If the units produced by a factory decreased by 10% and the labor productivity increased by 25%,then the labor hours __________.
A)decreased by 15%
B)decreased by 26%
C)decreased by 28%
D)decreased by 35%

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

If units produced decreased by 10%, it means that the production rate decreased by 10%. Therefore, if labor productivity increased by 25%, it means that the same amount of labor was able to produce a higher number of units. 
The decrease in production rate of 10% does not affect the labor hours directly, so we can only focus on the labor productivity increase of 25%. 
If labor productivity increased by 25%, it means that the same amount of labor was able to produce 25% more units. Therefore, the labor hours required to produce the same number of units decreased by 20% (1/1.25-1=0.2 or 20%). 
Therefore, the labor hours decreased by 28%.

If the Units Produced by a Factory Decreased by 10