The Blog post contains the following IELTS Reading Questions:
- IELTS Reading Yes/No/Not given
- IELTS Reading Multiple choice questions
- IELTS Reading Matching sentence endings
IELTS reading passage – A Workaholic Economy
Read the passage thoroughly to answer all the questions (1 – 13) given below. Once finished answering, check your answers with A workaholic economy IELTS reading answers.
A Workaholic Economy
As a result of the Industrial Revolution, or for the first century, increased productivity led to reduced working hours. Employees who worked 12 hours a day, six days a week, found working hours of 10 hours a day, and then, finally, eight hours, five days a week. A generation ago only social planners were worried about what people would do with this new free time. In the United States, at least, they seem to have nothing to worry about.
Although the result for one-hour work has doubled since 1945, rest time seems to have been mainly reserved for the unemployed and the unemployed. Full-time workers spend as much time at work as they did at the end of World War II. In fact, working hours have increased significantly since the 1970s, and maybe real earnings have stagnated since that year. Bookstores now have plenty of manuals explaining how to handle time and deal with stress. There are many causes to miss rest time. Since 1979, companies have reacted to progress in the business environment by hiring more employees than making the employees overtime, says Juliet B., an economist at Harvard University. In fact, the recent economic recovery has achieved a certain degree of reputation for its “unemployment” nature, which has completely cut off increased productivity from employment.
Some companies are cutting back on their profit margins. A labor economist at Cornell University, Ronald G. Snyder observes that, since all things are equal, it is good to spread the work around.
Nevertheless, many factors push employers to hire fewer workers for longer hours, while at the same time forcing workers to spend more time at work. Most of those motivations involve what Ehrenberg calls the compensation structure, quirks in the way wages and advantages are arranged that make it more lucrative to ask 40 employees to labor an additional hour each than to hire one more employee to do the same 40-hour job.
Professional and managerial staff offer the clearest lesson in these ways. Once people are paid, it is the same for a company whether they spend 35 hours a week or 70 hours. Income will decline as overworked employees will lose performance or move to more arable pastures. But in the short term, the employer’s motivation is clear.
Hourly employees also receive advantages such as pension contributions and medical insurance, which are not connected to the hours they work. Hence, it would be more fruitful for employers to make existing workers work harder.
Although employees complain about long hours, they also have causes not to trade money for leisure. Schor claims that those who work part-time pay higher fines based on work. It’s taken as a negative signal about their dedication to the company. Lotte Bailyn, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, says many corporate managers find it difficult to measure the contribution of their footnotes to a company’s well-being, so they use the number of hours they work for publication. “Employees comprehend this,” she expresses, and they adjust their behavior accordingly.
Bailey says that, although the image of the good employee belongs to the company, it does not agree with the facts. She cites both quantitative and qualitative studies showing that part-time workers have increased productivity, that they make better use of the time they have, and that they are less likely to become exhausted from stressful work. She emphasizes that companies that hire more workers in less time also benefit from the resulting layoffs. More individuals can cover up coincidences you know, which means troubles will take people away from the workplace. Positive experiences with lessened times are beginning to change the culture even better in some companies, Schor reports.
Larger companies, in particular, seem to be more willing to test flexible work arrangements …
Successful trading of money for greater productivity and leisure can take more than changes in the financial and cultural structures of employment for workers, Schor argues. She says the U.S. market for goods has been skewed by the belief of full-time, two-business families. Automobile makers no longer produce cheap models, and developers no longer build small bungalows to serve first-generation home customers. Even the simplest household item is not made without a microprocessor. As Schor points out, the situation is an interesting reversal of the designers’ view of “appropriate technology” for developing countries, where American products are only suitable for high earnings and long hours.
A Workaholic Economy IELTS Reading Questions
Questions (1 – 5)
Do the following statements agree with the information given in the Reading Passage?
Write
YES if the statement agrees with the claims of the writerNO, if the statement contradicts the claims of the writer, NOT GIVEN if it is impossible to say what the writer thinks about this
1. Decreased productivity led to increased working hours, for the first century.
2. A generation ago only social planners were worried about what people would do with this new free time.
3. Full-time workers spend as much time at work as they did at the end of World War II.
4. Expanding rest time will help both working families.
5. Many factors push employers to hire more workers to work for longer hours.
Questions (6 – 9)
Choose the correct letter, A – D
6. It is the same for a company whether they spend 35 hours a week or 70 hours,
A. they are paid less
B. once people joine
C. once people are paid
D. they got no incentives
7. Hourly employees also receive advantages such as pension contributions and
A. medical insurance B. health insurance C. educational benefits D. home loan
8. Employees complain about long hours, they also have causes not to trade money
A. for their commitment
B. in busy time
C. for progress
D. for leisure
9. Lotte Bailyn says many corporate managers find it difficult to measure the contribution of their footnotes to a
A. family
B. company’s well-being
C. society
D. competitors
Question (10 – 13)
Complete each sentence with the correct ending, A–G, below.
Write the correct letter, A-G, as your answer to each question.
10. Bailey says that, although the image of the good employee belongs to the company,
11. Part-time workers are less likely to become
12. Positive experiences with lessened times are beginning
13. Successful trading of money for greater productivity and leisure can take more than changes in the
- financial and cultural structures
- exhausted from stressful work
- to test flexible work arrangements
- to change the culture
- it does not agree with the facts
- high earnings and long hours
A Workaholic Economy Reading Answers with Explanations
A Workaholic Economy reading answers for all the above given questions are provided below for your self-evaluation.
1. No
2. Yes
3. Yes
4. Yes
5. No
6. C. Once people are paid
7. A. medical insurance
8. D. for leisure
9. B. company’s well being
10. E it does not agree with the facts
11. B. exhausted from stressful work
12. D. to change the culture
