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Self Employment

by user123321 » Sun Dec 04, 2011 9:45 am
Another one. OA after some discussion.

Between 1979 and 1983, the number of unincorporated business self-employed women increased five times faster than the number of self-employed men and more than three times faster than the number of women wage-and-salary workers. Part-time self-employement among women increased more than full-time self-employment.

Each of the following, if true, could help to account for this trend except

a) Owning a business affords flexibility to combine work and family responsibilities

b) The proportion of women studying business administration courses has grown considerably

c) There are more self-employed women than men

d) Unincorporated service industries have grown by 300 percent over the period; the ratio of women to men in this industry is three to one.

e) The financial reward of having a second wage earner in the household has taken on increased significance.

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by GmatVerbal » Sun Dec 04, 2011 10:31 am
What is the trend?

1. unincorporated business Self employed women increased 5 times faster than self-employed men;
2. Part time self-employment has increased more than full time employment.

a) Owning a business affords flexibility to combine work and family responsibilities
-- make sense
b) The proportion of women studying business administration courses has grown considerably
-- make sense..so may be the reason for self-employment and also for part-time employment;
c) There are more self-employed women than men
-- OK. Possible;
d) Unincorporated service industries have grown by 300 percent over the period; the ratio of women to men in this industry is three to one.
-- Possible;
e) The financial reward of having a second wage earner in the household has taken on increased significance.
-- we don't know who is the primary earner of the house hold? man or women? Just by making this statement we con't conclude any thing.

IMO (E);
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by chieftang » Sun Dec 04, 2011 10:39 am
The trend is that the number of self-employed women had increased at rates greater than the increases in both the numbers of self-employed men and wage-and-salary women. Which statement doesn't help explain this?

Option A: This response doesn't explain why flexible employment options wouldn't appeal equally to women vs men. However, for women entering the workforce for the first time, it does explain why they'd gravitate towards self-employment over wage-and-salary. So it helps explain that trend.

Option B: This helps explain why more women are running businesses than before.

Option C: The number of women vs men who are *already* self-employed does not help explain the rate of increase in self-employed women. So, for me, this is the best response.

Option D: This does help explain things.

Option E: This does help explain why women would be getting into the workforce in general, but it assumes that women were not the primary wage earner. This assumption isn't explicitly stated in the article, but was true of the time period given in the article.

The best answer IMO is: C but I can also see a case for E
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by user123321 » Sun Dec 04, 2011 12:54 pm
it is C indeed.

Thanks
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Last edited by user123321 on Sun Dec 04, 2011 4:17 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by chieftang » Sun Dec 04, 2011 2:19 pm
user123321 wrote:it is E indeed.

Thanks
user123321
What is the source of this question? I see no way to conclude that C (the number of self-employed women at some unspecified time) could help account for the rate of increase during 1979 through 1983. But E *could* (or could not) account for it. The question is which one *could* help account for the rate of increase.

Don't agree with your OA of E here. Please cite the source of this question.
Last edited by chieftang on Sun Dec 04, 2011 2:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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by chieftang » Sun Dec 04, 2011 2:29 pm
OK, I looked it up. The question comes from: "Barron's GMAT: Graduate Management Admission Test" and the OA is C.

user123321 please make sure you're posting reliable information!!!!

You can find both the question and the OA at this link: https://books.google.com/books?id=S4X8aw ... t.&f=false
Last edited by chieftang on Mon Dec 05, 2011 11:33 am, edited 1 time in total.
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by GmatVerbal » Sun Dec 04, 2011 3:00 pm
chieftang,

Thanks for the finding the correct answer.
For me (C) and (D) looked the similar. Could you clarify (C) could be answer and not (D).

Thanks.
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by chieftang » Sun Dec 04, 2011 3:59 pm
GmatVerbal wrote:chieftang,

Thanks for the finding the correct answer.
For me (C) and (D) looked the similar. Could you clarify (C) could be answer and not (D).

Thanks.
I don't think D is worded well, but I took it to mean that the industry in question was dominated by women (by 3:1) and had grown significantly over the period in question. So, that information could easily help explain why the growth rate was greater for women than for men.
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by user123321 » Sun Dec 04, 2011 4:16 pm
https://www.beatthegmat.com/self-employe ... ent=Boston
I am sorry. I just randomly went through some old thread. Seems the OA is wrong.
Will change the post now. Thanks for correcting.

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by chieftang » Mon Dec 05, 2011 11:34 am
edirik wrote:@chieftang, would be great if you can use the spoiler.
Done. It's probably best to never scroll downward in a thread if you're trying to answer the question for the first time! I've noticed spoiler usage is spotty at best.
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by tuanquang269 » Thu Dec 08, 2011 11:50 am
Never meet this kind of question. Can be explain....EXCEPT. Tough one. I chose E although not sure

Can anyone explain for this question. Why C is correct and the remains is incorrect. Thanks.
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by CappyAA » Thu Dec 08, 2011 1:35 pm
A big red flag for me is that the premises all discuss multiples (or percentage changes), and the answer choice in C is in numbers. This is a very common wrong answer type where the GMAT will mix up percentages and absolute numbers. It should set off bells in your head to give it a closer look.
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