Bunuel wrote:
State X requires employers to pay hourly-wage employees 50 percent more than their regular wage for every work hour in excess of 8, on any workday. State Y requires employers to pay these employees the same overtime rate, but only for work hours in excess of 40 during any given week. Most hourly-wage employees prefer to work in state Y over state X.
Based only on the statements above, which of the following best explains why most hourly-wage employees prefer to work in state Y over state X?
(A) Most hourly-wage employees work at least five days per week.
(B) Most hourly-wage employees prefer to work for employers that do not provide overtime work.
(C) Most hourly-wage employees prefer to work for employers that provide overtime work.
(D) Overtime work hours for most hourly-wage employees exceed regular work hours by at least 50 percent.
(E) Most hourly-wage employees work fewer than 40 hours per week.
OFFICIAL EXPLANATION
The correct answer is (A). If an hourly-wage employee works fewer than five days per week, the employee would need to work more than 8 hours per day
on average to qualify for overtime pay in state Y. On the other hand, the same employee would need to work more than 8 hours per day
only on one day to qualify for overtime pay in state X. Thus, employees working fewer than five days per week would prefer to work in state X. Given that most employees prefer to work in state Y, it is reasonable to conclude that most employees work at least five days per week.