PrepTest 143, Section 1, Question 19
Economist: Although average hourly wages vary considerably between(36 more words not shown)
Which one of the following,(17 more words not shown)
- AIn the country(20 more words not shown)
- BLast year, to(23 more words not shown)
- CThe year before(16 more words not shown)
- DLast year, the(19 more words not shown)
- ELast year, hourly(21 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
How can every region's average rise while the country's average falls?
Think about where the jobs are. Suppose a high-wage region pays around $100 an hour and a low-wage region pays around $20. If many jobs shift to the second region, more of the country's wages will come from that much lower range. The low-wage region could rise to $21 while the country still moves downward overall.
Here's a small example. Start with 100 jobs paying $100 and 100 paying $20. The national average is $60. Next year, suppose the first region has only 50 jobs, now paying $101, while the second has 150 jobs paying $21. Each region's average has risen by $1, but the national average is now $41. More jobs are receiving the lower regional wage.
What we’re looking for
Those invented numbers show how both facts can be true. For the explanation, I'd look for a shift of jobs toward lower-paying regions. The national average depends on how many jobs are in each region, not just on whether each regional average went up.
Working the answers
- A
This repeats the national decline over a longer period. It doesn't explain how last year's decline occurred alongside increases in every region. We still need to know what changed in the mix of jobs.
- BCorrect
Employers moved many jobs from higher-wage regions to regions where those jobs pay much less. That shifts the national mix toward lower wages, just as in our example. Every region's average can rise while more of the country's jobs sit in the lower-paying regions. The answer concerns jobs moving; it doesn't require every individual worker to relocate.
- C
A slight increase in unemployment doesn't tell us which regional jobs disappeared or how the remaining jobs are distributed. Losing high-wage jobs could matter, but C doesn't identify that change. We can't get the needed explanation just from the overall unemployment rate.
- D
Different sizes of increase don't explain a decrease overall if the distribution of jobs stays the same. One region could rise by $5 and another by $1, but both changes would still raise the national average with an unchanged mix. We need the change in how the regions contribute to that average.
- E
This compares manufacturing with services, rather than explaining the relationship between regional and national averages. Different sectors can move in different directions, but we aren't told their sizes or regional distribution. E leaves the crucial change in the country's mix of jobs unexplained.
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