Lauren owns a bakery that produces,among other things,wedding cakes.She currently has 6 employees; with 6 employees,her bakery can produce 9 wedding cakes per day.If she hired a seventh employee,her bakery would be able to produce 12 wedding cakes per day.Therefore,the marginal product of the seventh employee is ________ wedding cakes.

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The marginal product of labor (MPL) is the additional output produced by hiring one more unit of labor while holding all other inputs constant. In this case, the seventh employee is the additional unit of labor.

The bakery produces 9 wedding cakes per day with 6 employees, so the MPL of the sixth employee is:

MPL6 = (9 wedding cakes/day) / 6 employees = 1.5 wedding cakes/employee

When the seventh employee is hired, the bakery produces 12 wedding cakes per day. Thus, the total output change from hiring the seventh employee is:

Total output change = 12 wedding cakes/day - 9 wedding cakes/day = 3 wedding cakes/day

Therefore, the MPL of the seventh employee is:

MPL7 = (3 wedding cakes/day) / 1 employee = 3 wedding cakes/employee

Hence, the correct answer is D) 3.

Lauren Owns a Bakery That Produces,among Other Things,wedding Cakes