Text 4
Defenders of special protective labor legislation for women often maintain that eliminating such laws would destroy the fruits of a century long struggle for the protection of women workers. Even a brief examination of the historic practice of courts and employers would show that the fruit of such laws has been bitter: they are, in practice, more of a curse than a blessing.
Sex-defined protective laws have often been based on stereotypical assumptions concerning women’s needs and abilities and employers have frequently used them as legal excuses for discriminating against women. After the Second World War, for example, businesses and government sought to persuade women to vacate jobs in factories, thus making room in the labor force for returning veterans. The revival or passage of state laws limiting the daily or weekly work hours of women conveniently accomplished this. Employers had only to declare that overtime hours were a necessary condit
A. such laws are often too weak to be effective at protecting the group in question.
B. employer's compliance with such laws results in increased tension among workers.
C. such laws exert no pressure on employers to eliminate hazards in the workplace.
D. compliance with such laws is often costly for employers.
Text 4
Defenders of special protective labor legislation for women often maintain that eliminating such laws would destroy the fruits of a century long struggle for the protection of women workers. Even a brief examination of the historic practice of courts and employers would show that the fruit of such laws has been bitter: they are, in practice, more of a curse than a blessing.
Sex-defined protective laws have often been based on stereotypical assumptions concerning women’s needs and abilities and employers have frequently used them as legal excuses for discriminating against women. After the Second World War, for example, businesses and government sought to persuade women to vacate jobs in factories, thus making room in the labor force for returning veterans. The revival or passage of state laws limiting the daily or weekly work hours of women conveniently accomplished this. Employers had only to declare that overtime hours were a necessary condit
A. An estimate of how many women workers are in favor of such laws.
B. An analysis of the cost to employers of complying with such laws.
C. An investigation of the actual effects such laws have had on women workers.
D. A consideration of what intentions the advocates of such laws really had.
Text 3 How many really suffer as a result of labor market problems This is one of the most critical yet contentious social policy questions. In many ways, our social statistics exaggerate the degree of hardship. Unemployment does not have the same dire consequences today as it did in the 1930’s when most of the unemployed were primary breadwinners, when income and earnings were usually much closer to the margin of subsistence, and when there were no countervailing social programs for those failing in the labor market. Increasing affluence, the rise of families with more than one wage earner, the growing predominance of secondary earners among the unemployed, and improved social welfare protection have unquestionably mitigated the consequences of joblessness. Earnings and income data also overstate the dimensions of hardship. Among the millions with hourly earnings at or below the minimum wage level, the over-whelming majority are from multiple earner, relatively affl
A. Innovative programmes using multiple approaches should be set up to reduce the level of unemployment.
B. A compromise should be found between the positions of those who view joblessness an evil greater than economic control and those who hold the opposite view.
C. New statistical indices should be developed to measure the degree to which unemployment and inadequately paid employment cause suffering.
D. Consideration should be given to the ways in which statistics can act as partial causes of the phenomena that they purport to measure.
Improvements in labor productivity 56 increase wages and salaries. Wages and salaries 57 about 75 percent of all income in the United States. 58 , labor productivity is the major 59 of this (and all other) nations’ living standards. If labor productivity improves because of an advance in technology, the 60 of output increases 61 the need for additional labor. The dollar value of all goods increases 62 , which implies that consumers ultimately receive more income.
Entrepreneurs have a profit 63 to increase labor productivity. They do so by providing their workers with better equipment and creating more efficient ways for their workers to use that equipment. Entrepreneurs also have an incentive to discover new products that are more highly valued 64 to their cost of production.
Some of the largest increases in productivity occur 65 major technological advancements. The steam
A. much more
B. quite a few
C. many fewer
D. many more
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