# A Workaholic Economy: answers and explanations

Cambridge IELTS 1, Test 3, Reading Passage 3

Source: Passage, questions and answer key from Cambridge IELTS 1, Test 3, Reading Passage 3. © Cambridge University Press & Assessment. Used for educational practice. Explanations and evidence notes are written by Testmigo.

## Answer key

| Q | Answer | Proof |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 27 | NO | Those who work full-time spend as much time on the job as they did at the end of World War II. ... working hours have increased noticeably since 1970 |
| 28 | NOT GIVEN | Only a generation ago social planners worried about what people would do with all this new-found free time. |
| 29 | YES | perhaps because real wages have stagnated since that year |
| 30 | NO | the current economic recovery has gained a certain amount of notoriety for its "jobless" nature |
| 31 | YES | She cites both quantitative and qualitative studies that show increased productivity for part-time workers |
| 32 | NOT GIVEN | She says the U.S. market for goods has become skewed by the assumption of full-time, two-career households. |
| 33 | C | The extra people can cover the contingencies that you know are going to happen, such as when crises take people away from the workplace. |
| 34 | A | Automobile makers no longer manufacture cheap models, and developers do not build the tiny bungalows ... U.S. goods are appropriate only for high incomes and long hours. |
| 35 | B, D, F, G | companies have responded to improvements in the business climate by having employees work overtime rather than by hiring extra personnel |
| 36 | B, D, F, G | Even hourly employees receive benefits - such as pension contributions and medical insurance - that are not tied to the number of hours they work. |
| 37 | B, D, F, G | "It's taken as a negative signal about their commitment to the firm." |
| 38 | B, D, F, G | so they use the number of hours worked as a proxy for output |

## Why these answers are right

**27. NO.** The statement says hours are falling today. The first paragraph places falling hours in the early industrial era, and the second says full-time workers spend as much time on the job as in 1945 and that hours have increased noticeably since 1970. That contradicts the statement, so NO.

**28. NOT GIVEN.** The statement says social planners were consulted about US employment figures. The first paragraph mentions social planners only as having worried about what people would do with their new free time. Nothing says anyone consulted them or that they looked at employment figures, so it is NOT GIVEN.

**29. YES.** The statement says salaries have not risen much since the 1970s. The second paragraph says working hours have grown since 1970, perhaps because real wages have stagnated since that year. Stagnated means stayed flat, which agrees with not risen significantly, so the answer is YES.

The why and the trap for questions 30 onwards are free with an account on the [answers page](https://testmigo.com/ielts/reading/a-workaholic-economy/answers).

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