Economics · Week 11 · Business, Competition, and Labor

Why Jobs Pay Differently

Using supply, demand, and productivity to explain differences in wages and mapping the skills students want to grow next.

Self-awarenessGrade 12About 20 minutesGrade 12, one semester

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Students will: Students use supply, demand, and productivity to explain wage differences among jobs and professions and identify a skill that could raise their own future productivity.
SEL skill: Name a personal strength and connect it to a skill worth growing
What it looks like: Students recognize their own strengths and interests and name a skill they want to grow next.
Content focus: Why jobs pay differently
Format: Think write pair share

Self-awareness

Self-awareness means noticing your own strengths, interests, and values and how they shape the choices you make. More self-awareness activities

What you get

A teacher guide with what to say, step by step, plus student pages and a supports page for students with diverse learning needs, including those with IEPs. Print or Project it, or assign it in Google Forms and Google Docs for Google Classroom. Your first 10 activities are free.

Standards

12.4.3: CA History Social Science Content Standard, Grade 12: Principles of Economics (standard 12.4, item 3)
CA HSS Analysis Skill: HI6 Conduct cost benefit analyses and apply basic economic indicators to analyze the economy. (Historical Interpretation)
C3 Framework (national): D2.Eco.13.9-12 Explain why advances in technology and investment in capital goods and human skills increase growth and living standards.
Literacy in history: RH.11-12.7 Integrate quantitative or technical analysis, such as charts and maps, with information in a text.

Fits these textbook chapters

Textbook names are used only to help you find activities that fit what you teach. RoseThread Connect is not affiliated with these publishers.

More self-awareness activities for Economics

Thinking Like an Economist Self-awarenessStudents list the choices they already make with limited time and money and name the economist identity they bring into class.
The Fed and Your Wallet Self-awarenessExplaining how the Federal Reserve influences interest rates and applying the idea of delayed reward to personal saving.
Reading the Economy's Pulse Self-awarenessCalculating unemployment and inflation rates and comparing nominal with real data, then checking in on students' own emotional indicators.

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RoseThread Connect activities are drafted with the help of AI and shaped by educators. Students never have to share anything personal. Our five SEL skills are informed by CASEL's SEL Framework; RoseThread Learning is not affiliated with or endorsed by CASEL.