Exam 19: Earnings and Discrimination

Scenario 19-1 Ferris B., a student at a community college, is considering what he should do for summer employment. Two recruiters show up at his school in search of summer workers. Recruiter A is looking for lifeguards to patrol the beach at an exclusive island resort in the Caribbean. Recruiter B is looking for workers to staff positions at a summer youth camp. -Refer to Scenario 19-1. Ferris is carefully considering the options that each recruiter presents. On the basis of knowledge obtained in his economics class, Ferris concludes that

Figure 19-6 -Refer to Figure 19-6. Given demand, D1, and supply, S2, how many workers are unemployed if a minimum wage of $8 per hour is imposed on this market?

Black men earn an average of 21% less than white men. A labor economist who wants to investigate whether the differences in earnings indicate labor-market discrimination against black men should consider whether black and white men have similar (i) years of work experience. (ii) years of education. (iii) occupations. (iv) quality of education.

Which of the following is an example of human capital for a college economics professor?

Public school teachers are known to have low wages. Which of the following would push the teachers' wages lower?

A recent study of the determinants of wages for clerical staff at a state university found that years of schooling, years of experience, age and job characteristics only explained about one-half of the difference in wages. Describe other factors that may be important in explaining wages differences for clerical staff.

Figure 19-6 -Refer to Figure 19-6. Given demand, D1, and supply, S1, how much more do workers earn per hour if the supply curve shifts to S2?

Which of the following is an example of a compensating differential?

Figure 19-5 -Refer to Figure 19-5. Given demand for labor, D1, and supply of labor, S1, what is the surplus of labor if a minimum wage of $8 per hour is imposed on this market?

If employers are profit-maximizers, then

Table 19-1 Source: US Census Bureau and Mankiw's calculations -Refer to Table 19-1. Economists suspect that the increase in the earnings gap between skilled and unskilled workers is likely due to

Which theory is supportive of the idea that increasing educational levels for all workers would raise all workers' productivity and therefore their wages?

A cutting-edge biotech firm is hiring recent college graduates. To attract the very best applicants and to increase worker effort the firm is paying a wage 20% higher than the market wage for entry level employees in this industry. What is the term for the wage paid in this example?

Westland and Oceania have just started to trade with each other. Westland exports goods produced with skilled labor and imports goods made with unskilled labor from Oceania. Over time, we would expect that in Oceania the wages of unskilled workers will

Other things the same, we'd expect that a job with less pleasant working conditions pays

Workers who work the night shift are often paid more than those who do identical work on the day shift. This is referred to as a

It is illegal in the United States for firms to pay different employees different wages for doing the same job.

A compensating differential refers to differences in pay due to

Figure 19-7 -Refer to Figure 19-7. The figure shows labor demand and labor supply in a non-unionized labor market. If the current labor demand is D1 and the current labor supply is S1, what is the equilibrium wage and quantity of labor?

Which of the following is the most important contributor to human capital?