Taft-Hartley Act

Answer choices

1. A

   Correct46% picked this

   Craft unions have been successful in ensuring that the wages of their members remain higher than the wages of nonunion workers

   Why this is right

   The author discusses craft unions as an example in which "unionizing had a negative impact on minority workers". Craft unions increase the pay disparity between Blacks and Whites, because they only admit Whites, and they raise the wages of union members. If, in a certain area, the average White craft worker made $2 / hr more than the average Black craft worker, then when a union forms (for the White workers), it increases that pay differential so that now the average White worker is making $4 / hr more. How did it increase the pay differential? Did the average wage of Black workers go down? Or did the average wage of White workers go up? The latter. The implied idea is that unions helped lift the wages of union members, and so that's why the White workers have an even bigger pay advantage than before. This answer is just spelling out that idea: the White workers who were allowed to join the craft unions ended up enjoying higher wages as a result.

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

   46%
2. B

   Unsupported: increased sharply5% picked this

   The number of minority workers joining craft unions has increased sharply in states that have

   This is suggesting that in states that still allow unions (ones in which they haven't adopted right-to-work), there are suddenly way more Black workers in craft unions. Why would that be? Black workers were being excluded by craft unions before right-to-work legislation even existed. In states that didn't enact right-to-work legislation, nothing changed, so why would there be a sharp increase?

   5%
3. C

   Unknown Comparison8% picked this

   Wages for workers belonging to craft unions have generally risen faster and more steadily than wages for workers

   The only comparison the author tried to make between craft and industrial unions was that industrial unions are more likely to have Black members and thus Black workers are more likely to benefit from higher wages within them. We can't compare overall wages from one type of union to the other.

   8%
4. D

   Unknown Comparison23% picked this

   The wages of workers belonging to craft unions have not been significantly affected by right-to-work legislation, although the wages of workers belonging to

   The only comparison the author tried to make between craft and industrial unions was that industrial unions are more likely to have Black members and thus Black workers are more likely to benefit from higher wages within them. Right-to-work affects UNIONS, not a specific type of union, so there's no comparison to be made between craft vs. industrial.

   23%
5. E

   Unknown Comparison18% picked this

   The wages of workers belonging to craft unions are more likely to be driven up in the event of labor shortages than are the

   The only comparison the author tried to make between craft and industrial unions was that industrial unions are more likely to have Black members and thus Black workers are more likely to benefit from higher wages within them. We have no basis for comparing craft vs. industrial in terms of the potential effect of labor shortages on wages.

   18%