Economist: Although average hourly

Answer choices

1. A

   No Impact2% picked this

   In the country as a whole, the average hourly wage for full-time jobs has decreased slightly for each

   We don't care whether 2 and 3 years ago the national average also decreased. We're trying to explain how this past year the national average could have decreased, given that this past year, every regional average increased.

   2%
2. B

   Correct82% picked this

   Last year, to reduce costs, employers moved many full-time jobs from regions with relatively high hourly wages to regions where those

   Why this is right

   This is what we were looking for. We need people from areas that pay higher than the national average to move to areas that pay lower than the national average. That's the only mathematical way we can get every region's average to increase while the overall average decreases. This answer doesn't in any way "settle the math" and guarantee a lower national average, but it reflects the right type of movement that could potentially reconcile the math paradox.

   Skill tested: Paradox · how this choice captures the argument's function is the move to repeat next time.

   82%
3. C

   No Impact3% picked this

   The year before last, the unemployment rate reached a ten-year low; last year, however, the

   We don't care about the unemployment rate. We're only looking at a paradox that deals with average hourly wages, so by definition we only care about those who are employed.

   3%
4. D

   No Impact8% picked this

   Last year, the rate at which the average hourly wage for full-time jobs increased varied considerably between different

   The fact that wages went up 3% in this region and 52% in this other region doesn't help to resolve our Paradox. Since all the regions went up to some degree, shouldn't the national average have also gone up?

   8%
5. E

   No Impact5% picked this

   Last year, hourly wages for most full-time jobs in the manufacturing sector declined while those for most full-time jobs

   We don't care about specific sectors of the economy. This paradox is about the geographical patchwork of the national average, not the categories-of-employment patchwork. No matter which sectors won or lost, we still know that all regions experienced a rise in average hourly wages, so we still need a way to understand how the national average could go down.

   5%