GMAT ETS Question

[bobs21]

Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in September,slightly less than they did in the year that ended in the previous quarter.

A) less than they did
B) less than it did
C) less than they were
D) lower than
E) lower than they were

I'm a lil' confused...isn't 'less' to be used when we have an uncountable item? In other words something which is close to 2.8 percent is countable right? Please help me in clarifying the usage of 'less'.

[optimisticsam]

I believe less is used when you have non-countable item.

As in "I was less happy with the result."

I think because they don't actually state how much less the unemployment was, there is nothing to count?

Correct?

[jangojess]

is D the ans??? we're talking abt percentage which is countable...and so lower (such as lower rate of interest, lower percentage of marks) should be used...

[hopefully]

Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in September,slightly less than they did in the year that ended in the previous quarter.

A) less than they did
B) less than it did
C) less than they were
D) lower than
E) lower than they were

I'm a lil' confused...isn't 'less' to be used when we have an uncountable item? In other words something which is close to 2.8 percent is countable right? Please help me in clarifying the usage of 'less'.

IMO it should be "A"..

Less can be used to quote statistics... Read saahils notes for ore such exceptions..
To compare with Costs rose we need they ( for plural costs) did ....

[dingo001]

Employment costs rose 2.8 percent in the 12 months that ended in September,slightly less than they did in the year that ended in the previous quarter.

A) less than they did
B) less than it did
C) less than they were
D) lower than
E) lower than they were

I'm a lil' confused...isn't 'less' to be used when we have an uncountable item? In other words something which is close to 2.8 percent is countable right? Please help me in clarifying the usage of 'less'.

Should be D, lower than is countable and so are employment numbers. And D is succinct compared with E

[dpatwa]

What's the OA? I think the answer is A. My problem with D is that it's unclear as to what was lower, the actual costs or the rise in the costs.

[bobs21]

Sorry for the late reply...the OA is A.

[BTGmoderatorRO]

Option A.
'they' is a third person plural pronoun and it only attracts a group of people, animals, plants, or objects.So according to the above question 'they' would not fit not be fit for the best option. What the writer was referring to is neither a person, animal, plant or any object.Thus, this option is incorrect.

option B.
Here, there's a change of hand. From 'they' to 'it' which is the best what to illustrate a figure.Thus, this is the correct answer.

Option C.
It will be grammatically incorrect to pluralize a figure or numbers. Example: Four divided by two is two. Not Four divided by two are two.

Option D. lower than???? still talking about the issue of numbers here. 'less than' will be considered first before 'lower than'
This option is incorrect!!!

Option E.
This option suffers the same fate as option D above likewise, it also contains some errors which is the verb 'were' this is a plural past tense verb, and does not suits the writer's opinion.