Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives (0457): Topic: Employment – Study Guide

This guide follows the Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives (0457) syllabus for examination in 2025, 2026 and 2027, Version 2 (published April 2025). It uses Employment, one of the topics in the topic list in section 3, to practise the skills set out in section 2 (the assessment objectives) and section 4 (details of the assessment). The syllabus says the topic list is for all components: Component 1 Written Exam, Component 2 Individual Report and Component 3 Team Project.

Read this first. The syllabus states that “knowledge of content is not assessed”. You will not gain marks for knowing employment facts. This page shows you how to use the topic to practise the assessed skills: research, analysis and evaluation (AO1), reflection (AO2), and communication and collaboration (AO3).

Use it with the Employment revision notes and the Employment practice questions. The 0457 course hub and the 0457 checklist show how the whole course fits together.

Coverage table

Syllabus reference	What you must be able to do (from the document)	Where assessed
Section 2, AO1	Identify and analyse issues, arguments and perspectives; analyse and evaluate evidence, reasoning and sources; develop a line of reasoning	Components 1, 2 and 3
Section 2, AO2	Consider different perspectives objectively and with empathy; justify a personal perspective; reflect on how research and teamwork influenced your learning	Components 2 and 3
Section 2, AO3	Present arguments, evidence and perspectives clearly, with citations and references; contribute to the Team Project	Components 2 and 3
Section 3, topic list and key terms	Explore issues within a chosen topic (Employment is one); use the meanings of issue, perspective, research, evidence and argument	All components
Section 4, Component 1	Analyse sources; evaluate research or evidence and suggest how to test a claim; evaluate arguments; assess actions. Understand bias, claim, fact, generalisation, opinion, prediction, value and vested interest	Written Exam, 1 hour 25 minutes, 70 marks
Section 4, Component 2	Research a global issue that divides opinion; local and/or national and global perspectives; causes and consequences; propose one course of action; evaluate sources	Individual Report, 1500-2000 words, 60 marks
Section 4, Component 3	Identify a local issue; research different perspectives; plan, carry out and measure an action; reflect	Team Project, 70 marks

Employment as a source of issues

The syllabus defines an issue as “an important subject or problem for discussion”. Employment gives you many issues at three levels.

• Global: automation and artificial intelligence replacing some tasks; working conditions in global supply chains; informal work with no contract or social protection; the growth of app-based “gig” work.
• National: youth unemployment; whether to raise a minimum wage; whether gig workers should count as employees; skills gaps between education and jobs.
• Local: a factory or port closing; few apprenticeships in your area; long commutes; part-time jobs for students.

Key terms you will meet in sources

• Unemployment: people without work who are available and looking for it.
• Underemployment: people working fewer hours, or in lower-skilled roles, than they want.
• Informal employment: work without a legal contract, social protection or regulation.
• Gig economy: short tasks or jobs arranged through apps, often paid per task.
• Automation: machines or software doing tasks that people used to do.
• Decent work: a phrase used by the International Labour Organization (ILO) for work that is productive, fairly paid, safe and secure.
• Trade union: an organisation of workers that bargains with employers for its members.

A real example to anchor the global level. The ILO, a United Nations agency founded in 1919, reported in 2018 that more than 60% of the world’s employed population, about two billion people, work in the informal economy. Goal 8 of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (adopted 2015) aims at “full and productive employment and decent work for all”.

Evaluation. The ILO is an international body with access to data from many countries, which makes it a credible source. But informal work is hard to measure because it is, by definition, unrecorded. Estimates depend on surveys and definitions that differ between countries. Treat the figure as a careful estimate, not an exact count.

Worked paragraph (analysing the level of an issue). “The source shows that youth unemployment is a national issue in the fictional country of Ardan, because its government is debating a wage subsidy. It is also global: the same pressures, such as automation in warehouses, affect many countries. This matters because a national solution may fail if the cause, such as international competition between online retailers, lies outside one country’s control.” Notice the move from what the source says, to which level it belongs, to why the level matters for solutions.

Perspectives: who sees employment issues differently, and why

The syllabus defines a perspective as “a viewpoint on an issue based on evidence and reasoning”. The Individual Report asks you to show that you understand why different people hold different perspectives, not just what they think.

Typical groups and what shapes their view:

Group	Likely concern	Why
Workers	Pay, security, safety, hours	Their income and wellbeing depend on it
Employers	Costs, productivity, flexibility	Profit and survival against competitors
Trade unions	Members’ pay and protection	Their role is to represent members
Governments	Jobs, tax revenue, growth, votes	They answer to voters and manage the economy
Consumers	Low prices, fast service	They benefit from cheap goods and services
International bodies	Standards across countries	They set or monitor global rules

A real example. In February 2021 the UK Supreme Court ruled, in Uber BV v Aslam, that Uber drivers were “workers”, not self-employed. That gave them rights such as the minimum wage and holiday pay. In March 2021 Uber said its UK drivers would receive the minimum wage, holiday pay and pensions. Perspectives differed. Drivers who brought the case wanted security and fair pay. Uber had argued that drivers valued being free to choose when to work. Some critics said the minimum wage would only apply from the moment a driver accepted a trip, not while logged in and waiting for one.

Evaluation. This case shows that perspectives are not simply “for” or “against”. A driver can want both flexibility and security. When you write about perspectives, show that tension. (For working conditions in global supply chains, see the Development, trade and aid guide.)

Worked paragraph (explaining why perspectives differ). “The taxi driver in the source values flexibility but wants sick pay, while the ride-hailing company stresses low fares. Their perspectives differ because the driver carries the risk of illness, while the company carries the risk of losing customers to cheaper rivals. Each view is reasonable from its own position, which is why a compromise, such as basic sick pay funded by a small fee, may be more likely to gain support than either extreme.”

Causes and consequences

The Individual Report must analyse “the reasons for conflict or disagreement/causes of problems and the consequences/impacts of the issue”. The Written Exam asks you to analyse information in sources. A cause-consequence chain helps.

Example chain for youth unemployment:

1. Cause: automation in warehouses reduces demand for manual packers.
2. Cause: school leavers lack the technical skills the new jobs need.
3. Consequence (personal): young people lose income and confidence; some move into informal work.
4. Consequence (local): shops near the closed warehouse lose trade; young people move away.
5. Consequence (national): lower tax revenue and higher welfare spending.
6. Consequence (global): pressure to migrate; firms compete across borders.

Analysis tip. Separate short-term from long-term consequences, and intended from unintended ones. A minimum wage rise may raise pay at once (intended), but some argue it can reduce hiring of the least experienced workers (possible unintended consequence). Economists disagree about how large this effect is, so present it as a debated claim.

Worked paragraph. “One cause of rising informal work in the fictional town of Brennock may be the loss of formal warehouse jobs, shown by youth unemployment rising from 9.0% to 13.5% while the informal share of jobs rose from 30% to 37%. This suggests that some young people who cannot find contracts take unregistered work instead. However, the data shows only that both rose over the same period. It does not prove one caused the other.”

Judging sources and evidence

For Component 1, the syllabus says you will benefit from understanding bias, claim, fact, generalisation, opinion, prediction, value and vested interest, and should be able to “analyse and evaluate use of evidence and language”. Employment sources are full of these.

Term	Employment example
Claim	“Raising the minimum wage will cost jobs.”
Fact	“The trial ran from June to December.” (checkable)
Opinion	“App work is the best job a student can have.”
Generalisation	“Young people today don’t want to work.”
Prediction	“Half of all jobs will vanish within 20 years.”
Value	Fairness, freedom, security, efficiency
Vested interest	A company funding a report that praises its own working conditions
Bias	Only quoting satisfied workers

Real example 1: predictions about automation. In 2013 Carl Benedikt Frey and Michael Osborne, at the University of Oxford, estimated that about 47% of US jobs were at high risk of computerisation. In 2018 an OECD study by Ljubica Nedelkoska and Glenda Quintini estimated that about 14% of jobs across OECD countries were highly automatable. The OECD study looked at the separate tasks within jobs, not whole occupations.

Evaluation. Both are predictions, not facts. The gap between them comes mainly from method: judging whole jobs versus judging tasks within jobs. Lesson: when sources disagree, look at how each figure was produced before deciding which to trust.

Real example 2: the UK four-day week pilot. From June to December 2022, 61 UK companies, with about 2,900 staff, tried a four-day week with no loss of pay. The pilot was run by 4 Day Week Global with Autonomy, the 4 Day Week Campaign and researchers from the University of Cambridge and Boston College. Afterwards, 56 of the 61 companies said they would continue.

Evaluation. Strengths: a real trial, a clear time period, academic researchers involved. Limitations: the companies volunteered, so they may have been more suited to the change than most; some organisers campaign for a four-day week, which is a possible vested interest; six months may be too short to show long-term effects; most firms were small, so the results may not generalise to factories or hospitals.

Worked paragraph (Component 1 style). “The fictional retailers’ association survey is weak evidence for the claim that young workers are unreliable. Only 150 of 2,000 members replied (7.5%), so the 80% figure may reflect the firms with the strongest complaints. The association also has a vested interest, as it is campaigning against a rise in youth pay rates. To test the claim properly, I would compare absence records for workers of different ages across a sample of shops chosen at random.”

Courses of action and their effects

The Written Exam asks you to “assess actions in response to the global issue”. The Individual Report must consider different courses of action and propose one. Judge each action against clear criteria:

• Effectiveness: does it tackle a cause, or only a symptom?
• Feasibility: cost, time, who must agree.
• Who gains and who loses: workers, employers, taxpayers.
• Sustainability: will it last after funding ends?
• Evidence: has something similar worked elsewhere?

Common actions in employment issues:

Action	Possible benefit	Possible drawback
Apprenticeships and retraining	Tackles the skills cause	Slow; needs employers to take part
Wage subsidies for hiring young people	Quick increase in hiring	Costly; firms may replace older staff
Minimum wage rise	Raises pay for the lowest paid	Debated effect on hiring
Rights for gig workers	Security and sick pay	Higher costs; less flexibility
Shorter working week	Wellbeing; may share out work	Not suitable for every sector

Worked paragraph. “The retraining scheme is the most effective action because it tackles a cause identified in the sources, the skills gap, rather than only the symptom of joblessness. Because local hospitals help pay for it and need the trained staff, it is more sustainable than a wage subsidy, which ends when government money runs out. Its weakness is speed: it will not help those unemployed now, so it could be combined with short-term support.”

Individual Report ideas

The syllabus asks for a global issue “that divides opinion”, a question you devise yourself, local and/or national and global perspectives, and one proposed course of action. Possible questions (adapt them; do not copy):

• Should governments limit automation to protect jobs?
• Should app-based workers have the same rights as employees?
• Is a four-day working week a realistic goal for all countries?
• Should countries raise their minimum wage even if some employers say it will reduce hiring?

Check each idea: can you find sources for at least two levels, and for clearly different perspectives? See the Individual Report guide and Individual Report practice.

Team Project ideas

The Team Project needs a local issue and an action you can carry out and measure. Employment ideas:

• Issue: students in your school know little about local apprenticeships. Action: run a careers session with three local employers. Measure: a short before-and-after survey of what students know.
• Issue: young people lack interview experience. Action: a mock-interview day with volunteers. Measure: participants’ confidence ratings and feedback.

Each team member researches a different perspective, such as students, employers and a careers adviser. Your teacher will confirm what is feasible in your school. More help: Team Project guide and Team Project revision notes.

Common errors

• Writing what you know about employment instead of analysing the sources. In Component 1, the syllabus says prior knowledge is not assessed.
• Calling a prediction such as “half of all jobs will vanish” a fact.
• Saying “this source is biased” without naming the vested interest or the loaded words.
• Treating two trends that rise together, such as automation and unemployment, as proof of cause.
• Listing perspectives without explaining why each group holds its view.
• Choosing an Individual Report issue that does not divide opinion, such as “Is unemployment bad?”
• Proposing several courses of action in the Individual Report instead of choosing one and explaining how it would be implemented.
• A Team Project action that cannot be measured.

Where to go next

• Employment revision notes and practice questions
• Written Exam guide and Global Perspectives revision notes
• 0457 course hub and 0457 checklist

Official syllabus

This guide is based on the Cambridge IGCSE Global Perspectives (0457) syllabus for examination in 2025, 2026 and 2027, Version 2 (published April 2025). Check the syllabus and your teacher’s guidance for the current requirements.