Deck 14: Marginal Jobs

Question 1

Drug pushers, pimps, and organizers of cockfights are examples of

A)major occupational groups.
B)contingent work.
C)primary labor markets.
D)illegal occupations.
E)the shadow economy.

Answer 1

D

Question 2

"Temps" differ from others in the same occupation because of their

A)education.
B)gender.
C)racial identity.
D)personality.
E)job contract.

Answer 2

E

Question 3

Which of the following characterizes marginal jobs?

A)unstable employment
B)violation of employment norms concerning hours, conditions, or pay
C)low occupational prestige
D)little occupational power
E)all of the above

Answer 3

E

Question 4

Literacy

A)is not necessary for most jobs.
B)is necessary for primary sector jobs only.
C)is not necessary for jobs without advanced electronic technology.
D)is necessary even for marginal jobs.
E)is obsolete as a job criterion.

Question 5

Low occupational power means:

A)members of the occupation have little energy, and therefore low productivity.
B)members of the occupation are not registered to vote.
C)as a group, the occupation has little ability to negotiate successfully for higher wages and better conditions.
D)all members of the occupation are underemployed.
E)members of the occupation are mostly women or members of minority groups.

Question 6

Dual labor markets are

A)the same as internal labor markets.
B)found only in peripheral industries.
C)divisions of the labor force into "preferred" and "unpreferred" workers.
D)created by geographic isolation.
E)found only in developing countries.

Question 7

In the dual labor market, marginal jobs

A)constitute a separate economic sphere.
B)are limited to ten percent of each sector.
C)are exported to foreign countries.
D)are regulated by the government.
E)are usually covered by collective bargaining agreements.

Question 8

Which group typically has the highest unemployment?

A)managers
B)professionals
C)administrative support workers
D)sales workers
E)farm, fishing, and forestry workers

Question 9

A client firm

A)has a strong market position.
B)is a firm that hires an attorney or other professional.
C)subcontracts from a larger firm.
D)provides temporary workers to many employers.
E)is owned by a franchisee.

Question 10

The shadow economy is also called

A)the underclass.
B)the informal economy.
C)the lower tier.
D)the peripheral labor force.
E)the internal labor market.

Question 11

Contingent workers are

A)exclusively clerical workers.
B)clerical workers and day laborers.
C)clerical workers, day laborers, and farm workers.
D)workers who are not professionals.
E)found in all occupational groups.

Question 12

Marginal workers in an internal labor market probably are located

A)in a geographically isolated area.
B)on a short job ladder.
C)in an entry port.
D)in a developing country.
E)in a university.

Question 13

Which is NOT a characteristic of marginal occupational groups?

A)They have little occupational power.
B)They are concentrated in primary economic sectors.
C)These jobs are generally considered unattractive or undesirable.
D)They generally work in small, nonbureaucratized workplaces.
E)They rarely have promotion opportunities.

Question 14

Which of the following is NOT a characteristic of the shadow economy?

A)The workers are all considered unemployed by the government.
B)Many of the jobs are illegal.
C)Money is not the only medium of exchange.
D)There is no official monitoring of health, safety, and working conditions.
E)Payroll taxes may not be paid.

Question 15

The consequences of layoff include

A)declining health.
B)feeling of worthlessness.
C)increased family violence.
D)divorce.
E)all of the above

Question 16

Which of the following is NOT a defining characteristic of a marginal job?

A)The work is performed by marginal members of society.
B)The work performed provides inadequate pay.
C)The work is sometimes illegal.
D)The work is irregular.
E)The work is temporary or unstable.

Question 17

The underclass

A)is incapable of holding primary sector jobs.
B)does not want to work full-time.
C)consists of only one racial/ethnic group.
D)cannot achieve social mobility due to lack of personal resources and opportunities.
E)spends more than they earn.

Question 18

A worker who is underemployed

A)is also unemployed.
B)has no fringe benefits.
C)has inadequate pay and/or inadequate hours of work, and perhaps insufficient use of skills on the job.
D)is located in an internal labor market.
E)must be geographically isolated, relatively uneducated, and a member of a minority group.

Question 19

The textbook identifies as marginal the following occupational groups

A)farm laborers and industrial laborers.
B)private household workers and protective service workers.
C)private household workers and farm laborers.
D)farm laborers and administrative support workers.
E)personal service workers and protective service workers.

Question 20

The dual labor market divides the labor force into

A)pro-union and anti-union workers.
B)"preferred" and "unpreferred" workers.
C)management and workers.
D)the employed and the unemployed.
E)the skilled and the unskilled.

Question 21

In the textile industry, marginal jobs are created because of

A)low productivity.
B)international competition.
C)management tradition.
D)unionization.
E)use of high technology.

Question 22

Major occupational groups that are marginal share all of the following characteristics EXCEPT

A)their jobs are generally considered unattractive.
B)they work in nonbureaucratized workplaces.
C)they work in small workplaces.
D)they have little occupational power.
E)each of their workers lacks skills.

Question 23

It is against U.S.law to knowingly hire illegal aliens.The Lollygag Hotel routinely hires illegal aliens to serve as waitpersons and bellhops.These jobs are therefore

A)inadequate.
B)irregular.
C)unstable.
D)in the shadow economy.
E)paid in cash only.

Question 24

Which of the following is NOT typical of marginal occupational groups?

A)Their jobs are generally considered unattractive.
B)They have little occupational power.
C)Employers tend to be small and economically weak.
D)The jobs are not believed to require specialized skills.
E)The jobs have security to compensate for their low wages.

Question 25

A substitute teacher is an example of a worker who is marginal because of

A)job contract.
B)irregularity.
C)illegal job content.
D)management practices.
E)secondary labor markets.

Question 26

Marginal workers often resign to look for better jobs.One effect of this behavior is that

A)they usually find better jobs.
B)they usually move to better labor markets.
C)they stay unemployed for long periods of time.
D)their turnover is interpreted as a negative aspect of their character.
E)their employers are impressed with their initiative.

Question 27

Which of the following occupations has been most likely to experience job displacement?

A)restaurant workers
B)nurses and physicians
C)sales workers
D)machine operators and fabricators
E)household workers

Question 28

How is marginal work related to social class?

A)There is plain evidence that marginal work perpetuates an underclass which cannot achieve social mobility.
B)Members of all social classes have equal probabilities of being marginal workers.
C)Workers in the middle class are largely protected from marginal jobs.
D)Workers in the upper class are able to protect their children from marginal work.
E)There is little evidence on the relation of marginal work to class structure.

Question 29

Unlike many other marginal occupational groups, service work

A)is unregulated by government.
B)is expected to grow in numbers.
C)is excluded from most labor legislation.
D)is experiencing declining demand.
E)is being transformed by technology.

Question 30

Of all the forms of farm labor, the most 'regular' is

A)the sharecropper.
B)the migrant farm worker.
C)the truck farm worker.
D)the hired hand.
E)the tinker.

Question 31

Suppose a nominee for U.S.Attorney General does not pay the employer's share of social security or withhold taxes for the people she hires to provide child care and other services in her home.Her relation with these workers illustrates

A)underemployment.
B)the shadow economy.
C)deviant occupations.
D)unstable jobs.
E)contingent work.

Question 32

Why are household maids marginal?

A)The work is devalued.
B)The work is unpleasant.
C)The household is a small, non-bureaucratized workplace
D)Maids have little occupational power
E)all of the above

Question 33

Marginal jobs are more common in industries that are highly

A)unionized.
B)productive.
C)competitive.
D)regulated.
E)dispersed.

Question 34

A person could argue that temporary agencies do not necessarily create marginal jobs.The basis for this argument is that

A)some people cannot hold permanent jobs.
B)some people do not want high wages.
C)temporary agencies pay fair wages.
D)some people may get as much work as they want from a temporary agency.
E)temporary agencies do not discriminate on the basis of race or gender.

Question 35

Ellen wants to work part-time as a temp because she wants to be home when her children arrive home from grade school.Ellen is

A)a marginal worker.
B)a marginal worker unless her temporary agency pays its payroll taxes.
C)a voluntary part-time worker.
D)inadequately employed.
E)a franchisee.

Question 36

Geographic isolation involves all EXCEPT

A)mass transit that does not effectively take workers to job sites.
B)remote places of residence.
C)residence in small towns.
D)limited personal mobility.
E)participation in a national labor market.

Question 37

One characteristic of unregulated work, is that

A)it is often exempt from federal labor laws.
B)the hours of work vary from week to week.
C)the work shift varies from week to week.
D)the pay varies from week to week.
E)it is organized by franchised enterprises.

Question 38

Temporary work is

A)limited to clerical workers.
B)growing rapidly.
C)limited to temporary agencies.
D)unorganized.
E)well paid.

Question 39

Deviant occupations involve

A)work in any correctional institution.
B)work that is illegal or thought to be immoral.
C)work that is unusual in its culture.
D)work that is paid too much relative to its social value.
E)work that is unpaid, even though most workers who do the work are paid.

Question 40

A teenaged, female high-school dropout who lives in an inner-city neighborhood is unable to find a good-paying job.This situation illustrates

A)a discouraged worker.
B)the interaction of marginal characteristics.
C)the limited supply of productive workers.
D)the failure of statistical discrimination.
E)the unavailability of contingent work.

Question 41

The occupations not eligible for unemployment compensation

A)are being outsourced.
B)are also likely to be marginal jobs.
C)are usually unionized.
D)area also not subject to tax withholding.
E)have better insurance benefits than unemployment compensation.

Question 42

Jack leaves his current job on Friday and will start his new job on Thursday.Between Friday and Thursday, which term best describes Jack's status?

A)underemployment
B)structural unemployment
C)cyclical unemployment
D)frictional unemployment
E)labor tightness

Question 43

Beta Corp.has a subcontract from Alpha Corp.whenever Alpha Corp.gets an especially large order.At other times Beta often lays off most of its workers.Beta Corp.could be described as

A)an underemployed firm.
B)an organizational orphan.
C)a client firm.
D)a core firm.
E)a marginal firm.

Question 44

Temps

A)are always part-time workers.
B)are always unskilled.
C)never receive fringe benefits.
D)are found in all industries.
E)always earn subminimum wage

Question 45

The unemployment rate does not decline if new jobs

A)are geographically relocated.
B)are in the peripheral labor market.
C)are part-time.
D)are unionized.
E)are high-tech.

Question 46

The person who knowingly hires an illegal alien may also break which other law?

A)traffic laws
B)housing codes
C)zoning regulations
D)criminal laws
E)payroll tax laws