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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

admin2013-10-17  31
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.
According to the passage, why do Denmark companies now seem keener on sunnier climes?
选项 A、Because the EC’s single market has knocked down barriers in intra-European trade.
B、Because there is no competitor in sunnier climes.
C、Because Germany companies have no potential.
D、Because the economic disintegration in these countries can not cause the wages to converge.
答案A
解析 本题是细节题。文中虽然没有直接提到丹麦公司会到一些南欧国家去投资，但是在第一段第一句中得知丹麦和德国在工资水平上都很高，所以他们二者都有可能去劳动力成本较低的国家投资。结合本题，第一段中讲，由于欧共体的单一市场打破了欧洲国家间的贸易障碍，德国公司热衷于在多光照地区投资也就不怪了。B与C选项文中均没有提到，所以与题意不符。D选项也不正确，虽然选项中讲到多元市场之间的经济分裂使得工资很难趋于平衡，看上去合理，但不是其直接原因。所以A选项是正确答案。
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