Reading Comprehension

How many really suffer as a result of labor market
problems? This is one of the most critical yet
contentious social policy questions. In many ways,
our social statistics exaggerate the degree of hard-
(5) ship. Unemployment does not have the same dire
consequences today as it did in the 1930's when
most of the unemployed were primary breadwinners,
when income and earnings were usually much
closer to the margin of subsistence, and when there
(10) were no countervailing social programs for those
failing in the labor market. Increasing affluence, the
rise of families with more than one wage earner, the
growing predominance of secondary earners among
the unemployed, and improved social welfare pro-
(15) tection have unquestionably mitigated the consequences
of joblessness. Earnings and income data
also overstate the dimensions of hardship. Among
the millions with hourly earnings at or below the
minimum wage level, the overwhelming majority
(20) are from multiple-earner, relatively affluent
families. Most of those counted by the poverty
statistics are elderly or handicapped or have family
responsibilities which keep them out of the labor
force, so the poverty statistics are by no means an
(25) accurate indicator of labor market pathologies.
Yet there are also many ways our social statistics
underestimate the degree of labor-market-related
hardship. The unemployment counts exclude the
millions of fully employed workers whose wages are
(30) so low that their families remain in poverty. Low
wages and repeated or prolonged unemployment
frequently interact to undermine the capacity for
self-support. Since the number experiencing joblessness
at some time during the year is several times
(35)the number unemployed in any month, those who
suffer as a result of forced idleness can equal or
exceed average annual unemployment, even though
only a minority of the jobless in any month really
suffer. For every person counted in the monthly
(40) unemployment tallies, there is another working
part-time because of the inability to find full-time
work, or else outside the labor force but wanting a
job. Finally, income transfers in our country have
always focused on the elderly, disabled, and depen-
(45)dent, neglecting the needs of the working poor, so
that the dramatic expansion of cash and in-kind
transfers does not necessarily mean that those failing
in the labor market are adequately protected.
As a result of such contradictory evidence, it is
(50) uncertain whether those suffering seriously as a
result of thousands or the tens of millions, and,
hence, whether high levels of joblessness can be tolerated
or must be countered by job creation and
(55) economic stimulus. There is only one area of agreement
in this debate---that the existing poverty,
employment, and earnings statistics are inadequate
for one their primary applications, measuring the
consequences of labor market problems.

1. The conclusion stated in lines 33-39 about the
number of people who suffer as a result of forced
idleness depends primarily on the point that
(A) in times of high unemployment, there are some
people who do not remain unemployed for long
(B) the capacity for self-support depends on
receiving moderate-to-high wages
(C) those in forced idleness include, besides the
unemployed, both underemployed part-time
workers and those not actively seeking work
(D) at different times during the year, different people
are unemployed
(E) many of those who are affected by unemployment
are dependents of unemployed workers

2.Which of the following, if true, is the best criticism of
the author's argument concerning why poverty
statistics cannot properly be used to show the effects of
problems in the labor market?
(A) A short-term increase in the number of those in
poverty can indicate a shortage of jobs because the
basic number of those unable to accept employment
remains approximately constant.
(B) For those who are in poverty as a result of
joblessness, there are social programs available
that provide a minimum standard of living.
(C) Poverty statistics do not consistently agree with
earnings statistics, when each is taken as a
measure of hardship resulting from unemployment.
(D) The elderly and handicapped categories include
many who previously were employed in the labor
market.
(E) Since the labor market is global in nature, poor
workers in one country are competing with poor
workers in another with respect to the level of
wages and the existence of jobs.

OA after some discussion...