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  3. Today the average worker is paid less than $ 4 an hour in Portugal and $ 9 an hour in Spain, compared with $13 in Germany and al

Today the average worker is paid less than $ 4 an hour in Portugal and $ 9 an hour in Spain, compared with $13 in Germany and al

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问题     Today the average worker is paid less than $ 4 an hour in Portugal and $ 9 an hour in Spain, compared with $13 in Germany and almost $16 in Denmark. Taking accounts of non-wage costs, such as employer’s social-security contributions, the gap is wider still: from $ 6 in Portugal to $ 24 in Germany. With the EC’s single market knocking down barriers in intra-European trade, no wonder German companies now seem keener on sunnier climes. But how long will southern Europe’s cost advantage last?
    Conventional wisdom argues that greater economic integration within the single market, and later under a single currency, will cause wages to converge.  Increased labor mobility, for example, should allow worker to move from low-wage to high-wage economics. Increased trade and cross-border investment should also push labor costs closer.
    The experience of the past 20 years seems to confirm this: Spanish wages rose from 29% of German wages in 1970 to 68% in 1991. Italy’s rose from 42% to 74%. If convergence continued at this pace, the gap would vanish within the next 20 years. But a study concludes that the pace of convergence will slow, and that low-wage economics will stay that way for some time. Because of Europe’s linguistic and cultural barriers, labor migration and so pressures for wage convergence — will remain modest.
    The study estimates that two-thirds of the existing wage gap between EC countries will remain in 2010. But total labor cost may converge much faster. Non-wage costs will remain about the same. This could be wrong. Non-wage costs now range from 22% of total labor costs in Denmark to 102% in Italy. As more and more companies employ people across Europe, and as 11 of the EC’s 12 governments move to standardize worker’s right and benefits, such wide disparities are unlikely to survive.
Compared with wage cost, the non-wage cost differences in EC countries are much more likely to ______.
选项 A、increase dramatically
B、decline sharply
C、fluctuate intermittently
D、disappear gradually
答案D
解析 本题是细节题。本题内容在文中最后一段。因为许多的公司到欧洲其他国家雇用员工，而且有11个政府已经在劳动者的权利和利益上形成了统一标准，所以在欧洲国家非工资成本之间的差异将逐渐消失。increase dramatically意为“急剧增加”；decline sharply意为“迅速减少”；fluctuate intermittently意为“间歇性波动”。A、B、C选项都不符合文中的内容。所以D选项是正确答案。
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