A Workaholic Economy Reading Answers: IELTS Reading Practice Test

This passage examines the rise of overwork in the United States and challenges the assumption that modern economies naturally move toward greater leisure. It discusses the role of employers, wage structures, and part-time work policies in shaping how many hours Americans actually work. The passage comes from Cambridge IELTS 9, Academic Test 4, Passage 1.

You should spend about 20 minutes on Questions 1–13, which are based on the passage below.

The passage contains two question types. Questions 1–7 are True/False/Not Given, which test whether statements agree with, contradict, or are absent from the passage. Questions 8–13 are Sentence Completion, where you must find the exact word from the passage that fills each gap within the stated word limit.

Paragraph A 

In a decade of corporate downsizing and labor-saving technology, one thing strangely hasn't happened: American workers haven't gotten more free time. If anything, many people are working harder than ever. According to a 1992 report by the International Labour Organisation, Americans work more hours per year than workers in other industrialised countries, including Japan. This is a remarkable reversal of a trend that lasted for over a century. From 1850 to roughly 1970, the average number of hours worked by American workers declined substantially, and it seemed reasonable to expect that this decline would continue. Instead, working hours have increased for many Americans over the past two decades, and leisure time has shrunk.

Paragraph B 

How did this happen? The most common explanation that workers need the extra income to keep up with rising costs is too simple. The rising number of two-earner households suggests that many families are running harder just to stay in place, but some economists argue that the real problem is that Americans have developed a taste for luxury goods and services which can only be satisfied through longer work hours. Others point to the fact that the structure of the labour market itself encourages overwork, because the cost to companies of providing employee benefits (such as health insurance) is not proportional to hours worked. So companies find it cheaper to extract more hours from existing workers rather than hire additional part-timers who would need similar benefits packages. The desire for economic growth and prosperity also drives people to work harder.

Paragraph C 

But regardless of who is to blame, something is clearly wrong with the current situation. At the heart of the problem is a trend toward increasing inequality in the distribution of working hours. Those at the top of the income scale are putting in more and more hours, while those at the bottom are having trouble getting any work at all. Studies show that productivity rises as long as workers log less than 50 hours per week; beyond that, the returns diminish sharply. Companies that push their employees beyond this point may be getting less productivity for their money.

Paragraph D 

At the same time, workers have fewer options than they once did to substitute leisure for income. A fundamental shift in power from labor to management has occurred, and workers' ability to negotiate reduced hours has declined. Union membership, which once gave workers the leverage to demand better conditions, has fallen sharply. Downsizing, which reduces the total number of employees in an organisation, frequently results in the remaining employees working longer hours to pick up the slack. Workers who resist are reminded that there are many unemployed people ready to take their place. As a result, many full-time employees feel compelled to sacrifice leisure time for income to keep their jobs.

Paragraph E 

Part-time workers are another part of the problem. The proportion of part-time workers in the US workforce has grown, but many of these people are involuntary part-timers who would prefer to work full time. Meanwhile, voluntary part-timers people who choose to work fewer hours in exchange for more leisure time face a serious penalty. They are typically denied not only a reduced hourly wage but also fringe benefits such as health coverage, paid leave, and pension contributions. This makes true voluntary part-time work an unaffordable luxury for most workers.

Paragraph F 

None of this is inevitable. Other industrialised countries have managed to maintain shorter working weeks and more generous vacation allowances. Economists such as Juliet Schor argue that America could achieve the same, if the political will existed to change the structure of incentives facing both employers and employees. The chief obstacle, Schor suggests, is the power of employers who benefit from the current system and have little incentive to change it. If workers had more political power, they could push for legislation mandating shorter hours, higher overtime pay, and better access to part-time work with full benefits. Until such changes occur, American workers are likely to remain trapped in a workaholic economy.

Questions 1–7 — True/False/Not Given

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the reading passage? Write:

• TRUE — if the statement agrees with the information
• FALSE — if the statement contradicts the information
• NOT GIVEN — if there is no information on this in the passage

1. American workers now have less free time than they did twenty years ago.

2. The most important reason for the increase in working hours is that workers need more money to pay for basic necessities.

3. Some economists believe that a certain percentage of American workers genuinely enjoy working long hours.

4. Productivity can drop when employees work more than 50 hours a week.

5. Workers today have more power than they used to in negotiating shorter working hours.

6. The majority of part-time workers in the US are people who have freely chosen to work fewer hours.

7. According to Juliet Schor, changing the current situation would require political action.

Questions 8–13 — Sentence Completion

Complete each sentence with the correct ending A–I from the box below. Choose NO MORE THAN ONE WORD from the passage for each answer.

8. Over the course of the twentieth century, American workers expected to have more time for ……………

9. Some economists argue that Americans now work longer hours because of their desire for ……………

10. Research suggests that working more than 50 hours a week leads to reduced ……………

11. Workers who choose part-time hours in order to spend more time with their families lose ……………

12. One reason why voluntary part-time work is out of reach for most Americans is the loss of ……………

13. Juliet Schor believes access to …………… work with full benefits would help reduce overwork in America.