A full-time employee’s hourly wage was increased by 10%.
A full-time employee’s hourly wage was increased by 10%. He decided to decrease the number of hours worked per week so that his total income did not change. By approximately what percent should the number of hours worked be decreased?
Answer/Solution
9%
Steps/Work
Let's plug in somenicenumbers and see what's needed.
Let's say the employee used to make $1/hour and worked 100 hours/week
So, the TOTAL weekly income was $100/week
After the 10% wage increase, the employee makes $1.10/hour
We want the employee's income to remain at $100/week.
So, we want ($1.10/hour)(new # of hours) = $100
Divide both sides by 1.10 to get:
new # of hours = 100/1.10
≈ 90 hours
So, the number of hours decreases from 100 hours to (approximately) 90 hours.
This represents a 10% decrease (approximately) .
Answer choice B is the closest answer.
Let's say the employee used to make $1/hour and worked 100 hours/week
So, the TOTAL weekly income was $100/week
After the 10% wage increase, the employee makes $1.10/hour
We want the employee's income to remain at $100/week.
So, we want ($1.10/hour)(new # of hours) = $100
Divide both sides by 1.10 to get:
new # of hours = 100/1.10
≈ 90 hours
So, the number of hours decreases from 100 hours to (approximately) 90 hours.
This represents a 10% decrease (approximately) .
Answer choice B is the closest answer.