Cambridge IELTS 7 Academic Writing Test 3

The chart shows the percentage change in average house prices in five cities between 1990 and 2002 compared with the average house prices in 1989.

Overall, house prices in all five cities increased between 1996 and 2002 compared to 1989, except for Frankfurt. The largest increase was in London, at 12.4%, followed by New York at 4.8% and Madrid at 4.0%. Tokyo and Frankfurt saw smaller increases of 0.8% and 0.4%, respectively.

Between 1990 and 1995, house prices in three of the five cities decreased compared to 1989. The largest decrease was in Tokyo, at -7.2%, followed by London at -6.9% and New York at -4.9%. However, house prices in Madrid and Frankfurt increased during this period, by 2.3% and 3.0%, respectively.

The two largest changes in house prices over the entire period (1990-2002) were both in London. Between 1990 and 1995, house prices in London fell by 6.9%, but then they rebounded to increase by 12.4% between 1996 and 2002. This means that by 2002, house prices in London were still 5.5% higher than they were in 1989.

Frankfurt was the only city that did not experience a significant change in house prices over the entire period. House prices in Frankfurt increased by a modest 0.4% between 1990 and 2002.

Nowadays many adults have full-time jobs and the proportion of their lives spent doing such jobs is very high. So feelings about one’s job must reflect how an individual feels about his or her life as a whole, and because of this, job satisfaction is indeed very important for the wellbeing of that person.

Employees get job satisfaction in a number of ways. Firstly, a person needs to feel that they are doing valued and valuable work, so positive feedback from superiors is very important in this respect. A sense of fulfilment is also encouraged if a worker feels the job is worth doing because it contributes to the society or the economy as a whole. Secondly, when someone feels they are improving or developing their skills through training opportunities, for example, then there is a sense of progression and purpose that rewards a worker. The sense of belonging to a team working community also contributes to job satisfaction because colleagues help each other to enjoy their working lives. Satisfaction is also increased by a sense of responsibility for and loyalty to a team.

Of course not everyone enjoys their work. Hard economic realities mean that many people have little choice in the kind of job they can get. In some cases an employee is working in a job that suits neither their skills nor their personality. Some jobs are repetitive and boring, and labour relations may be poor and lead to resentment and insecurity rather than to job satisfaction.

However, even though it is unlikely that all workers do feel happy in their work, I think it is not unrealistic to promote more job satisfaction in any job. If the factors identified above are implemented, then any job can be improved and more workers can feel greater degrees of job satisfaction.