LSAT 107 – Section 3 – Question 21

LSAT 107 - Section 3 - Question 21

October 1999

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Question
QuickView		 Type Tags Answer
Choices		 Curve Question
Difficulty		 Psg/Game/S
Difficulty		 Explanation
PT107 S3 Q21
+LR
+Exp
Resolve reconcile or explain +RRE
Sampling +Smpl
Math +Math
A
1%
154
B
1%
157
C
6%
160
D
91%
167
E
1%
155
137
146
154
 +Medium 148.579 +SubsectionMedium

A study of the difference in earnings between men and women in the country of Naota found that the average annual earnings of women who are employed full time is 80 percent of the average annual earnings of men who are employed full time. However, other research consistently shows that, in Naota, the average annual earnings of all employed women is 65 percent of the average annual earnings of all employed men.

"Surprising" Phenomenon
Why do Naota women employed full-time earn a higher proportion of what their male counterparts earn than do employed Naota women in general?

Objective
Any hypothesis explaining this discrepancy must identify a difference between the collection of people employed in Naota and the collection of people employed full-time in Naota. This distinction must explain a smaller difference between the average earnings of women employed full-time and those of men employed full-time than the difference between the average earnings of employed women in general and those of employed men in general.

A
In Naota, the difference between the average annual earnings of all female workers and the average annual earnings of all male workers has been gradually increasing over the past 30 years.
This fails to distinguish between full-time workers and workers in general. It gives context for the large earning discrepancy between male and female workers in general, but gives no reason for the discrepancy between male and female full-time workers to be smaller.
B
In Naota, the average annual earnings of women who work full time in exactly the same occupations and under exactly the same conditions as men is almost the same as the men’s average annual earnings.
This identifies a subset of full-time workers with no earning discrepancy, but draws no contrast between full-time workers and Naota workers in general.
C
In Naota, a growing proportion of female workers hold full-time managerial, supervisory, or professional positions, and such positions typically pay more than other types of positions pay.
This introduces an irrelevant temporal dynamic. It does not indicate that the proportion of female managerial workers is large, only that it is growing, and it admits the possibility that more women are holding supervisory and professional positions on a part-time basis as well.
D
In Naota, a larger proportion of female workers than male workers are part-time workers, and part-time workers typically earn less than full-time workers earn.
This explains the discrepancy. Women are more likely to work lower-paying part-time jobs than men, so women earn a lower proportion of what men earn, on average, than the full-time numbers alone indicate.
E
In ten other countries where the proportion of women in the work force is similar to that of Naota, the average annual earnings of women who work full time ranges from a low of 50 percent to a high of 90 percent of the average annual earnings of men who work full time.
This introduces irrelevant information about other countries. It draws no distinction between the collection of all Naota’s workers and the collection of its full-time workers.

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Section 1 - Logical Reasoning

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Section 3 - Logical Reasoning

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