Most adults go to work regularly. When they come back, they are sometimes tired and knocked out. Why do people do this to themselves?

The obvious answer is probably only one: to earn money. Without work there is no money. At least in our latitudes this is the case.

Some people don’t work and still get money. How does that work? Why doesn’t it work for everyone? We would like to answer these and more questions today.

Why We Work

There are many different ways to get money. While some people work for other people (Employees), others are self-employed. They run companies, work for their own account and at their own risk, and employ workers themselves (Employer.)

No matter how you earn your money: Most of us have to go to work in some form to survive. Because from the earned money, costs such as rent, food, car temperatures and fuel must be paid. If you have a family, you need even more money to provide your children with pocket money, clothes and everything else they need.

Work For Money

The way our social system works is that we work to get money in return.

A long time ago it was different. Think about the first humans that existed on earth. At that time, everyone took care of himself as best he could. They hunted, gathered berries and built their own shelters. In principle, this worked quite well. However, it is clear that you can not do everything yourself. Everyone has their strengths and weaknesses. That’s why not everyone can become a doctor or a lawyer. If everyone would take care of their own food today, we wouldn’t have any doctors either. As soon as you had a toothache, you would have to pull the tooth yourself or ask someone for help who probably has just as little idea about it as you do.

That’s why today there are a wide variety of training paths and professions in which you can specialize. In this way, everyone contributes to society by doing what they are good at.

Meaning And Occupation In Life

On the one hand, we go to work to get a certain amount of money transferred to our account every month. For example, if you work in the heavy metal industry or a factory, your income is called a Wage. People who work in an office or a bank get a Salary.

If you are self-employed, you live off the bills that others pay to you.

Apart from the money, work also makes up a large part of our lives in terms of the time we spend there. Therefore, if possible, you should look for a job that suits you or that you even enjoy. It is of little use if you hate your own work and drag yourself to the workplace every day. In this case, your health may even suffer in the long run.

If you have a job that you like, you also see a kind of meaning to life in your work. Especially in creative and social fields of work, one can develop oneself and experiences a certain confirmation. It is something wonderful when, as a teacher, you experience the gratitude in the eyes of children who have learned something new. In this case, work is not just a means to an end, but a great occupation.

Without work, you might just sit around at home and not know what to do with yourself. Of course, we are all different and each of us deals with the topic of work differently. But basically it is true that work can be something very pleasant and satisfying.

Developing Your Own Potential

One’s own strengths and talents are of little use if one does not know how to utilize them. That is why it is important to develop your own potential as much as possible.

This is possible if you choose an education that matches your own strengths. If you later find a job that suits you, you can use your talents to make a valuable contribution to society.

Helping each other.

In our social system, work also means exchanging services and goods with each other.

In this sense, we help each other cope with the everyday difficulties of life. For example, if you have damaged, split hair, you can get a hairdresser to give you a great new haircut, which will also make your hair healthier and more radiant. For this you have to pay a small amount of money to the hairdresser. He can use this money to buy things that he urgently needs.

Co-financing the system.

Unfortunately, we do not get all the money we work with. A not so small part is given to the state treasury. In addition, a part of the wage or salary is withheld by the employer in order to pay the statutory social insurance. You can read more about social security in a separate article that we have dedicated to this topic.

The money that goes to the state treasury (tax office), however, comes back to you in a roundabout way. This part of the money is also called Taxes. The tax money is used to finance the infrastructure (playgrounds, roads, state kindergartens,…) in your town. All the money that the mayor spends for his municipality comes from the state treasury. From this point of view, taxes are not lost money for you in the strict sense of the word.

By the way: The wage before deduction of taxes and social security contributions is also called Gross wage. The part that you actually get paid is called the Net wage.

Money Without Work

Some people have money even though they do not work. This can have very different reasons.

Passive Income

Some professionals receive a so-called passive income. This means that they receive their income whether they continue to work or not. This is the case with authors, for example. If an author has written a book in which a publisher is interested, then a contract is concluded with the publisher. This publishing contract states that the author will regularly receive a share of the profits from book sales. This share is also called Royalties.

It is true that authors must regularly write new books in order to make a living from them. However, the royalties do not depend on how many hours they work per week, but are paid for a finished work that sells well.

There are other forms of passive income as well. However, because most young workers are not affected by these, we will not go into them here.

Living On Benefits

Very few people stay with the same company for the rest of their lives. It is quite common today to have to change jobs more often. A move, deteriorating working conditions or a dismissal on the part of the employer lead to the fact that one must give up the job.

Then one is unemployed. Unemployed people receive money from the state so that they do not lose their home and have to live on the street. However, in return they have to make an effort to get a new job. The employment office checks these things very strictly and can cut unemployment benefits if you don’t apply for jobs regularly. Unemployment benefits are only meant to make ends meet in the short term. It is not a permanent solution for people who cannot go to work.

If you cannot go to work in the long term because you are not in a position to do so for health or psychological reasons, then you will receive money from the state over a longer period of time. However, this amount is only enough to pay for the essentials of daily life. Things like a vacation, expensive multimedia items and the like cannot be afforded by families living on social benefits. They even have to be careful when buying groceries not to exceed a certain daily budget, because otherwise they won’t have enough money left until the end of the month. That is why there are even separate cookbooks for such families, which contain recipes that are particularly cheap to implement.

By the way, it is not a matter of course all over the world to get money from the state. In many other countries, one is entirely responsible for oneself and must pay for one’s own expenses alone.

Inheritance And Family

Some people have an easier start in life because they come from a rich family. They don’t really have to work because there is enough money in the family to provide a high standard of living for everyone. However, they usually go on to get an education anyway. Some go after a job that they enjoy. They don’t want to be dependent on their parents and feel they need the job as employment.

If you suddenly inherit rich, then you should still continue to work. Because money runs out faster than you think. That’s why it makes sense to keep working.

Unconditional Basic Income

Some countries are currently discussing whether to introduce the unconditional basic income. This is a certain amount of money that every citizen should receive – regardless of whether they work or not. Most of us cannot live on this amount of money anyway and are motivated to work anyway. However, you can then focus on doing something that really suits you instead of slaving away in a job that actually does you more harm than good just for the money. After all, the unconditional basic income takes a lot of financial pressure off you.

The unconditional basic income is a very controversial topic. Many politicians think it is a difficult idea to implement. Others see it as a great opportunity to change our system for the better. Whether the unconditional basic income will be introduced is still unclear. Negotiations on this will certainly continue for several years before a decision is made.

Benefits From Insurances

There are insurances with which you can get money in case of occupational disability Occupational disability is when you suddenly can no longer do your normal job due to an illness or accident. If you have taken out a private occupational disability insurance policy beforehand, you will receive a pension for life, which secures part of your livelihood. Of course, you also receive benefits from the state if you can no longer work. However, these are not very high, which is why such an insurance makes sense.

Not All Work Is Worth The Same

As a young adult, you will find that time is a very valuable commodity. The saying “time is money” actually has a kernel of truth to it. This is because we are normally paid by the hour when we work. Most people have a 40-hour work week. When you work 40 hours a week, that is called Full-time. If, for example, you only work 20 hours because you have to look after your children in the afternoon, then that’s called Part-time.

Although time should actually be worth the same in every case, it is not so in working life. Because a cleaner gets paid much less for her time than, for example, a bricklayer.

This is because employers pay not only for the working time itself, but for the previous training time of the worker. The higher the training, the more money you get later. At least, this is the case in most cases.

It may be that, for the time being, as a graduate you get less salary than someone who is doing an apprenticeship. However, over time, the money of the academic (graduate) increases more rapidly than that of the bricklayer. In addition, the academic has more prospects and better chances of getting a job. At least theoretically.

Because there are now many students, the university graduates of certain disciplines now have problems getting a job.

That’s why you should pay particular attention to your job prospects when choosing your profession. After all, even the best education is of little use to you if you can’t get a job afterwards.

Although not every job is worth the same, all types of workers are needed. For the cleaner is just as important as the bricklayer, despite his lower hourly wage.

Worksheet For The Text

1) Explain the difficult words from the text.

What does…

• Employee

• Employer

• Wage

• Salary

• Occupational disability

• Full-time

• Part-time

• Gross wage

• Net wage

• Bonuses

• Taxes

2) Why do adults go to work? What are the reasons? Write down what you remember from the text.

3) Internet research: Find out if work is really not always worth the same. Research how much a cleaner earns per hour (gross). Also try to find out what a bricklayer’s gross wage is per hour. You may need to convert the monthly wage. To get the hourly wage, divide the monthly wage for 40 hours per week by 160.

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