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Paid or Unpaid Work search for term

Paid work is work that people receive wages for doing. There are various kinds of work for which people do not receive payment, including domestic work (housework, cooking, childcare and other care for families). Interns or volunteers are also unpaid though they may receive expenses payments. 

Picketing search for term

Demonstrating outside a workplace during a strike in order to persuade other workers not to enter and work.

Piece Rate search for term

A way of paying workers according to how many items they produce, instead of an hourly or daily wage. Piece rates are common for home workers.

Potato famine 1845-1847 search for term

A period of mass starvation, disease and emigration in Ireland, in which a million people are estimated to have died. Between 1845 and 1855, at least a million more left to live in other countries. A disease called blight destroyed the potato crop that people relied on for food. Other food, such as grain, was not distributed to the people who most needed it, making the effects of the famine worse. 

Precarious Work search for term

Low-paid jobs with poor working conditions, very little job security and lack of recognition for unions.

Prejudice search for term

Unfair treatment or judgement against someone or something. 

Primary Earner search for term

The person whose wages are the main source of support in their household.

Private Sector search for term

The part of the economy that is not owned by the state, and includes most businesses within the country, including farms, factories and service sector companies, which may provide services within state services (also see Outsourcing). 

Privatisation search for term

Privatisation is the transfer of ownership of an industry from state control to the private sector. See also nationalisation.

Public Sector search for term

The part of the economy controlled by the state, including schools, councils and the National Health Service. Between the 1948 and 1993 the railways were part of the public sector in Britain, before they were sold to the Private Sector. The steel industry was also under public ownership and was nationalised between 1951 and 1988.

Public Sector Cuts search for term

Reductions in the amount of money the government spends on public sector services and salaries, such as schools, hospitals and the fire service.