AS 91225 annotated exemplars

This annotated exemplar is intended for teacher use only. Annotated exemplars are extracts of student evidence, with commentary, that explain key parts of a standard. These help teachers make assessment judgements at the grade boundaries.

Download all exemplars and commentary [PDF, 323 KB]

TKI Economics assessment resources (external link)

For Excellence, the student needs to analyse unemployment comprehensively, using economic concepts and models.

This involves:

• analysing the causes of changes in unemployment by comparing and/or contrasting their impact on unemployment
• analysing the impacts of the changes in unemployment on various groups in New Zealand society
• analysing by integrating changes shown on economic models into detailed explanations.

This student has analysed two causes of changes in unemployment, using the AS/AD and Labour Market models (1).

The student has comprehensively integrated the Labour Market model and economic concepts (e.g. derived demand, seasonal unemployment, involuntary unemployment), explaining how and why the changes in the Labour market affect younger and older workers differently (2). 

The student has compared the similar impact of an increase in demand for labour on the various groups, integrating the Labour Market model (3).

The student has compared and contrasted the effect of changes in unemployment on new, young workers entering the job market, and on temporary workers such as university students (4).

For a more secure Excellence, the student could integrate the Labour Market model into the explanation of contrasting effects on young workers.

For example, where the student states ‘school leavers will find it difficult to find a job even after the university students leave Nelson’ (4), they could note that the supply of labour decreases from SL1 to SL2, and that the demand for labour falls as the seasonal work finishes (DL1 to DL).

These additions could lead the student to draw a conclusion such as ‘more school leavers are likely to become involuntary unemployed (U2; Q1-Q5 on Fig 5)’.

For Merit, the student needs to analyse unemployment in depth, using economic concepts and models.

This involves:

• providing a detailed explanation of causes of changes in unemployment using economic models
• providing a detailed explanation of the impacts of changes in unemployment on various groups in New Zealand society.
  
  This student has explained in depth two causes of changes in unemployment, using the AS/AD and Labour Market models (5).

The student has explained, in depth, the impacts of structural change on various groups, using the Labour Market model and economic concepts (e.g. structural unemployment, involuntary unemployment) to explain how each group is affected by unemployment (6).

The student has contrasted the impacts of structural unemployment for older and younger workers, using the Labour Market model (7).

To reach Excellence, the student could compare and contrast the impacts of changes in unemployment in a ‘greater than’ or ‘less than’ sense, using relevant economic concepts.

For example, the student could expand their conclusion (8) by noting that younger workers have fewer commitments and no dependents, so the impact is likely to be less stressful and have less long-term effects. The student could also note that younger workers are less affected by structural unemployment because they have more time to retrain and get another job in a different industry.

Secondly, the two causes of changes in unemployment could be compared and/or contrasted in a greater than or less than sense, using economic models.

For Merit, the student needs to analyse unemployment in depth using economic concepts and models.

This involves:

• providing a detailed explanation of causes of changes in unemployment using economic models
• providing a detailed explanation of the impacts of changes in unemployment on various groups in New Zealand society.

This student has explained the change in cyclical unemployment due to increased consumption and investment supported by an AS/AD model (9).

The student has explained sunset industries and how this causes unemployment (e.g. falling demand with real wage unable to fall), using a Labour Market model and concepts to support their analysis (10).

The student has explained how sunrise industries affect unemployment (e.g. rising demand and maybe real wages), using a Labour Market model and examples (11).

The student has explained how the change affects younger and older workers, and explained the impacts of cyclical unemployment on various groups in detail, using economic concepts and the AS/AD model (12).

For a more secure Merit, the student could use the model to support the effects of changes in sunrise and sunset industries on different groups.

For example, the student could explain that when older workers lose jobs in sunset industries due to the fall in demand, they are more likely to gain work in the sunrise industries, who need experienced workers due to increased demand for their product.

This means that the gain in employment (Q1 to Q3 in Fig 4) is more likely to be made up of experienced workers, meaning that youth unemployment in Nelson will remain high.

For Achieved, the student needs to analyse unemployment using economic concepts and models.

This involves:

• identifying, defining or describing unemployment concepts
• providing an explanation of causes of changes in unemployment using economic models
• providing an explanation of the impacts of changes in unemployment on various groups in New Zealand society.

This student has explained how decreased demand for onshore fish processing affected local unemployment, using economic concepts and the Labour Market model (13).

The student has used economic concepts (e.g. cyclical, structural unemployment), and the AS/AD model, to explain the change in unemployment caused by higher incomes in China (14).

The student has explained how this change in unemployment affects households and producers (15).

The student has explained the impacts of the change in demand for onshore fish processing on local groups in detail, using economic concepts and the Labour Market model (16).

To reach Merit, the student could explain why higher world incomes would increase exports and therefore why AD increases.

For example, the student could explain that higher world incomes will increase demand in China for luxury items such as a more protein rich diet. This is what New Zealand produces, so Chinese consumers will want more of our exports. Since AD looks at the planned purchases of the 4 groups (AD=C+I+G+X), then exports (X) will rise so AD increases to AD1.

Secondly, the student could use the model and the concept of derived demand to support a detailed explanation of the effects on households and producers.

For Achieved, the student needs to analyse unemployment using economic concepts and models.

This involves:

• identifying, defining or describing unemployment concepts
• providing an explanation of causes of changes in unemployment using economic models
• providing an explanation of the impacts of changes in unemployment on various groups in New Zealand society.

This student has explained how the global recession caused more cyclical unemployment in New Zealand, using the PPF model (17).

The student has used the Labour Market model to explain the changes in unemployment caused by a sunrise industry (18).

The student has briefly explained how younger and older workers could be affected by a sunrise and sunset industry (19).

The student has explained the impacts of the global recession on households and producers in New Zealand, using economic concepts and the AS/AD model (20).

For a more secure Achieved, the student could use the Labour Market model to explain the changes in unemployment caused by a sunset industry (21). Concepts such as structural unemployment or derived demand could be used to provide more explanation of how or why a sunrise and sunset industry increases or decreases unemployment for younger and older workers.

For Achieved, the student needs to analyse unemployment using economic concepts and models.

This involves:

• identifying, defining or describing unemployment concepts
• providing an explanation of causes of changes in unemployment using economic models
• providing an explanation of the impacts of changes in unemployment on various groups in New Zealand society.

This student has partially explained how increasing the minimum wages rates (MWR) would affect unemployment (22).

The student has identified a second cause of unemployment (i.e. the global recession), and has used a PPF model to illustrate unemployment and referred to the AS/AD model (23).

The student has partially explained the impacts of the global recession on various groups (24).  

To reach Achieved, the student could use economic concepts when explaining the causes of unemployment (e.g. cyclical unemployment, derived demand). The student could use the models to show the changes caused by the events, rather than merely illustrating unemployment. Additionally, the student could explain the impacts of the global recession and increased MWR on various groups using the presented models and economic concepts.