There are one hundred jobs and one hundred workers in a competitive job market.All workers are equally productive.All employers dislike female workers but vary by the degree of their dislike.Job one's employer dislikes females by $1 a week,job two's employer by $2 a week,and so forth,such that job one hundred's employer dislikes females by $100 a week.Assume male workers are paid $500 a week.If there are 40 females and 60 males in the labor force,then which of the following is true in the short-run equilibrium?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

In this scenario, employers' dislike for female workers is quantified in monetary terms, decreasing the wage they are willing to pay female workers by $1 to $100 across different jobs. Since there are 40 females in the labor force, the first 40 employers (who dislike females the least) will hire females, paying them less than the $500 wage for males, adjusted by their degree of dislike. Employer 40, disliking females by $40 a week, will pay $460 (not $440 as stated in A), making A incorrect. However, the principle that employers could increase their profit by hiring females (since they are willing to pay them less due to their bias, not because of productivity differences) makes C correct. Since A is incorrect and the explanation provided directly contradicts B (which incorrectly states a wage of $440 for employer 10), the only statement that could conceptually be true, given a misunderstanding in the explanation, is D, as it suggests a general truth about the scenario. However, the explanation provided directly contradicts the choices, indicating a misunderstanding in the application of the scenario's logic. Employers hiring females do so at a reduced wage reflective of their bias, not the productivity of the workers, which remains equal across genders.

There Are One Hundred Jobs and One Hundred Workers in a Competitive