself. Show both: name the interest and quote the loaded words.
• Cause vs consequence. A skills gap can cause unemployment. Lost income is a consequence.
• Symptom vs cause in actions. A wage subsidy treats a symptom (too few hires). Retraining tackles a cause (missing skills).
• Global vs local issue. The Individual Report needs a global issue with local and/or national and global perspectives. The Team Project needs a local issue.

Mini essay plan: assessing courses of action

Typical extended task (in the style of the Written Exam’s final question): “Which action would be most effective in reducing youth unemployment? Explain your judgement with reasons and evidence from the sources.”

1. Judgement first. Name your chosen action in one sentence.
2. Criteria. State how you judge: tackles a cause; cost and feasibility; who gains and who loses; how long it lasts.
3. Action 1 (your choice). Evidence from the sources that it tackles a cause. Strength of that evidence. One weakness and how it could be reduced.
4. Action 2. What it does well, with evidence. Why it is less effective by your criteria.
5. Action 3. Same pattern, briefly.
6. Evidence check. Which source evidence is strongest and weakest, and why (sample, vested interest, prediction).
7. Reasoned conclusion. Repeat the judgement, give the deciding reason, and say what further evidence would change your mind.

Quick self-test

1. What does the syllabus say about knowledge of content in 0457?
2. Give the syllabus definition of a perspective.
3. Is “Automation will destroy half of all jobs” a fact, an opinion or a prediction?
4. A gig-delivery company says its riders love flexibility. Name the evaluation term that explains why you should be cautious.
5. Why did the Frey and Osborne (2013) and OECD (2018) automation estimates differ so much?
6. Give one reason the UK four-day week pilot results may not apply to all workplaces.
7. Name one consequence of youth unemployment at the personal level and one at the national level.
8. Which component needs a local issue rather than a global one?
9. What is the word limit for the Individual Report?
10. Why is “Is unemployment bad?” a weak Individual Report question?
11. Suggest one measurable Team Project action on employment.

Answers

1. It is not assessed. The topics are a context for practising skills.
2. A viewpoint on an issue based on evidence and reasoning.
3. A prediction. It is about the future and cannot yet be checked.
4. Vested interest. The company benefits if riders stay self-employed.
5. Different methods: Frey and Osborne judged whole occupations; the OECD study judged the separate tasks within jobs.
6. Any one: the firms volunteered; the trial lasted six months; organisers included campaigners; most firms were small.
7. Personal: lost income or confidence. National: lower tax revenue or higher welfare spending.
8. Component 3, the Team Project.
9. 1500-2000 words, not counting the bibliography or reference list.
10. It does not divide opinion, so there are no clearly different perspectives to explore.
11. For example, a careers session with local employers, measured by a before-and-after survey of students’ knowledge.

Where marks are usually lost

• Bringing in outside facts in the Written Exam instead of using the sources provided.
• Saying “biased” without naming who gains and quoting the loaded language.
• Treating a percentage as strong evidence without checking how many people were asked and how they were chosen.
• Accepting a prediction as if it were a fact.
• Claiming one trend caused another just because both rose.
• Describing what each group thinks without explaining why they think it.
• Evaluating actions with no stated criteria, so the judgement looks like a guess.
• In the Individual Report, giving several possible actions but never choosing one or explaining how it would be implemented.
• In the Team Project, choosing an action with no way to measure its success.

Links

• Employment study guide and Employment practice questions
• Written Exam guide, Individual Report revision notes and Team Project revision notes
• Related topics: Technology, industry and innovation, Globalisation and Poverty and inequality
• 0457 course hub and 0457 checklist

Official syllabus

These notes are based on the Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives (0457) syllabus for examination in 2025, 2026 and 2027, Version 2 (published April 2025).