Since the early 1970s, historians have begun to devote serious attent

Question

Since the early 1970’s, historians have begun to devote serious attention to the working class in the United States. Yet while we now have studies of working-class communities and culture, we know remarkably little of worklessness. When historians have paid any attention at all to unemployment, they have focused on the Great Depression of the 1930’s. The narrowness of this perspective ignores the pervasive recessions and joblessness of the previous decades, as Alexander Keyssar shows in his recent book. Examining the period 1870-1920, Keyssar concentrates on Massachusetts, where the historical materials are particularly rich, and the findings applicable to other industrial areas.

The  unemployment rates  that Keyssar calculates appear to be relatively modest, at least by Great Depression standards: during the worst years, in the 1870’s and 1890’s, unemployment was around 15 percent. Yet Keyssar rightly understands that a better way to measure the impact of unemployment is to calculate unemployment frequencies—measuring the percentage of workers who experience any unemployment in the course of a year. Given this perspective, joblessness looms much larger.

Keyssar also scrutinizes unemployment patterns according to skill level, ethnicity, race, age, class, and gender. He finds that rates of joblessness differed primarily according to class: those in middle-class and white-collar occupations were far less likely to be unemployed. Yet the impact of unemployment on a specific class was not always the same. Even when dependent on the same trade, adjoining communities could have dramatically different unemployment rates. Keyssar uses these differential rates to help explain a phenomenon that has puzzled historians—the startlingly high rate of geographical mobility in the nineteenth-century United States. But mobility was not the dominant working-class strategy for coping with unemployment, nor was assistance from private charities or state agencies. Self-help and the help of kin got most workers through jobless spells.

While Keyssar might have spent more time developing the implications of his findings on joblessness for contemporary public policy, his study, in its thorough research and creative use of quantitative and qualitative evidence, is a model of historical analysis.   1 
 1. The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) recommending a new course of investigation
(B) summarizing and assessing a study
(C) making distinctions among categories
(D) criticizing the current state of a field
(E) comparing and contrasting two methods for calculating data

2 
 2. The passage suggests that before the early 1970’s, which of the following was true of the study by historians of the working class in the United States?

(A) The study was infrequent or superficial, or both.
(B) The study was repeatedly criticized for its allegedly narrow focus.
(C) The study relied more on qualitative than quantitative evidence.
(D) The study focused more on the working-class community than on working-class culture.
(E) The study ignored working-class joblessness during the Great Depression.

3 
 3. According to the passage, which of the following is true of Keyssar’s findings concerning unemployment in Massachusetts?

(A) They tend to contradict earlier findings about such unemployment.
(B) They are possible because Massachusetts has the most easily accessible historical records.
(C) They are the first to mention the existence of high rates of geographical mobility in the nineteenth century.
(D) They are relevant to a historical understanding of the nature of unemployment in other states.
(E) They have caused historians to reconsider the role of the working class during the Great Depression.

4 
 4. According to the passage, which of the following is true of the unemployment rates mentioned in line 15  (Highlighted) ?

(A) They hovered, on average, around 15 percent during the period 1870-1920.
(B) They give less than a full sense of the impact of unemployment on working-class people.
(C) They overestimate the importance of middle class and white-collar unemployment.
(D) They have been considered by many historians to underestimate the extent of working-class unemployment.
(E) They are more open to question when calculated for years other than those of peak recession.

5 
 5. Which of the following statements about the unemployment rate during the Great Depression can be inferred from the passage?

(A) It was sometimes higher than 15 percent.
(B) It has been analyzed seriously only since the early 1970’s.
(C) It can be calculated more easily than can unemployment frequency.
(D) It was never as high as the rate during the 1870’s.
(E) It has been shown by Keyssar to be lower than previously thought.

6 
 6. According to the passage, Keyssar considers which of the following to be among the important predictors of the likelihood that a particular person would be unemployed in late nineteenth-century Massachusetts?

I. The person’s class
II. Where the person lived or worked
III. The person’s age

(A) I only
(B) II only
(C) I and II only
(D) I and III only
(E) I, II, and III

7 
 7. The author views Keyssar’s study with

(A) impatient disapproval
(B) wary concern
(C) polite skepticism
(D) scrupulous neutrality
(E) qualified admiration

8 
 8. Which of the following, if true, would most strongly support Keyssar’s findings as they are described by the author?

(A) Boston, Massachusetts, and Quincy, Massachusetts, adjoining communities, had a higher rate of unemployment for working-class people in 1870 than in 1890.

(B) White-collar professionals such as attorneys had as much trouble as day laborers in maintaining a steady level of employment throughout the period 1870-1920.

(C) Working-class women living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, were more likely than working-class men living in Cambridge to be unemployed for some period of time during the year 1873.

(D) In the 1890’s, shoe-factory workers moved away in large numbers from Chelmsford, Massachusetts, where shoe factories were being replaced by other industries, to adjoining West Chelmsford, where the shoe industry flourished.

(E) In the late nineteenth century, workers of all classes in Massachusetts were more likely than workers of all classes in other states to move their place of residence from one location to another within the state.

mSKR · Accepted Answer

#2
The passage suggests that before the early 1970’s, which of the following was true of the study by historians of the working class in the United States?
Answer this by process of elimination. Note that the term "the study" often used in the options below is in itself, misleading, since they are actually referring to studies, and not one particular study, using the term as a sort of short form.

-(A) The study was infrequent or superficial, or both.
This is a possible inference, as the first sentence "Since the early 1970’s, historians have begun to devote serious attention to the working class in the United States." suggests that before the early 1970s, historians have not "devote serious attention to the working class in the United States".
(B) The study was repeatedly criticized for its allegedly narrow focus.
"The narrowness of this perspective ignores the pervasive recessions and joblessness of the previous decades, as Alexander Keyssar shows in his recent book." This statement means that the study was criticising on the narrowness on studies done in the previous decade, not that the study itself was narrow. Also, nothing was "repeatedly criticised". So B is out.
(C) The study relied more on qualitative than quantitative evidence.
Nothing is said on the type of study. C is out.
(D) The study focused more on the working-class community than on working-class culture.
"we now have studies of working-class communities and culture" Studies were done on both. D is out.
(E) The study ignored working-class joblessness during the Great Depression.
The study was not about the Great Depression at all. E is out.

#4
According to the passage, which of the following is true of the unemployment rates mentioned in line 15?
I am guessing that by line 15, they mean this line "during the worst years, in the 1870’s and 1890’s, unemployment was around 15 percent."
The answer is in these two sentences:
"Yet Keyssar rightly understands that a better way to measure the impact of unemployment is to calculate unemployment frequencies"”measuring the percentage of workers who experience any unemployment in the course of a year. Given this perspective, joblessness looms much larger."

(A) They hovered, on average, around 15 percent during the period 1870-1920.
It was during the worse years, that means that 15% was a peak number, and cannot be the average.
-(B) They give less than a full sense of the impact of unemployment on working-class people.
"Given this perspective, joblessness looms much larger." Pretty much tells you that 15% is an underestimate of the situation.
(C) They overestimate the importance of middle class and white-collar unemployment.
See above quote, it is underestimate, not overestimate, and it is unemployment rate, not importance.
(D) They have been considered by many historians to underestimate the extent of working-class unemployment.
This part is a bit tricky, compare the keywords extent from this option and impact from option B, extent here means that the actual unemployment rate is above 15% while impact means that unemployment is causing more damage than estimated.
(E) They are more open to question when calculated for years other than those of peak recession.
This is just a random option, it does not tie in with the passage at all, someone who is experienced with comprehension tasks would be able to eliminate this stright away.

#5
Which of the following statements about the unemployment rate during the Great Depression can be inferred from the passage?
This question can actually be done with a bit of common sense about the Great Depression, without scrutinising the passage.

-(A) It was sometimes higher than 15 percent.
This is true since "The unemployment rates that Keyssar calculates appear to be relatively modest, at least by Great Depression standards" suggest that compared to the Great Depression, unemployment rates were not as high. Also, the word sometimes gives leeway.
(B) It has been analyzed seriously only since the early 1970’s.
Nothing is said on how "serious the studies conducted before the 1970s were.
(C) It can be calculated more easily than can unemployment frequency.
Nothing in the passage even says about comparing unemployment rate and unemployment frequency.
(D) It was never as high as the rate during the 1870’s.
The Great Depression by definition had really high unemployment rate, common sense would tell you that it is likely to be higher that the 1970s. Also, once again, "The unemployment rates that Keyssar calculates appear to be relatively modest, at least by Great Depression standards" is saying that the unemployment rate during the great depression was higher than during Keyssar's study.
(E) It has been shown by Keyssar to be lower than previously thought.
Refer to above explanation.

#6
According to the passage, Keyssar considers which of the following to be among the important predictors of the likelihood that a particular person would be unemployed in late nineteenth-century Massachusetts?

I. The person’s class
"He finds that rates of joblessness differed primarily according to class: those in middle-class and white-collar occupations were far less likely to be unemployed." Class is a factor.
II. Where the person lived or worked
"Even when dependent on the same trade, adjoining communities could have dramatically different unemployment rates." Communities=where the person lived and worked. II is a factor.
III. The person’s age
"Keyssar also scrutinizes unemployment patterns according to skill level, ethnicity, race, age, class, and gender." Although all there are analysed, only the effect of class and community is reported suggest that, the other factors are not reflective of unemployment, or not considered important enough by Keyssar. Age is not a factor.
(A) I only
(B) II only
-(C) I and II only
(D) I and III only
(E) I, II, and III

#8
Which of the following, if true, would most strongly support Keyssar’s findings as they are described by the author?

(A) Boston, Massachusetts, and Quincy, Massachusetts, adjoining communities, had a higher rate of unemployment for working-class people in 1870 than in 1890.
This is completely irrelevant to Keyssar's study.
(B) White-collar professionals such as attorneys had as much trouble as day laborers in maintaining a steady level of employment throughout the period 1870-1920.
Keyssar's study actually shows that white-collar prefessionals had an easier time finding work. "those in middle-class and white-collar occupations were far less likely to be unemployed"
(C) Working-class women living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, were more likely than working-class men living in Cambridge to be unemployed for some period of time during the year 1873.
There was no conclusion on gender by Keyssar's study.
-(D) In the 1890’s, shoe-factory workers moved away in large numbers from Chelmsford, Massachusetts, where shoe factories were being replaced by other industries, to adjoining West Chelmsford, where the shoe industry flourished.
This finding would support Keyssar's finding that "Even when dependent on the same trade, adjoining communities could have dramatically different unemployment rates."
(E) In the late nineteenth century, workers of all classes in Massachusetts were more likely than workers of all classes in other states to move their place of residence from one location to another within the state.
"Keyssar uses these differential rates to help explain a phenomenon that has puzzled historians"”the startlingly high rate of geographical mobility in the nineteenth-century United States. " Keyssar's point was that the moving of workers was throughout the United States and not just Massachucetts.

junii · Answer

VeritasKarishma 
Can you please help on this passage questions seem difficult.
Also from Q3 how we infer that Keyssar concentrates on Massachusetts, where the historical materials are particularly rich, and the findings applicable to other industrial areas.
other industrial areas to other states?
Please explain Q4 and Q7
I cant see from passage author has limited admiration for this study

KarishmaB · Answer

From the passage:
 Examining the period 1870-1920, Keyssar concentrates on Massachusetts, where the historical materials are particularly rich, and the findings applicable to other industrial areas.

3. According to the passage, which of the following is true of Keyssar’s findings concerning unemployment in Massachusetts?

(A) They tend to contradict earlier findings about such unemployment.
Not mentioned.

(B) They are possible because Massachusetts has the most easily accessible historical records.
Incorrect. The passage just tells us that historical materials are rich. Are they more easily accessible, we don't know.

(C) They are the first to mention the existence of high rates of geographical mobility in the nineteenth century.
Not given.

(D) They are relevant to a historical understanding of the nature of unemployment in other states.

The passage tells us that the findings are applicable to other industrial areas too. So they are relevant to a historical understanding of unemployment in other places too.

(E) They have caused historians to reconsider the role of the working class during the Great Depression.
Again, no such inference.

Answer (D)

KarishmaB · Answer

Relevant paragraph (line 15 and following):
 The unemployment rates that Keyssar calculates appear to be relatively modest, at least by Great Depression standards: during the worst years, in the 1870’s and 1890’s, unemployment was around 15 percent. Yet Keyssar rightly understands that a better way to measure the impact of unemployment is to calculate unemployment frequencies—measuring the percentage of workers who experience any unemployment in the course of a year. Given this perspective, joblessness looms much larger.

4. According to the passage, which of the following is true of the unemployment rates mentioned in line 15?

(A) They hovered, on average, around 15 percent during the period 1870-1920.

No. They were around 15% in the 1870’s and 1890’s, the worst years. We don't know about unemployment rates in 1870 - 1920.

(B) They give less than a full sense of the impact of unemployment on working-class people.

Correct. They do not give full sense of the impact. 
...Yet Keyssar rightly understands that a better way to measure the impact of unemployment is to calculate unemployment frequencies... Given this perspective, joblessness looms much larger (than 15% mentioned above).

The author says that Keyssar  rightly  understood that a better way ... So as per the passage, it is true.

(C) They overestimate the importance of middle class and white-collar unemployment.

Not given.

(D) They have been considered by many historians to underestimate the extent of working-class unemployment.

Have "many historians" considered them an underestimation, we don't know. We know that Keyssar understood that they underestimate.

(E) They are more open to question when calculated for years other than those of peak recession.

Not mentioned.

Answer (B)

KarishmaB · Answer

While Keyssar might have spent more time developing the implications of his findings on joblessness for contemporary public policy, his study, in its thorough research and creative use of quantitative and qualitative evidence, is a model of historical analysis.
 
7. The author views Keyssar’s study with

(A) impatient disapproval
(B) wary concern
(C) polite skepticism
(D) scrupulous neutrality
(E) qualified admiration

Note the use of "thorough research," "creative use," "model of historical analysis".
He certainly doesn't disapprove, doesn't show concern, is not skeptic and is not neutral. 
He admires it so (E) it is.

hientranzx · Answer

1. The passage is primarily concerned with

(A) recommending a new course of investigation
 (B) summarizing and assessing a study 
 1st paragraph: General introduction: historians have begun to devote serious attention to the working class in the United States.
2nd paragraph: The unemployment rates that Keyssar calculates appear to be relatively modest
3rd paragraph: Keyssar also scrutinizes unemployment patterns
4th paragraph: Keyssar's research is a model of historical analysis.  -->assessing 
(C) making distinctions among categories
(D) criticizing the current state of a field
(E) comparing and contrasting two methods for calculating data

2. The passage suggests that before the early 1970’s, which of the following was true of the study by historians of the working class in the United States?

(A) The study was infrequent or superficial, or both. 
 Since the early 1970’s, historians have begun to devote serious attention to the working class in the United States.  -->  Before 1970's, researches were not so serious

(B) The study was repeatedly criticized for its allegedly narrow focus.
(C) The study relied more on qualitative than quantitative evidence.
(D) The study focused more on the working-class community than on working-class culture.
(E) The study ignored working-class joblessness during the Great Depression.

3. According to the passage, which of the following is true of Keyssar’s findings concerning unemployment in Massachusetts?

(A) They tend to contradict earlier findings about such unemployment.
(B) They are possible because Massachusetts has the  most  easily accessible historical records. --> Not most accessible
(C) They are the first to mention the existence of high rates of geographical mobility in the nineteenth century.
 (D) They are relevant to a historical understanding of the nature of unemployment in other states. 
 Examining the period 1870-1920, Keyssar concentrates on Massachusetts, where the historical materials are particularly rich, and the  findings applicable to other industrial areas . 
(E) They have caused historians to reconsider the role of the working class during the Great Depression.

4. According to the passage, which of the following is true of the unemployment rates mentioned in line 15?
 The unemployment rates that Keyssar calculates appear to be relatively modest, at least by Great Depression standards: during the worst years, in the 1870’s and 1890’s, unemployment was around 15 percent.
Given this perspective, joblessness looms much larger.

(A) They hovered, on average, around 15 percent during the period 1870-1920.
 (B) They give less than a full sense of the impact of unemployment on working-class people. 
(C) They overestimate the importance of middle class and white-collar unemployment.
(D) They have been considered by many historians to underestimate the extent of working-class unemployment.
(E) They are more open to question when calculated for years other than those of peak recession.

5. Which of the following statements about the unemployment rate during the Great Depression can be inferred from the passage?

(A) It was sometimes higher than 15 percent. 
 at least by Great Depression standards: during the worst years, in the 1870’s and 1890’s, unemployment was around 15 percent. 
(B) It has been analyzed seriously only since the early 1970’s.
(C) It can be calculated more easily than can unemployment frequency.
(D) It was never as high as the rate during the 1870’s.
(E) It has been shown by Keyssar to be lower than previously thought.

6. According to the passage, Keyssar considers which of the following to be among the   important predictors   of the likelihood that a particular person would be unemployed in late nineteenth-century Massachusetts?

I. The person’s class
He finds that rates of joblessness differed primarily according to class
II. Where the person lived or worked
startlingly high rate of geographical mobility
III. The person’s age
No explanation

(A) I only
(B) II only
 (C) I and II only 
(D) I and III only
(E) I, II, and III

7. The author views Keyssar’s study with

(A) impatient disapproval
(B) wary concern
(C) polite skepticism
(D) scrupulous neutrality
 (E) qualified admiration 
 in its thorough research and creative use of quantitative and qualitative evidence, is a model of historical analysis.

8. Which of the following, if true, would most strongly support Keyssar’s findings as they are described by the author?

(A) Boston, Massachusetts, and Quincy, Massachusetts, adjoining communities, had a higher rate of unemployment for working-class people in 1870 than in 1890.

(B) White-collar professionals such as attorneys had as much trouble as day laborers in maintaining a steady level of employment throughout the period 1870-1920.

(C) Working-class women living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, were more likely than working-class men living in Cambridge to be unemployed for some period of time during the year 1873.

(D) In the 1890’s, shoe-factory workers moved away in large numbers from Chelmsford, Massachusetts, where shoe factories were being replaced by other industries, to adjoining West Chelmsford, where the shoe industry flourished. 
 Even when dependent on the same trade, adjoining communities could have dramatically different unemployment rates.

(E) In the late nineteenth century, workers of all classes in Massachusetts were more likely than workers of all classes in other states to move their place of residence from one location to another within the state.

Sajjad1994 · Answer

Explanation

8. Which of the following, if true, would most strongly support Keyssar’s findings as they are described by the author?

Difficulty Level:   700

Explanation

(A) Boston, Massachusetts, and Quincy, Massachusetts, adjoining communities, had a higher rate of unemployment for working-class people in 1870 than in 1890.

This is completely irrelevant to Keyssar's study.

(B) White-collar professionals such as attorneys had as much trouble as day laborers in maintaining a steady level of employment throughout the period 1870-1920.

Keyssar's study actually shows that white-collar professionals had an easier time finding work. "those in middle-class and white-collar occupations were far less likely to be unemployed"

(C) Working-class women living in Cambridge, Massachusetts, were more likely than working-class men living in Cambridge to be unemployed for some period of time during the year 1873.

There was no conclusion on gender by Keyssar's study.

(D) In the 1890’s, shoe-factory workers moved away in large numbers from Chelmsford, Massachusetts, where shoe factories were being replaced by other industries, to adjoining West Chelmsford, where the shoe industry flourished.

This finding would support Keyssar's finding that "Even when dependent on the same trade, adjoining communities could have dramatically different unemployment rates."

(E) In the late nineteenth century, workers of all classes in Massachusetts were more likely than workers of all classes in other states to move their place of residence from one location to another within the state.

"Keyssar uses these differential rates to help explain a phenomenon that has puzzled historians" ”the startlingly high rate of geographical mobility in the nineteenth-century United States. " Keyssar's point was that the moving of workers was throughout the United States and not just Massachusetts.

Answer: D

adityashikhar4 · Answer

Hi. I had a doubt regarding the answer to Question 3. Although the lines "Examining the period 1870-1920, Keyssar focuses primarily on Massachusetts, where the historical materials are particularly rich and the findings applicable to other *industrial* areas" suggest that the findings may be useful in understanding the unemployment situation of other industrial states, but in my opinion, I found it somewhat wrong to extend this term to include all 'other states' which becomes the case with the selection of option D. Requesting someone to kindly clear this up.

GMATNinja · Answer

Question 3 
 
Here's the exact language of (D):

(D) doesn't say that Keyssar's findings are relevant to unemployment in ALL other states. If those findings were relevant in just a  couple  of other states, that is enough.

With that in mind, the bit of the passage that you've highlighted is the key to choosing (D). Keyssar studied Massachusetts, but his findings were applicable to "other industrial areas." By using the word "other" here, the author implies that these additional areas are comparable to Massachusetts. And because Massachusetts is a state, it's not a stretch to say that the other industrial areas are states as well.

(D) is the correct answer to question 3.

I hope that helps!

nikitathegreat · Answer

Can someone pls explain Q2 E option and A option.
 GMATNinja .

Sajjad1994 · Answer

From Manhattan GMAT

(A):  This is a possible inference, as the first sentence " Since the early 1970’s, historians have begun to devote serious attention to the working class in the United States."  suggests that before the early 1970s, historians have not  "devote serious attention to the working class in the United States".

(E)  The study was not about the Great Depression at all. E is out.

Answer: A

GMATNinja · Answer

Question 2 
 
The passage tells us that historians have "begun to devote  serious attention  to the working class" since the early 1970's. This suggests that historians did NOT devote serious attention to the working class  before  the 1970's.

Reading a little further, we learn that historians have also generally  ignored  worklessness. However, there is an exception to this generalization: "when historians have paid any attention to unemployment, they have focused on the Great Depression."

Let's now take a look at answer choice (E):

The passage  does  claim that before the 1970's, historians did not pay  serious attention  to the working class. So does that make (E) correct?

Not really. Keep in mind, the author admits that historians  did  study unemployment during the Great Depression. So it doesn't seem fair to conclude that historians  ignored  joblessness during the Great Depression, whether working class or otherwise.

From another angle -- it's possible that historians studied joblessness in various groups during the Great Depression, including the working class, even if they didn't devote  serious attention  to the working class generally speaking. Eliminate (E).

Let's now consider (A):

The author states that prior to the early 1970's historians failed to devote serious attention to the working class. Given that, does (A) seem like a fair statement?

Sure. If studies of the working class were "superficial," that would fail to be serious. Likewise, if studies of the working class were infrequent, you might also say they lacked seriousness.

Since (A) is supported by the passage, it's correct.

I hope that helps!

kartickdey · Answer

broall  what would be the level of the question no 6?

Bunuel · Answer

The difficulty level of a question on the site is determined automatically after sufficient attempts, based on various parameters from users' attempts, such as the percentage of correct answers and the time taken to answer. Therefore, this is a sub-505 level question based on our statistics. For RC passages, the difficulty level is the average of the difficulties of all questions, so for this question, it's the average of the difficulties of all 8 questions. You can always check a question’s difficulty in the tag just above the first post. For Reading Comprehension, that tag reflects the average difficulty across all questions attached to the passage. https://gmatclub.com/forum/download/file.php?id=87799 The difficulty of each individual RC question is given in the first post’s: https://gmatclub.com/forum/download/file.php?id=87800 Hope it helps. GMAT-Club-Forum-q9ulampo.png GMAT-Club-Forum-fj81xzei.png

Since the early 1970s, historians have begun to devote serious attent

Prep Toolkit

Top 5 GMAT Debrief Videos

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards

GMAT Reading Comprehension (RC) Questions

Since the early 1970s, historians have begun to devote serious attent

Prep Toolkit

615 to 715 in 15 Days (Ria's Strategies)

More than Quant/Verbal Abilities: Speed vs. Accuracy

745 with Only Self-Prep and GMAT Club

From 555 to 765: 210-point Improvement

Perfect 805 Score Debrief by Julia

My Rewards