Work and Centrelink scenarios are some of the most common segments in the NAATI CCL test — and some of the most fumbled, because they are full of administrative loanwords that sit awkwardly between English and Punjabi. This guide collects the highest-value employment and social-services vocabulary, with accurate Gurmukhi, transliteration, and a natural voice you can tap and repeat. Drill the ones you stumble on; skim the ones you own.
- Proper nouns like Centrelink stay as-is — ਸੈਂਟਰਲਿੰਕ — never invent a translation.
- Render the meaning of administrative terms (mutual obligations, JobSeeker) — not a word-for-word calque.
- Say every term out loud: recognising 'superannuation' is easy, producing ਪੈਨਸ਼ਨ ਫੰਡ at speed is the test.
- Pair this list with a practice dialogue so the words surface automatically in full sentences.
How to use this list
Go section by section. For each word: tap to hear it, say it back twice, and mark the ones that don't come instantly. Those marked words are your real study list — everything else you already have. Come back daily until the marked set is empty.
Employment & the workplace
These are the workplace terms candidates most often stumble on — pay, entitlements, and the language of hiring and firing:
Pay and entitlements overlap heavily with money language — for the full set of account, loan and tax terms, see our banking & finance vocabulary guide.
Centrelink & social services
Centrelink segments turn on a handful of fixed terms. Keep the proper noun as-is and render the payment names by their meaning:
These administrative terms sit alongside the broader everyday set — if any of them feel shaky, revisit the 100 essential Punjabi words first, then come back here.
Reporting & eligibility
The administrative spine of any social-services segment — what you must report, whether you qualify, and the form that starts it all:
More high-value terms to know
Beyond the voiced set above, keep these everyday-but-tricky work and welfare terms ready. Practise them out loud the same way:
| English | Punjabi | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| employer | ਰੁਜ਼ਗਾਰਦਾਤਾ | rōzgārdātā |
| employee | ਮੁਲਾਜ਼ਮ | mulāzam |
| unemployed | ਬੇਰੁਜ਼ਗਾਰ | berōzgār |
| tax file number | ਟੈਕਸ ਫਾਈਲ ਨੰਬਰ | ṭaiks phāīl nambar |
| annual leave | ਸਾਲਾਨਾ ਛੁੱਟੀ | sālānā chhuṭṭī |
| overtime | ਵਾਧੂ ਸਮਾਂ | vādhū samā̃ |
| rent assistance | ਕਿਰਾਇਆ ਸਹਾਇਤਾ | kirāiā sahāitā |
| overpayment / debt | ਵਾਧੂ ਅਦਾਇਗੀ | vādhū adāigī |