The Observer is a newspaper company that has two divisions

Question

The Observer is a newspaper company that has two divisions: The East Observer and The West Observer. All the employees at The Observer work in either of the two divisions. For the past five years, The East Observer has consistently accounted for 40% of the total workforce of The Observer while The West Observer has accounted for the rest. Over the same period, The West Observer has accounted for 50% of the total wages paid by The Observer.

Which of the following can properly be inferred about the past five years from the statements above?

A. The distribution of people across different hierarchical levels is different in The East Observer than in The West Observer.
B. The average motivation level of employees working in the two divisions is different, even though the difference in number is not significantly large
C. The average revenue generated per employee is expected to be greater in The East Observer than in The West Observer.
D. The average wage paid to the workforce is greater at The West Observer than at The East Observer.
E. The number of people working at The East Observer is at least 25% less than the number of people working at The West Observer.

chetan2u · Answer

Hi,

Don't get confused with the payment given  ..

A,B and C are completely out of context.
D talks of average but talks opposite of the fact.

E talks only of numbers..
Let it be 100 employees in observer.
East has 40 and West has 60...
What is the % of East when compared to West..
 100*\frac{40}{60}=66.67%

So the # is 33.33% less thus E is correct

sobby · Answer

E is the answer :

let 100 total 
60 - W
40 -E
Diff = 20 
x% of 60 = 20 
20*100/60= 200/6 = 100/3 = 33.33% .....so east have 33.33% less employee...

Nightmare007 · Answer

The Observer is a newspaper company that has two divisions: The East Observer and The West Observer. All the employees at The Observer work in either of the two divisions. For the past five years, The East Observer has consistently accounted for 40% of the total workforce of The Observer while The West Observer has accounted for the rest. Over the same period, The West Observer has accounted for 50% of the total wages paid by The Observer.

Which of the following can properly be inferred about the past five years from the statements above?

a) The distribution of people across different hierarchical levels is different in The East Observer than in The West Observer. - out of scope
b) The average motivation level of employees working in the two divisions is different, even though the difference in number is not significantly large - Out of scope
c) The average revenue generated per employee is expected to be greater in The East Observer than in The West Observer. - Out of scope
d) The average wage paid to the workforce is greater at The West Observer than at The East Observer. - Opposite

e) The number of people working at The East Observer is at least 25% less than the number of people working at The West Observer.

40% - Est Obs. 60% - Wst Obs - 40/60 = 66.666 % i.e. it is 33% less than the later.

.

HappyQuakka · Answer

Wow I didn't even bother to run the basic numbers for E, and went with A after debating between A and E.

I thought A sounded a bit fishy to be 'inferable', but thought it could explain the wage gap between East and West observer. (West per capita pay is lower than that of East). Turns out it's out of scope.

renjana · Answer

I know this answer seems really confusing :

Here is what i could deduce :

e) The number of people working at The East Observer is at least 25% less than the number of people working at The West Observer.

EO < W0-25% X WO

E0-40
WO-60
40< 60- 25% X 60
40<45

This is the complicated way !

In simple worlds what percent is 40 0f 60?

40/60x 100 =66% which means 40 people out of 60 only constitute to 66% remaining 33% is continued by the remaining 20 people .

so the 60 people group is atleast 33% greater than the 40 people group .

prajulmehta10 · Answer

why not c? i mean it clearly states the difference between the no. of employees on both the side

sony1000 · Answer

I like to work for East division more money and same amount of work as in west division.

saby1410 · Answer

KarishmaB

Can you explain why option A is wrong 
Can't we say if total number of west and east are different than number of people distributed at different heirarchical level is different.

Elite097 · Answer

Information given:
The East Observer accounts for 40% of the workforce.
The West Observer accounts for 60% of the workforce.
The West Observer receives 50% of the total wages.
We want to determine what can be properly inferred.

Why E is correct:
E) The number of people working at The East Observer is at least 25% less than the number of people working at The West Observer.

Let’s calculate:

East Observer has 40% of the workforce, and West Observer has 60% of the workforce.
The difference between their percentages:
60
−
40
60
×
100
=
33.33
%
60
60−40
​
 ×100=33.33%
Thus, the workforce at The East Observer is about 33.33% smaller than at The West Observer, which is "at least 25% less", making this option true.

VerbalBot · Answer

Automated notice from GMAT Club VerbalBot:

A member just gave Kudos to this thread, showing it’s still useful. I’ve bumped it to the top so more people can benefit. Feel free to add your own questions or solutions.

This post was generated automatically.

The Observer is a newspaper company that has two divisions

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 Critical Reasoning (CR) Questions

The Observer is a newspaper company that has two divisions

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