unemployment

[dshweta]

With explanations pls...Thanks!

Which of the following best completes the passage below?
The unemployment rate in the United States fell from 7.5 percent in 1981 to 6.9 percent in 1986. It cannot, however, be properly concluded from these statistics that the number of unemployed in 1986 was lower than it had been in 1981 because______

(A) help-wanted advertisements increased between 1981 and 1986
(B) many of the high-paying industrial jobs available in 1981 were replaced by low-wage service jobs in 1986, resulting in displacements of hundreds of thousands of workers
(C) in some midwestern industrial states, the unemployment rate was much higher in 1986 than it had been in 1981
(D) the total available work force, including those with and without employment, increased between 1981 and 1986
(E) the average time that employees stay in any one job dropped during the period 1981 to 1986

[nagar]

I go for D.

If the total available work force is increased, then the % increase of employed and unemployed people is unknown.

For e.g
1981
total available work force--1000
unemployed people -75( 7.5%)
employed people- 925

1986
D specifies that in 1986, there is an increase of available work force...suppose 1000
total available work force--1000 + 1000
unemployed people -138( 6.9% of 2000)

so it concludes that unemployed people are not less in 1986

[Chendu]

think its D.

[VIK32]

It is more a simple maths embedded in this question

Work force = E (employed) + NE ( without job)

percent without job = NE / (E + NE)

if say E = 1000 in 1981 and same in 1986

then with 6.9 % NE is 74

with 7.5% NE is 81


In the first go D gives the answer

[avikar]

D. Other folks already explained

[dshweta]

Thanks. It is clear now. OA is D.

[paxapax]

go for D, we don't know the total work force

[animesh]

D. Its mathematics at work.

[r4rohini]

its D