IELTS SPEAKING AND WRITING TEST TOPIC 3
Economic issues
retirement - commercial - Employment -Other economic issues
SECTION 1: RETIREMENT
1. In some countries the average worker is obliged to retire at the age of 50, while
in others people can work until they are 65 or 70. Meanwhile, we see some
politicians enjoying power well into their eighties. Clearly, there is little agreement
on an appropriate retirement age. Until what age do you think people should be
encouraged to remain in paid employment? Give reasons for your answer.

• Advantages of early retirement:
- the young people have chances to work.
- Secondly, young people are more efficient than the old, because they are young and
strong.
- Thirdly, young people have many new ideas about products.
- Finally, young people react more quickly than old people.
• Disadvantages of early retirement:
- One point is that old people have lots of experience.
- What is more, they can train young people.
- Moreover, if old people can continue to work, they will feel happy.
2. Businesses should hire employees for their entire lives. Do you agree or
disagree? Use specific reasons and examples to support your answer.
What is important consideration in today employment?
- Job performance, speed and change due to harsh competition.
- Performance: skilled workers, match with the tasks.
- Need to produce goods or services quickly -> need young people who are willing to
put in long hours, be aggressive and will push themselves to do their job faster.
- Have to be innovative. Changing workforce -> bring in new ideas.
- skilled workers do not want to be tied down to one company, they want the
flexibility to improve their opportunities.
- Loyalty is not practical today.

- Know how to evaluate her employees on a reasonable set of criteria.
- Sets the standards for her employees by her own behavior.
7. The idea of having a single career is becoming an old fashioned one. The new
fashion will be to have several careers or ways of earning money and further
education will be something that continues throughout life.
Why does each person need have several careers or ways of earning money and
lifetime education?
- The enormous changes in technology
- No matter what their field of expertise, people are no longer able to cope with
today''s fast changing workplace unless they upgrade their skills through further
study.
- Many jobs have become obsolete in recent years.
- For example, robots have taken over factory assembly lines in the automobile
industry
- Bank employees have lost jobs because now people use ATMs or their home
computer for ordinary bank transactions.
- Similarly, travel agencies and retail stores have gone online and the people who used
to do these jobs have been faced with a mid-life career .
- The marketplace has become global.
- Competition has increased, and small businesses have been swallowed up by large
corporations that are often multinationals.
- Many industries that once flourished in North America, like the textile industry or
the shoe industry, now only distribute foreign-made goods here.
- Labour is cheaper in the developing world and so these industries no longer employ
the large workforce in North America that they once did. As a result, people have had
to retrain and find jobs in other fields.
Technological change will not slow down in the 21st century and so it is likely that
more occupations will become obsolete in the future and we will all have to upgrade
our technical skills regularly and have some employment flexibility if we are to
remain competitive in the workforce.

- Tolerance.
- Computer skill.
- Foreign language skill.
- Why we need tolerance?
- The world is becoming increasingly mobile -> work with different kinds of people
-> tolerant each other.
- What should we do when there is a difference in opinion:
- Learn to be tolerant of one another.
- Respect these different in opinion.
- Find a common background, an idea we can both agree on.
- -> easier to settle differences in other subjects.
11. Qualities a person needs to become successful in today’s world can not be
learnt at university or similar academic institution. To what extent do you agree or
disagree with this idea?
12. Some people prefer to work for themselves or own a business. Others prefer to
work for an employer. Would you rather be selfemployed, work for someone else, or
own a business? Use specific reasons to explain your choice.
13. In the field of industrial relations, employees going on strike is not a valid way
of resolving conflict. There are better aproaches to resolving differences in the
workplace.
- What are the purpose for employees going on strike?
- effective way to resolve industrial disputes.
- What can be disadvantaged by those strikes?
- Loss of production
- Possible loss of customers for companies.
- Loss of wages for the striking employees.
- In some cases striking employees also put their own jobs at risk
- Directly through possible dismissal by their employer
- Indirectly through weakening the competitive position of the company they work
for.

with employers than by opposing them.
- Where communication is encouraged at every level, relations will be better, and
strikes much less likely to occur.
15. If you were an employer, which kind of worker would you prefer to hire: an
inexperienced worker at a lower salary or an experienced worker at a higher
salary? Use specific reasons and details to support your answer.
16. The employment market is rapidly changing, posing impacts on job seekers.
Discuss the causes of such changes in employment opportunities.
How rapid is employment market changing?
- Changes in technology -> require new skill.
- Global workforce market ->more competitive, new way of working.
- The increasing participation of female -> more competitive.
- Rising population -> more competitive.
What are new requirement toward new job – seekers?
- Need global skills: foreign language, computer skill.
- Ability for teamworking.
- Technique for applying for a job: dynamic, interview skill.
- Ability to earn money in some ways.
17. We all work or will work in our jobs with many different kinds of people. In
your opinion, what are some important characteristics of a co-worker (someone you
work closely with)? Use reasons and specific examples to explain why these
characteristics are important.
- Cooperative: get along with others, finish task efficiently and in time.
- Adaptable: with changes in schedules or routines, having job description revised.
- Helpful: willing to do whatever it takes to get the job done, have sense of
communitive.
- A sympathetic listener: not gossip.
18. People work because they need money to live. What are some other reasons that
people work? Discuss one or more of these reasons. Use specific examples and
details to support your answer.

22. Is it more important to be able to work with a group of people on a team or to
work independently? Use reasons and specific examples to support your answer.
23. Do you agree or disagree with the following statement? It is better to be a
member of a group than to be the leader of a group. Use specific reasons and
examples to support your answer.
- What are desirable characters of a leader?
- Ability to anticipate what happen.
- Good planner, persuasive person
- Initiative
- Action – oriented
- Responsible.
- Why should I be a leader?
- Feeling of being success.
- Gaining social respect.
- Contribute the most to surrounding people and the community.
SECTION 4: OTHER ECONOMIC ISSUES
24. A university plans to develop a new research center in your country. Some
people want a center for business research. Other people want a center for research
in agriculture (farming). Which of these two kinds of research centers do you
recommend for your country? Use specific reasons in your recommendation.
What can research center for business bring?
- Improve a country’s economy in relation to other countries
Why not approve business center?
- Business practices in the US already serve as a model for many other countries.
- Business are already well – connected internationally. They have the advantages of
the Internet and other means of electronic information transmission.
- Businessmen would get richer. For the rest of the country’s people, there might be
little obvious benefit.
What can research center for agriculture bring?
- Help all people: food prices can be reduced as farmers discover more effective

3. How important do you think it is to have a job that you enjoy?
4. Compare the importance of salary and job satisfaction in choosing a job or
career.
5. Evaluate the importance of good relationships in a work environment.
6. Are there any jobs or fields of work, which you consider to be more appropriate
for males or females? Why?
7 Consider employment in Vietnam. Do you think it is more or less segregated in
terms of gender than in previous generations? What TV commercials do you like?
Why?
8 What''s your favorite commercial?
9 What is the purpose of advertising a product?
10 Do you think there are subliminal messages?
11 When you drive or walk, do you get distracted by advertisements on buses or
billboards?
12 When you go food shopping, do you buy foods you''ve seen in TV commercials?
13 Do you like the Bennetton''s advertisements? If not, why? (You can substitute
any company''s name.)
14 Do you think it''s right to see naked women in TV commercials selling beauty
products?
15 Which job are you best at?
16 Which job would you never do?
17 Which jobs do you think are the most prestigious?
18 Who among the people you know has the most interesting job? What is it?
19 Why did you leave your last job - did you resign or were you sacked?
20 Would you be upset if your boss was a woman?
21 Would you consider the military as a career choice? Why or why not?
22 Would you like a job in which you traveled a lot?
23 Would you like a job that required you to sit at a computer all day?
24 Would you rather be a doctor or a banker?
25 Would you rather work inside or outside?