How wages are set: skills, demand for workers and unions

Grade 12 Social Studies Worksheet - Building Confidence

Circle the best answer.

1. Read this first

   Use this

   Cards A and B on a baker labor market (all made up for practice). Card A, "Bakers in one town (made up)". Written for this sheet. Table, columns Wage per hour | Bakers firms want | Bakers who offer to work: $12 | 140 | 60; $14 | 120 | 80; $16 | 100 | 100; $18 | 80 | 120; $20 | 60 | 140. Card B, "A new chain opens (made up)". Written for this sheet. Summary in our words, not a quotation: a new bakery chain opens in town. At every wage, local firms now want 40 more bakers than card A shows. The number of bakers who offer to work at each wage does not change.

2. 1.

   Jun uses cards A and B. Where does the wage settle after the chain opens?

   • At $20 with 100 bakers: the wage keeps rising until firms want just the 100 bakers they hired before
   • At $18 with 120 bakers: a rise in demand lifts both the wage and the number employed
   • At $18 with 80 bakers: the wage rises, but the higher wage leads firms to hire fewer bakers than before
   • At $16 with 140 bakers: the wage stays where it was and firms simply hire 40 more people
3. 2.

   Esme looks at the old wage of $16 after the chain opens. What do cards A and B show there?

   • A shortage of 80 bakers: firms now want 100 more bakers than the 100 who offer to work
   • A surplus of 40 bakers: 140 offer to work at $16 and firms want only 100 of them
   • A shortage of 40 bakers: firms want 140 and only 100 offer to work at $16
   • No shortage: $16 was the wage where firms and bakers agreed, and a wage that agreed once still does
4. 3.

   A reader says wages rose because bakers became more willing to work. Ren checks card B. What is the verdict?

   • Supported: a higher wage always brings out more workers, so the supply of bakers must have grown
   • Not supported: card B changes only firms' demand, and the bakers offering at each wage are the same
   • Supported: more bakers are employed after the chain opens, which shows more bakers were willing to work
   • Not supported, because wages in a town are set by the owners of the firms and not by supply or demand

5. Use this

   Cards A and B on unemployment and schooling (card A is BLS data; card B is a note). Card A, "Unemployment by schooling, 2019, 2020 and 2024". Source: BLS, unemployment rate of people 25 and over by educational attainment, annual averages (series LNU04027659, LNU04027660, LNU04027689, LNU04027662), read through the BLS public data API on Nov 14, 2026. Table, columns Year | No high school diploma | High school diploma | Some college | Bachelor's degree or more: 2019 | 5.4 | 3.7 | 3.0 | 2.1; 2020 | 11.7 | 9.0 | 7.8 | 4.8; 2024 | 6.2 | 4.2 | 3.4 | 2.3. Rates are percents of the labor force. Card B, "What the rate counts". Source: BLS. Summary in our words, not a quotation: the unemployment rate is the share of people in the labor force who have no job, are available to work and have looked for work. Each figure is an average for a group, not a measure for any one person.

6. 4.

   Pia writes one claim from card A. Which claim does the table support best?

   • People with a bachelor's degree were rarely unemployed in 2020, since their rate was 4.8 percent
   • Unemployment rates tell how long people are out of work, so the 2020 rates show very long job searches
   • In each year shown, the more schooling a group had, the lower its unemployment rate
   • Finishing school causes lower unemployment, since each extra level of schooling lowers the rate on card A
7. 5.

   Zee compares the 2019 and 2020 rows of card A. Which statement compares the groups fairly?

   • Workers without a diploma were the ones whose unemployment more than doubled, since theirs was highest in 2020
   • The gap between the two groups stayed at 3.3 points, since both groups' rates doubled together
   • Workers without a diploma were hit twice as hard in percent terms, since their rate rose 6.3 points and the other 2.7
   • Both rates more than doubled, 2.2 and 2.3 times, so the hit was alike in percent though the gap in points widened
8. 6.

   Kira lists four claims. Which one goes beyond what card A and card B show?

   • Finishing high school would cut any one person's chance of unemployment from 5.4 to 3.7 percent
   • Each group's unemployment rate was higher in 2024 than in 2019, at each of the four levels of schooling
   • In 2020 the high school group's rate was 9.0 percent and the some-college group's rate was 7.8 percent
   • In 2024 the gap between the no-diploma group and the bachelor's group was 3.9 points

9. Use this

   Cards A and B on two jobs (all made up for practice). Card A, "Two jobs (made up)". Written for this sheet. Table, columns | Roofer | Clerk: Training needed | 6 months | 6 months; Pay per hour | $24 | $19; Chance of a serious injury in a year | 1 in 10 | 1 in 500; Hours worked in a year | 2,000 | 2,000. Card B, "Ana (made up)". Written for this sheet. Summary in our words, not a quotation: Ana can do either job. Ana would give up $12,000 a year to avoid the extra injury risk of roofing.

10. 7.

    Milo reads card A. Why does the roofer's pay exceed the clerk's even though the training is the same?

    • Roofing pays more because injury risk is low, so firms can afford to pay more for safe work
    • Fewer people will take the risky job at the clerk's wage, so roofing must pay more to fill its jobs
    • Roofing needs more training, which is why it pays more, as pay follows how long a worker trains
    • Roofers produce more value each hour than clerks, so their higher pay simply reflects a larger output
11. 8.

    Tala reads cards A and B. Which job should Ana take, and why?

    • Clerk: its injury chance is lower, and a lower injury chance settles the choice on its own
    • Roofer: it pays $5 more an hour, and a higher wage is the better choice for a worker
    • Clerk: roofing's extra $10,000 a year is less than the $12,000 Ana would give up to avoid its risk
    • Roofer: the extra pay is $12,000 a year, which is the amount Ana says is needed

12. Use this

    Cards A and B on a bakery's hiring (all made up for practice). Card A, "A bakery's workers (made up)". Written for this sheet. Table, columns Worker hired | Extra revenue per hour that worker adds: 1st | $40; 2nd | $30; 3rd | $22; 4th | $16; 5th | $10. The ovens and space stay the same. Card B, "The wage (made up)". Written for this sheet. Summary in our words, not a quotation: the bakery pays each worker $15 an hour. Later the wage rises to $18 an hour.

13. 9.

    Luz reads cards A and B. How many workers should the bakery hire at $15 an hour?

    • Three: the 3rd worker adds $22, and the bakery should stop where extra revenue is far above the wage
    • Five: every worker adds some revenue, and any extra revenue is worth the bakery's while
    • Four: the 4th worker adds $16, more than the $15 wage, but the 5th adds only $10
    • One: the 1st worker adds the most revenue, $40, so the bakery should hire the most productive worker
14. 10.

    The wage rises to $18. Bo uses cards A and B. What happens to hiring?

    • The bakery hires five: a higher wage pulls in more workers, so the bakery takes on more staff
    • The bakery hires three: the 3rd worker adds $22, above $18, but the 4th adds only $16
    • The bakery hires four, because the 4th worker adds $16 and card A shows no fall in revenue
    • The bakery hires none, since the wage rose by $3 and a rise that large ends the bakery's profit