The factors of production

The quantity of labour is the labour force — those of working age willing and able to work, including the unemployed seeking work. So a fall in employment is not a fall in the quantity of labour. Its causes change the supply of workers: birth and death rates, net migration and the retirement age — not whether people have a job.

Production is total output. Productivity is output per unit of input, usually output per worker. Adding more land, labour or capital raises production; productivity rises only when each unit produces more. Writing "productivity" for "production" (or the reverse) loses application marks — say which one is changing.

On explain and analyse parts, candidates often just name a cause without developing why it changes the factor — that stays at Level 1. Spell out the link: more education raises skills, so each worker produces more, raising productivity. Naming a factor that cannot change that variable (e.g. education raising the SIZE of the labour force) earns nothing.

The quantity of a factor is how much of it there is (the number of workers or machines). The quality is how productive each unit is (workers' skills and health; the technology in machines). Both raise output, but by different routes: more workers raise capacity, while more skilled workers raise output per worker. Always say which one a change affects.

Occupational mobility is how easily a factor moves between jobs or uses; geographical mobility is how easily it moves between locations. A worker retraining shows occupational mobility; one relocating to another city shows geographical mobility. Name which type the question means before explaining it.