CHAPTER
Employment Basics
6
Choose a job you
love, and you will
never have to
work a day in your
life.
6-1
6-2
6-3
6-4
6-5
Look for Employment
Pay Periods and Hourly Rates
Commissions, Royalties, and Piecework Pay
Employee Benefits
Social Security and Medicare
Confucius, Ancient Chinese
Philosopher
fucius
What did Con statement?
mean by this
What do you think?
This quote tests personal
definitions of job and work.
Is a job still considered to
be work if it is something
that you love to do?
Enjoyment in the job you
perform can take the work
out of work!
TEACHING
RESOURCES
About 70% of the time you are awake during
your lifetime is spent at work
work. Knowing that this much of
your waking time is spent at a job makes it extremely important to
learn and understand as much as possible about the jobs you hold,
the salaries you make, the benefits your job offers, and the taxes you
pay. In this chapter, you will study employment basics so that you
can become an educated employee. You won’t have to wait years to
use the information you will learn here. You will be able to apply this
knowledge while you are searching, applying, accepting, and working at a job, whether it is in a part-time or full-time capacity. Many
people start working in their early to mid-twenties, and continue
working until they are in their 60s or 70s.
Instructor’s Resource CD
ExamView® CD, Ch. 6
eHomework, Ch. 6
www.cengage.com/
school/math/
financialalgebra
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd 288
09/03/11 9:17 PM
Really?
The American workforce is vast, diverse, and strong. As
of May 2008, there were approximately 155 million workers
in the United States. The occupations of some of these
workers are shown in the table, according to the Statistical
Abstract of the United States: 2009.
Occupation
Teachers
Number of
Employees
7.2 million
CHAPTER OVERVIEW
Students will explore the
world of work from the first
time they begin to look for
employment to years in the
future when they will be
concerned about retirement
benefits. The focus of this
chapter is to make them
aware of the many aspects
of the working world.
Hairdressers, hairstylists and cosmetologists
773,000
REALLY? REALLY!
Chefs and head cooks
351,000
Taxi drivers and chauffeurs
373,000
Firefighters
293,000
Roofers
234,000
Pharmacists
243,000
Musicians, singers and related workers
186,000
The United States workforce
is larger and more diverse
than students might imagine. In this feature, students
are given numerical data
that offer insight into the
who, what, where, and when
of our working population.
Gaming industry (gambling)
111,000
Tax preparers
105,000
Service station attendants
Inspectors, testers, sorters, samplers, weighers
87,000
751,000
7.7 million workers are called moonlighters. They hold more
than one job. Close to 300,000 of those moonlighters work
two full-time jobs.
•
28% of workers work more than 40 hours per week.
•
17 million workers leave for work between midnight and
5:59 a.m.
•
3.1 million workers travel over 90 minutes to work.
•
10.4 million workers are self-employed.
•
5.7 million workers work from home.
When the data for the 2010
U.S. Census is compiled and
released, it may be interesting to see how the workforce
has shifted. Ask students
to find this information on
the U.S. Census Bureau’s
website.
Really!
© CLAUDE BEAUBIEN, 2009/USED UNDER LICENSE
FROM
SHUTTERSTOCK.COM
©GUENTERMANAUS,
2009
•
Students can find more
amazing work facts in the
Statistical Abstract of the
United States on the Census Bureau’s website.
289
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd 289
09/03/11 9:17 PM
In today’s competitive job market, it’s important to realize that
finding a job is in itself a full time job.
Lee Marc, American Businessman and Developer of Online Resume Site
6-1 Look for Employment
Objectives
Key Terms
• Compute periodic
salary based on
annual contract
salary.
•
•
•
•
• Interpret
abbreviations in
classified ads.
• Express classified
ad prices as
piecewise functions.
The material presented in
the introduction may not
reflect how your employed
students got their parttime and/or summer
jobs. However, all of your
employed students should
remember filling out Form
W-4, although they may not
remember its name. You
may want to tell them how
you found out about your
current teaching job.
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd 290
•
•
benefits
discount
How do people in different stages
of their careers find employment?
EXAMINE THE
QUESTION
290
employment agency
fee paid
resume
Form W-4 Employee’s
Withholding Allowance
Certificate
Many students take on after-school and summer jobs. Sometimes these
are not related to their eventual career choice—they are jobs to meet
the growing expenses of being a teenager. Many students find out about
these jobs by signs in store windows, the school guidance department,
bulletin board postings, and word-of-mouth.
When choosing a career, you usually choose a field of interest. You then
need to develop skills in that area. Your career will be based on the training
you receive in college, trade school, or as an on-the-job as an apprentice.
All electricians, lawyers, teachers, plumbers, actors, dentists,
agcy
employment agency
and so on had to learn their
asst
assistant
trade and then practice it. How
bi/ling
you are bilingual
do you go about looking for
comp lit
you must be computer literate
employment? You can look in
the classified ad section of the
email res
email your resume
newspaper.
eves
evenings
You can also look online.
exp’d
experienced
There are many Internet sites
fee paid
employer pays employment
available to job seekers. These
agency fee
ads cover all types of employment, from summer jobs for
F/T
full-time
teenagers to careers in all
gd
good
fields. You will find it helpful
K
$1,000
to learn the special shorthand
P/T
part-time
that is used in help-wanted
pd vac
paid vacation
classified ads. There are many
abbreviations that are special
req
required
for individual fields. Some
to $m
maximum pay is $m per hour
commonly used abbreviations
w/
with
are shown in the table.
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:17 PM
ENSE
SED UNDER LIC
NHORN, 2009/U
© STEPHEN VA
M
.CO
CK
TO
RS
FROM SHUTTE
You can also look for work through an
employment agency. An employment agency
is a business that has lists of job openings. Some
employment agencies specialize in certain fields
of work. If you are placed in a job by an employment agency, you may have to pay a fee to the
agency. When the employer is willing to pay this
fee, the job is listed as fee paid.
When you decide to apply for a specific
job, you will have to send your resume to the
employer. A resume is a short account of
your education and qualifications for employment. Some employers want resumes submitted
electronically online. Project 3 in the Chapter 6
Reality Check will help you familiarize yourself
with resume writing. If the employer is impressed
with your resume, you will be invited to an interview and you
might be hired.
Once you are hired, you will need to fill out numerous forms, including a Form W-4 Employee’s Withholding Allowance Certificate.
This form is used by employers for income tax purposes. As you embark
on your job search, salary isn’t your only consideration. Among other
factors, you need to consider benefits—additional compensation from
your employer. Benefits can include health and dental insurance, child
care, retirement, and travel expenses.
CLASS DISCUSSION
Ask the students if any of
them are employed, or
were in the summer.
Encourage students to view
sample job resumes on the
Internet.
Skills and Strategies
Here you will learn about interpreting classified ads, computing salaries,
and employment agency fees.
EXAMPLE 1
Julianne found a job listed in the classified ads that pays a yearly salary
of $41K. What is the weekly salary based on this annual salary?
EXAMPLE 1
Explain that many jobs
have an annual salary
rather than an hourly wage.
Remind students that there
are 52 weeks in a year.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
SOLUTION
Julianne must interpret $41K. The K stands for $1,000.
Julianne multiplies to compute the annual salary.
Answer $5,608
41 × 1,000 = 41,000
The annual salary is $41,000.
To compute the weekly salary, divide the annual salary by 52. There
are 52 weeks in a year. Round to the nearest cent.
41,000 ÷ 52 ≈ 788.46
The weekly salary is $788.46.
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Karen found a job with an annual salary of $67.3K. What is her
monthly pay, rounded to the nearest dollar?
6-1
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd 291
Look for Employment
291
09/03/11 9:17 PM
EXAMPLE 2
EXAMPLE 2
Students might be surprised
at the employment agency
fees. Explain that the
employment agency does
much of the work it takes to
look for a job, and they also
have operating expenses.
These expenses are paid by
the fees they charge.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
Dylan took a job through an employment agency. The job pays $395
per week. Dylan must pay a fee to the employment agency. The fee is
20% of his first four weeks’ pay. How much money must Dylan pay
the agency?
SOLUTION Dylan multiplies his weekly pay by four to compute his
first four weeks’ pay.
395 × 4 = 1,580
He then finds 20% of $1,580.
1,580 × 0.20 = 316.00
0.15x
Answer ______
12
The employment agency fee that Dylan must pay is $316.00.
EXAMPLE 3
Students learned about
piecewise functions when
they learned about classified
ads for used cars. This is a
great refresher for that skill.
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
The Alpha Employment Agency is advertising a job in the
construction industry. The fee is 15% of the first month’s pay. If the
job pays x dollars annually, express the agency fee algebraically.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
EXAMPLE 3
Answer
when x ≤ 4
c(x) = 13x
68 + 7.50(x – 4) when x > 4
EXTEND YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
Ken is a mechanic who owns Ace Auto Repair. He needs a foreign car
expert and is placing a twelve-line classified ad. The cost of an ad
x lines long is given by the following piecewise function.
c(x) =
Answer
13x would become kx and 68
would become 4k.
56
when x ≤ 4
56 + 6(x − 4) when x > 4
Find the cost of a twelve-line ad.
Because 12 is in the domain x > 4, Ken can
sub
substitute 12 into the second equation of the piecewise
fu
function.
CK.COM
SOLUTION
SO
UTTERSTO
ENSE FROM SH
SED UNDER LIC
KTHAN, 2009/U
© SUDHEER SA
Use the second equation.
Us
292
c(x) = 56 + 6(x – 4)
Substitute.
S
c(12) = 56 + 6(12 – 4)
Calculate.
C
c(12) = 104
T
The total cost is $104.
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
A local newspaper charges $13 for each of the first
four lines of a classified ad, and $7.50 for each
additional line. Express the cost of an x-line ad,
c(x), as a piecewise function.
■ EXTEND YOUR UNDERSTANDING
If the local newspaper from the Check Your
Understanding above wanted the price of their
per line charge for the first four lines to be k,
what would change in the piecewise function?
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd 292
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:18 PM
EXAMPLE 4
An online job search site charges employers fees to post job listings. Their price list is shown in the table. The prices per posting decrease as the number of postings increase. What is the
percent savings if an employer decides to post four jobs?
Number of Job
Postings
SOLUTION
The price for posting one job is $395. If four jobs
are posted, the price per job is $350. The amount the fee was
lowered is the discount. There is a $45 discount per job. Set
up a fraction to find the percent of the discount.
Percent discount =
Original price − Discount price
______________________________
Original price
Price per Job
Posting
1
$395.00 each
2
$385.00 each
3
$375.00 each
4
$350.00 each
5–20
$320.00 each
21–50
$265.00 each
51–100
$200.00 each
101–150
$165.00 each
151–250
$135.00 each
Substitute, solve, and round to the nearest percent.
EXAMPLE 4
395 − 350
Percent discount = __________ ≈ 0.113 ≈ 11%
395
The employer saves 11% per posting.
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
JobFind charges employers x dollars to post a job on their website.
They offer a 16% discount if 20 or more jobs are posted. If 31 jobs are
posted by a specific employer, express the discount as a percent.
Students have seen percent discount problems
for years. In science class,
they have also calculated
percent error, and percent
increase and decrease.
Example 4 reviews these
skills.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
Answer percent discount =
x – 0.84x
_________
(100)
x
EXAMPLE 5
Jane’s Printing Services charges $29.95 to print 200 high quality copies of a one-page resume. Each additional set of 100 copies costs $14.
Express the cost, r(x), of printing x sets of 100 resumes, as a piecewise
function.
SOLUTION
The printing service charges for multiples of 100 only. If
you think in sets of 100 copies, 200 copies represent 2 sets. Split the
function into rules for the two different domains.
r(x) =
Notice the additional restriction on each domain. Notice that x must
be a positive integer. These prices are for bulk orders only.
Pete needs 77 copies of his resume. Jane’s charges 39 cents per
resume-quality copy. Should he pay individually for the 77 copies
or get 200 copies at the prices from Example 5? Explain.
The piecewise function
skills undergo an adjustment in this problem. The
domain requires that x be
an integer since the printing service sells copies in
integral batches of 100.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
29.95
when x is an integer and x ≤ 2
29.95 + 14(x − 2) when x is an integer and x > 2
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
EXAMPLE 5
Answer He should get
200 copies for $29.95, since
77 copies at $0.39 is $30.03.
He gets more copies for less
money by ordering 200.
EXTEND YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
Answer
0.39 > 0.15
■ EXTEND YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Write an inequality that compares the unit costs of a resume printed
using each option Pete has in the Check Your Understanding above.
6-1
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd 293
Look for Employment
293
09/03/11 9:18 PM
Applications
In today’s competitive job market, it’s important to realize that
finding a job is in itself a full time job.
Lee Marc, American Businessman and Developer of Online Resume Site
TEACH
1. Interpret the quote in the context of what you learned about job
seeking. See margin.
Exercises 1–7
These exercises require students to compute salaries
and employment agency
fees. Remind students not
to skim problems and to
read them carefully. They
could be asked for annual,
monthly, or weekly salaries,
and agency fees are all
slightly different from each
other.
ANSWERS
1. In today’s world, you
need to know how to find
job openings, and how
to get your resume into
the hands of prospective
employers once you find
them. With all of today’s
technology, your resume
often exists in a sea of
hundreds of resumes,
and making it stand out
is crucial.
8b.
21.50
r(x) =
when x is
a positive
integer and
x≤2
21.50 + 10(x – 2) when x is
an integer
and x > 2
2. Danny just answered a help-wanted ad. The ad states that the job
pays $27K annually. What would Danny’s monthly salary be if he
gets this job? $2,250
3. Becky is looking for a new job as an account executive. She responds
to a classified ad for a position that pays 34.5K. What would Becky’s
weekly salary be to the nearest cent, if she gets this job? $663.46
4. Enid got a job through an employment agency that charges a fee
equal to 40% of the first five weeks’ pay. The job pays $315 per week.
How much does Enid have to pay the employment agency? $630
5. Melanie got a new job through the Jones Employment Agency. The
job pays $32,400 per year, and the agency fee is equal to 45% of one
month’s pay. How much must Melanie pay the agency? $1,215
6. The Rockville Employment Agency just placed Howard Jacobson in
a job as a junior pharmacist. The job pays $51.2K. The agency fee is
equal to 40% of the first three weeks’ pay.
a. What is Howard’s weekly salary to the nearest cent? $984.62
b. What will Howard earn during the first three weeks? $2,953.86
c. How much must Howard pay the employment agency to the
nearest dollar? $1,182
7. Maple Place Garage is posting five job listings with the online service
from Example 4.
a. How much is each posting? $320
b. How much less does Maple Place pay per posting compared to
the price for one posting? $75
c. What is the cost of the five postings? $1,600
d. What is the total savings for the five postings? $375
e. Express the total savings as a percent of the total cost for the five
postings. Round to the nearest percent. 19%
8. Roger wants to have 400 copies of his resume printed. His local print
shop charges $21.50 for the first 200 copies and $10 for every
100 additional copies.
a. How much will the 400 copies cost, including a sales tax of 6%? $43.99
b. If the number of sets of 100 resumes is represented by x, express the
cost of the resumes, r(x), as a piecewise function of x. See margin.
9. Pat earns $575 per week at her new job. Express her annual salary
using the K abbreviation found in classified ads. $29.9K
294
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd 294
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:18 PM
10. Kareem earns y dollars per month at his accounting job. Express his
12y
annual salary using the K abbreviation found in classified ads. ______
K
1,000
11. Mike is a veterinarian. He is placing a 9-line classified ad for an
assistant. The following piecewise function gives the price of an
x-line ad.
45
when x ≤ 3
a(x) =
45 + 9(x − 3) when x > 3
a. Find the difference between the cost of a 2-line ad and the cost of
a 3-line ad. $0
b. Find the cost of a 10-line ad. $108
c. Find the cost of an 11-line ad. $117
d. Can you find the difference between the cost of a 15-line ad
and a 17-line ad, without finding out the cost of each ad first?
Explain. See margin.
12. Joanne is looking for a job as a teacher. She plans to send resumes to
123 schools in her county. Her local printer charges $23 per 100 copies, and sells them only in sets of 100.
a. How many copies must Joanne purchase if she is to have enough
resumes? 200
b. How much will the copies cost her, including 8% sales tax? $49.68
c. If the number of sets of 100 resumes is represented by x, express the
cost, with 8% sales tax, of the resumes, r(x), as a function of x.
r(x) = 1.08(23x)
13. Cathy is looking for a job as a bookkeeper. One classified ad lists a
job in a stereo store that pays 34.6K. Another job, in a clothing store,
has a weekly salary of $620.
a. Which job is the higher-paying job? stereo store job
b. What is the difference in the weekly salaries of these two jobs?
Round to the nearest dollar. $45
14. An online job seeking service allows job seekers to post their resumes
for free. The service charges employers looking for applicants a
fee to look through the resumes. The fee is based on how long the
employer wants access to the resumes, and how many miles from
the workplace address the employer wants to consider. The fees
are $585 for a 100-mile radius for 3 weeks and $675 for a 150-mile
radius for 3 weeks.
a. If there are 98 resumes within a 100-mile radius, what is the average cost to the nearest cent to the employer for looking at each
resume? $5.97
b. If there are 208 resumes within a 150-mile radius, what is the
average cost to the employer for looking at each resume? $3.25
c. Under the 150-mile radius option, an employer would see the
same 98 resumes from part a that he would have seen under the
100-mile radius option. What is the average cost to the employer
for looking at the extra resumes he would see if he opted for the
more expensive plan? Explain. See margin.
d. Give an advantage and a disadvantage of opting for the more
expensive plan. See margin.
6-1
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd 295
TEACH
Exercise 10
This exercise asks for a
literal expression. Whenever students have trouble
with these, remind them
to think of the variables as
numbers. They might have
an easier time understanding the letters after they
perform computations on
numbers.
Exercise 14
Point out that all applicants
that live within a 100-mile
radius also live within a
150-mile radius.
ANSWERS
11d. Yes; the additional
two lines will cost $18,
since each line over the
first three lines costs
$9.
14c. The employer sees
110 extra resumes
for $90. The average
cost per extra resume
is approximately
82 cents.
14d. An advantage is that
the price per extra
resume is much less
than the price of
looking at the original
100 resumes ($5.97
vs. 82 cents). The
disadvantage is that
the extra resumes are
from people far away,
who would most likely
have to relocate to
take the job. Some
may not be willing to,
so time spent on interviewing those people
might be wasted time.
Look for Employment
295
09/03/11 9:18 PM
Never confuse the size of your paycheck with the size of your
talent.
Marlon Brando, Actor
6-2 Pay Periods and Hourly
Rates
Objectives
Key Terms
• Compute weekly,
semimonthly, and
biweekly earnings
given annual salary.
•
•
•
•
•
• Compute hourly pay
and overtime pay
given hourly rate.
RSTO
FROM SHUTTE
DER LICENSE
, 2009/USED UN
© DAISY DAISY
CK.COM
Most paychecks today are
computer-generated. Even
so, encourage students
to check their paychecks
because computers can
make mistakes. They also
need to know about labor
laws in their industry. Even
part-time student jobs are
protected by labor laws.
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd 296
•
•
•
•
hourly rate
regular hours
overtime hours
overtime
hourly rate
•
•
•
•
time-and-a-half
overtime
double-time pay
gross pay
minimum wage
What do you need to know to make
sure each paycheck is correct?
EXAMINE THE
QUESTION
296
weekly
biweekly
semimonthly
monthly
direct deposit
Everybody looks forward to payday. Most high school students are paid
on a weekly basis, which means they receive 52 paychecks per year.
Their paydays usually fall on the same day each week. However, not all
jobs have a pay period of one week.
Some employees receive a paycheck every two weeks. They receive
26 paychecks per year. These people are paid biweekly. Their paydays
fall on the same day of the week. Businesses that distribute
pay
paychecks
biweekly save time, money, and paperwork, when
com
compared
with businesses that pay their employees weekly.
Some businesses pay their employees twice a month,
or semimonthly. There are 12 months in a year, so these
em
employees receive 24 paychecks per year. The paychecks are
di
distributed
on the same dates each month. For example, an
em
employer
may choose to pay employees on the 1st and 15th
of each month. Note that biweekly and semimonthly paym
ment
schedules are slightly different.
Although it is not common, some businesses pay their
e
monthly. These employees receive 12 payemployees
cchecks per year. They are usually paid on the same date of
e
each
month, for example, the 15th.
Most employers offer their employees direct deposit.
T
This means their paycheck amounts are automatically deposited electronically into their bank accounts on payday.
Most part-time jobs that students hold pay a set
amount for each hour they work, called the hourly
rate. Many people in full-time jobs also are paid at an
hourly rate.
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:18 PM
Certain jobs, whether full- or part-time, require the employee work a
specific number of hours per week. These are the employee’s regular
hours. Employees may work more hours than their regular hours. These
extra hours are called overtime hours. The overtime hourly rate is
usually greater than the hourly rate for the regular hours. Often the
1
overtime rate is 1__ times the regular hourly rate, called time-and-a2
half overtime. Sometimes the overtime rate is 2 times the hourly
rate, called double-time pay. Your total pay, which is the sum of your
hourly pay and your overtime pay, is your gross pay.
There are federal and state laws on the lowest hourly rate that
can be paid to an employee in the United States. This rate is the
minimum wage. Other laws involve the number of hours employees
can work, and conditions in the workplace. It is important to have a clear
understanding of your rights and responsibilities as an employee.
CLASS DISCUSSION
Highlight the difference
between semimonthly and
biweekly pay periods.
Discuss advantages of
direct deposit. Ask students
if any of their jobs offered
direct deposit.
Tell students about Department of Labor postings that
legally must be present in
the workplace. The postings
list labor laws specific to
each industry. These laws
have to do with pay rates,
hours, overtime, breaks,
and job safety.
Skills and Strategies
Here you will learn how to make computations involving different pay
periods and hourly rates. When you take a job, be sure to ask about
everything you need to know regarding your paycheck.
TEACH
After completing these
examples, students should
be able to start to check
their own gross pay.
EXAMPLE 1
EXAMPLE 1
Christina is paid biweekly. Her annual salary is $37,000. What is her
biweekly salary, rounded to the nearest cent?
It is common for students to
mix up biweekly and semimonthly pay periods. If they
know that there are 52 weeks
in a year and 12 months in
a year, they can figure out
the correct number of paychecks. Some may choose
to memorize the number of
annual paychecks.
SOLUTION There are 26 biweekly paychecks per year. Christina divides her
annual salary by the number of paychecks to compute her weekly salary.
37,000 ÷ 26 = 1,423.08
Christina earns $1,423.08 per biweekly pay period.
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Carlos earns x dollars biweekly. Express his annual salary algebraically.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
Answer 26x
EXAMPLE 2
EXAMPLE 2
Manny is paid semimonthly. His semimonthly salary is $1,239. What
is his annual salary?
SOLUTION Manny receives 24 paychecks per year. He multiplies the
monthly amount by the number of paychecks to calculate his annual
salary.
1,239 × 24 = 29,736
Remind students to use their
number sense as they get
used to possible salaries.
If they press an incorrect
number into the calculator,
or use an incorrect operation, they can get answers
that don’t make sense.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
Manny’s annual salary is $29,736.
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Answer
y
___
24
Alex is paid semimonthly. His annual salary is y dollars. Express his
semimonthly salary algebraically.
6-2
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:297
Pay Periods and Hourly Rates
297
09/03/11 9:19 PM
EXAMPLE 3
EXAMPLE 3
Point out that regular
hours are often 40 hours
per week, but it can differ
in certain industries. There
are also child labor laws
for students restricting the
number of hours they can
work. Students can look
these up on the Internet.
Maureen works at a local Chicken King restaurant. Her regular hourly
wage is $9.70. If she regularly works 40 hours per week, what is her
regular weekly pay?
SOLUTION
Multiply the hours worked by the hourly wage.
9.70 × 40 = 388
Maureen’s regular weekly pay is $388.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Roger regularly works h hours per week at a rate of d dollars per hour.
Express his annual salary algebraically.
Answer 52hd
EXAMPLE 4
Students will have many
chances to compute timeand-a-half rates for overtime work, so they should
get used to multiplying the
hourly rate by 1.5.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
1
Multiply her hourly rate by 1__, which is 1.5 as a decimal.
2
9.70 × 1.5 = 14.55
EXAMPLE 5
Maureen’s hourly overtime rate is $14.55.
A solid understanding
of Example 5 will insure
that students can handle
literal algebraic versions in
similar problems, as in the
Check Your Understanding
problem.
Answer 40x + 1.5xy
If Maureen from Example 3 works overtime, she receives an hourly
1
rate of 1__ times her regular hourly rate. What is Maureen’s hourly
2
overtime rate?
SOLUTION
Answer 1.5y
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
EXAMPLE 4
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
If Mary Ann earns y dollars per hour regularly, express her hourly
overtime rate algebraically if she is paid time-and-a-half.
EXAMPLE 5
Janice earns $10 per hour. If her regular hours are 40 hours per week,
and she receives time-and-a-half overtime, find her total pay for a
week in which she works 45 hours.
SOLUTION
Find her regular pay for the 40 regular hours.
40 × 10 = 400
Subtract to find the number of overtime hours.
45 – 40 = 5
Her overtime rate is 1.5 times the hourly rate.
10 × 1.5 = 15
Multiply the overtime hourly rate by the number
of overtime hours to find the overtime pay.
15 × 5 = 75
Add her regular pay to her overtime pay.
400 + 75 = 475
Janice earned $475 for her 45 hours of work.
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Ron regularly works 40 hours per week, at a rate of x dollars per hour.
Last week he worked y overtime hours at time-and-a-half. Express his
total weekly salary algebraically.
298
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:298
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:19 PM
EXAMPLE 6
EXAMPLE 6
Samantha worked her 40 regular hours last week, plus 7 overtime
hours at the time-and-a-half rate. Her gross pay was $611.05. What
was her hourly rate?
If students had trouble
with Example 5, do not do
Example 6 until their questions are cleared up.
SOLUTION Let x represent the hourly rate. Her regular pay is 40x. Her
overtime rate is 1.5x. Her overtime pay is 7(1.5x).
Regular pay + Overtime pay = Total pay
Answer $11
40x + 7(1.5x) = 611.05
Substitute.
Notice that the overtime
rate in this problem differs
from the Example because
it involves double-time.
40x + 10.5x = 611.05
Simplify.
Combine like terms.
50.5x = 611.05
EXAMPLE 7
x = 12.10
Divide each side by 50.5.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
This is an algebraic model
of what happened in Example 6. Refer to Example 6
as you work through this
example.
Samantha’s regular hourly rate is $12.10.
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Jillian worked her 40 regular hours last week, plus 2 overtime hours at
a double-time rate. Her gross pay was $484. What was her hourly rate?
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
Answer hr + 2rw
EXAMPLE 7
Last week, Saul worked r regular hours and t overtime hours at a timeand-a-half rate. He earned $700. If x represents his hourly rate, express
x in terms of r and h.
SOLUTION
Regular gross pay is rx. Total overtime pay is t (1.5x).
Regular pay + Overtime pay = Total pay
Substitute.
Remove the parentheses.
Factor out x.
rx + t (1.5x) = 700
EXTEND YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
Answer
p(z) =
40r
when z ≤ 40
3
when 40 ≤ z ≤ 56
40r + __r (z – 40)
2
3
40r + __r (16) + 2r (z – 56) when z > 56
2
rx + 1.5tx = 700
x (r + 1.5t) = 700
Divide each side by (r + 1.5t).
700
x = ________
r + 1.5t
700
Saul’s hourly rate can be represented by ________.
r + 1.5t
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Jonathan worked h hours at an hourly rate of r dollars. He also
worked w hours at an overtime rate of double time. Express his total
pay for the week algebraically.
■ EXTEND YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Jovanna gets paid a regular-pay rate of r dollars for 40 hours worked.
She is paid at a time-and-a-half rate for up to 16 overtime hours
worked and a double-time rate for any overtime hours worked greater
than 16 hours. Write a piecewise function, p(z), for Jovanna’s pay
when she works z hours.
6-2
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:299
Pay Periods and Hourly Rates
299
09/03/11 9:19 PM
Applications
Never confuse the size of your paycheck with the size of your
talent.
Marlon Brando, Actor
TEACH
1. Interpret the quote in the context of what you learned about jobs
and salaries. See margin.
Exercise 5
Students can look up celebrity salaries on the Internet
and make up their own
problems for sports stars,
television actors, and so on.
Exercise 11
2. Yoko is paid semimonthly. How many fewer paychecks does she
receive in a year compared to someone who is paid weekly? 28
3. Sean is paid biweekly. His annual salary is $42,500. What is his
biweekly salary to the nearest cent? $1,634.62
4. Cynthia’s semimonthly salary is $1,371.50. What is her annual
salary? $32,916
This exercise treats the
pay rate and pay period
idea algebraically. Always
remind students to recall
what they did on the
numerical problems while
solving these.
5. Baseball player Alex Rodriguez earned $27,708,525 in 2007. He
played in 158 games. What was his salary per game to the nearest
thousand dollars? $175,000
6. Ceil gets paid biweekly. Her biweekly salary is $1,763.28. What is her
annual salary? $45,845.28
ANSWERS
1. There are many talented
people doing excellent
work who are underpaid,
and there are also many
people being overpaid for
mediocre or poor work.
Brando, being an actor,
may have been making a
statement about overpaid
mediocre actors, but it
extends to the general
workforce.
x
11. a. ___
24
x+y
b. _____
24
y
c. ___
12
7. John’s weekly salary is $478.25. His employer is changing the pay
period to semimonthly.
a. What is John’s annual salary? $24,869
b. What will John’s semimonthly salary be to the nearest cent? $1,036.21
8. Ralph earns $72,000 annually as an architect and is paid semimonthly. Alice also earns $72,000 but she is paid biweekly.
a. How many more checks does Alice receive in a year when compared to Ralph? 2
b. What is the difference between Ralph’s semimonthly salary and
Alice’s biweekly salary? Round to the nearest cent. $230.77
9. Last year Beth’s annual salary was $38,350. This year she received a
promotion and now earns $46,462 annually. She is paid biweekly.
a. What was her biweekly salary last year? $1,475
b. What is Beth’s biweekly salary this year? $1,787
c. On a biweekly basis, how much more does Beth earn as a result
of her promotion? $312
10. Justin is a golf pro. He works eight months per year, and is paid
$76,000. During the winter months, he teaches golf privately and
earns another $12,500. What is his average monthly salary based on
his yearly earnings? $7,375
11. Last year Nancy’s annual salary was x dollars. This year she received
a raise of y dollars per year. She is paid semimonthly. See margin.
a. Express her semimonthly salary last year algebraically.
b. Express her semimonthly salary this year algebraically.
c. On a monthly basis, how much more does Nancy earn as a result
of her raise?
300
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:300
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:19 PM
12. Hector works in a gas station and earns $8.60 per hour. Last week he
worked 29 hours. What was his gross pay? $249.40
13. Eddie works at Beep-N-Kleen car wash. He earns $8.40 per hour.
Last week he worked x hours at this rate. Express his gross pay
algebraically. $8.40x
14. Lynn regularly works a 40-hour week and earns $9 per hour. She
receives time-and-a-half pay for each hour of overtime she works.
Last week she worked 43 hours.
a. What was her regular gross pay? $360.00
b. What was her hourly overtime rate? $13.50
c. What was her overtime pay? $40.50
d. What was her total pay for the week? $400.50
15. Amy regularly works 20 hours per week at Pook’s Dry Cleaners from
Monday through Friday. She earns $8.10 per hour and receives
double-time pay for working Sundays. Next week she will work her
regular 20 weekday hours, and an additional eight hours on Sunday.
What will her total pay be for the week? $291.60
16. Tom earns $12.50 per hour at the Yankee Bowling Alley. He regularly
works 40 hours per week. He is paid time-and-a-half for each hour of
overtime work. Last week he worked 42 hours. What was his gross
pay for the week? $537.50
17. Pedro works 35 regular hours per week at the Meadow Deli. His
hours over 35 are considered overtime. He earns $9.20 per hour and
receives time-and-a-half pay for each hour of overtime he works. Last
week he worked 41 hours and received a gross pay of $305.80. This
amount is incorrect. How much does Pedro’s boss owe him? $99.00
18. Colby and Cheryl work in different local supermarkets. Colby regularly earns $8.90 per hour, and he is paid time-and-a-half for each
hour of overtime he works. Cheryl regularly earns $7.10 per hour,
and she is paid double time for an hour of overtime. Who earns
more for one hour of overtime? How much more? Cheryl; $0.85 more
19. Ron earns x dollars per hour. He regularly works 40 hours per week.
Express his annual salary algebraically. 52(40x)
20. Michael earns $10 per hour and works 40 hours per week. How
many overtime hours would he have to work in a week for his
time-and-a-half overtime pay to be greater than his regular gross pay? 27
21. Jim worked 40 regular hours last week, plus 8 overtime hours at the
time-and-a-half rate. His gross pay was $1,248.
a. What was his hourly rate? $24
b. What was his hourly overtime rate? $36
22. Julianne works as a waitress. She earns $5.90 per hour plus tips.
a. Today she worked x hours. Express her pay for these hours
algebraically. 5.90x
b. She served nine tables. The total bill for these nine tables was
y dollars. Julianne received 18% in tips from these bills. Express
the amount she received in tips algebraically. 0.18y
c. Express Julianne’s total earnings for the day algebraically. 5.90x + 0.18y
6-2
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:301
Pay Periods and Hourly Rates
301
09/03/11 9:19 PM
TEACH
23. Mike works at Cheesecake King. He earns $11 per hour as a busboy.
The waiters he helps give him 25% of their tips.
a. If Mike worked 6 hours today, how much did he earn, without tips? $66
b. The waiters Mike assisted waited on 16 tables, and the total bill from
all these tables was $1,188. The waiters earned 15% in tips, and gave
25% of these earning to Mike. How much did Mike make in tips? $44.55
c. What was Mike’s total salary for the day? $110.55
d. What were Mike’s average earnings per hour, including tips?
Round to the nearest cent. $18.43
Exercise 23
Waiting on tables is a job
where there is a monetary
incentive to do good work.
The next lesson deals exclusively with these types of
jobs.
Exercise 27
Have students do this exercise on a grid or calendar,
and let them see the answer
unfold over a few minutes.
This goes quickly with a
calculator, but the gradual
increases in daily salary
amaze them and show
the power of exponential
functions.
24. Max works x hours per week and has a 3-week vacation each year.
Mindy works y hours per week and has a four-week vacation each
year. Express their combined number of work hours per year. 49x + 48y
25. Gary earns $42,990 per year. He is paid weekly. He currently has
a $456-per-month car loan payment, and he pays $1,277 per year
for auto insurance. Is one week’s paycheck enough to pay for his
monthly auto loan and his monthly cost of insurance? Explain.
See margin.
26. The following spreadsheet can be used to compute total weekly pay,
given the hours, hourly rate, and overtime rate. See margin.
Exercise 28
Explain that a lottery player,
who buys a weekly
ticket for 20 years
A
and does not ever
win, is not more
likely to win next
Hours
week than a first1 Worked
time ticket buyer.
ANSWERS
B
C
D
Regular
Hours
Hourly
Rate
Regular
Gross
Pay
2
42
40
10.50
3
44
40
9.00
45
40
14.00
25. Yes; Gary’s
4
weekly pay is
$826.73, which exceeds
the $562.42 total cost
of his monthly car and
insurance payments.
26. a. =B2*C2
b. =A2–B2
c. =1.5*C2
d. =E2*F2
e. =D2+G2
27e.
Salary
Date
28. The purchase of a $2
ticket each week for
20 years cost $2,080
and her winnings were
$2,000. This was not a
worthwhile investment.
E
F
G
H
Overtime
Hours
Time-and-aHalf Overtime
Rate
Total
Overtime
Pay
Total
Gross
Pay
a. Write the formula to compute the regular gross pay in cell D2.
b. Write the formula to compute the overtime hours in cell E2.
c. Write the formula to compute the time-and-a-half overtime
hourly rate in cell F2.
d. Write the formula to find the total overtime pay in cell G2.
e. Write the formula to compute the total weekly pay in cell H2.
f. Use your spreadsheet to fill in the missing entries.
27. Marty is working with a math problem that defies intuition. He is going
to pay his gardener for the entire month of July. He will pay the gardener
every day. On the first day, he will pay the gardener $0.01. On the second day, he will pay double the first day, $0.02. On the third day, he will
double the second day’s pay and pay $0.04. See additional answers for a–c.
a. Make a grid that looks like a calendar with 7 columns and 5 rows.
b. Fill in the dates from July 1–July 31.
c. Enter the amount Marty pays his gardener on each day.
d. On what day will the gardener’s pay exceed $1,000,000 for the
first time? July 28
e. If x represents the day and y represents the salary for that day,
draw a scatterplot for the first two weeks of July. See margin.
28. Melissa has bought a $2 lottery ticket every week for the past 20 years.
This week she won for the first time—$2,000 in her state lottery.
Compare these winnings to her total investment, and explain if the
lottery was a worthwhile endeavor for her. See margin.
302
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:302
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:19 PM
He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be
suspected of doing everything for money.
Benjamin Franklin, American Statesman
Commissions, Royalties, 6-3
and Piecework Pay
Key Terms
•
•
commission
royalty
Objectives
•
•
pieceworker
piecework rate
• Compute pay
based on percent
commission.
• Compute
piecework pay.
What jobs base their pay according
to the amount produced?
Some employees are not paid by the number of hours they work. Their
pay is based on the amount of sales they make. Stockbrokers, travel
agents, authors, musicians, and salespersons may all be paid based upon
money from sales. These people are paid a commission, or a royalty.
The commission or royalty rate is usually expressed as a percent. People
who get paid commissions or royalties earn more money as more sales
are made. Even if they work many hours, they can earn very little money
if they make very few sales. Some employees get a commission in addition to a regular salary. Can you think of any advantages or disadvantages of getting paid only by commission?
A real estate salesperson receives a commission on the sale of each
home. Money is not made until there is a sale. When an author writes
a book, the author’s job is basically done. Royalties depend on sales,
but the author does not have to do any more writing to make more
money. However, an author can do promotional events and book signings to increase awareness of the book, which may increase sales of the
book.
Compare commission workers to people who are paid according to
the amount of items they produce. They are paid by production, rather
than the length of time that it takes them to do the job. These employees are called pieceworkers. Pieceworkers are paid a certain amount
of money, called a piecework rate, for each item they complete.
Although piecework is not as common as in years past, there are still
jobs in farming, manufacturing, and journalism where this method of
payment is used.
Piecework pay is sometimes used in combination with an hourly
wage. The employee gets paid by the hour and receives a certain amount
of money for each piece of work completed. The greater the number of
pieces of work completed, the more money the employee makes. What
are the benefits to both the employer and the worker?
6-3
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:303
• Understand
advantages and
disadvantages
of pay based on
production.
EXAMINE THE
QUESTION
Workers paid based on
what they sell or produce
are often driven to work
hard. Since they are not
paid by the hour, they must
get enough work done to
earn their desired salary.
CLASS DISCUSSION
Ask students what they
perceive are the advantages and disadvantages of
commissions, royalties, and
other forms of payments
that are based on sales
and/or production.
Commissions, Royalties, and Piecework Pay
303
09/03/11 9:19 PM
EXAMPLE 1
This example uses percents and piecework rates.
Students compute earnings
based on different payment
structures.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
Skills and Strategies
In these examples you will examine how certain occupations pay their
workers based on sales and production, not just on hours worked.
EXAMPLE 1
Answer 0.08xy + 2,500
EXAMPLE 2
Explain to students that this
payment structure can be
expressed as a piecewise
function, such as:
p(x) =
0.11x
when 0 ≤ x ≤ 900
99 + 0.17(x – 900) when x > 900
Adrianna wrote a textbook for high school students. She receives a
10% royalty based on the total sales of the book. The book sells for
$47.95, and 17,000 copies were sold last year. How much did Adrianna
receive in royalty payments for last year?
SOLUTION Determine the total amount of sales from the 17,000 books.
17,000 × 47.95 = 815,150
The total amount of sales is $815,150.
Multiply the total sales by the commission rate expressed as a decimal.
815,150 × 0.10 = 81,515
Adrianna received $81,515 in royalty payments for last year.
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Xander writes math textbooks that sell for x dollars each. He received a
bonus of $2,500 for signing a contract, and he receives 8% commission
on each book sale. Express the total amount of income Xander earns
from selling y books algebraically.
EXAMPLE 2
Allison sells cosmetics part-time from door-to-door. She is paid a
monthly commission. She receives 11% of her first $900 in sales and
17% of the balance of her sales. Last month she sold $1,250 worth of
cosmetics. How much commission did she earn last month?
SOLUTION Find the commission on the first $900 of sales by multiplying 900 by the commission rate expressed as a decimal.
900 × 0.11 = 99.00
The commission based on the first $900 is $99.
Determine the amount over $900 by subtracting 900 from total sales.
1,250 – 900 = 350
The balance over $900 is $350.
Multiply 350 by the 17% commission rate expressed as a decimal.
350 × 0.17 = 59.50
The commission on the balance of sales over $900 is $59.50.
Find the sum of the commission on the first $900 and the commission
on the $350 balance.
99.00 + 59.50 = 158.50
The total commission for last month was $158.50.
304
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:304
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:19 PM
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Arthur sells electronics on commission. He receives 7% of his first
x dollars in sales and 10% of the balance of his sales. Last week he
sold y dollars worth of electronics. Express the commission he earned
last month algebraically.
Answer
0.07x + 0.10(y – x)
f (x) =
when y > x
0.07x when x ≥ y
EXAMPLE 3
EXAMPLE 3
Kate works in a dress factory that makes dresses for designer boutiques.
She is paid a piecework rate of $85 per unit (piece) produced. Yesterday
she made 3 dresses. How much did she earn?
SOLUTION Multiply the number of pieces, 3, by the piecework rate,
which is $85.
3 × 85 = 255
Of all the different payment
schemes, piecework is the
least familiar to students.
Have them research it on
the Internet to become
more familiar with jobs that
are paid this way.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
Answer ps
Kate earned $255 yesterday.
EXAMPLE 4
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Martin writes magazine articles. He is paid a rate of p dollars for
each article he writes. Last year he wrote s articles. Express his total
piecework earnings algebraically.
Point out that efficiency
translates into earnings
under a piecework pay
system.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
EXAMPLE 4
Answer
x
____
0.11
Tony picks strawberries and gets paid at a piecework rate of 45 cents
per container for the first 200 containers picked. He receives 65 cents
per container for every container over 200 that he picks. Last week,
Tony picked 270 containers. How much did he earn?
SOLUTION Compute the piecework pay for 200 containers at a rate of
45 cents per container. Then compute the pay for the containers over
200. Add these amounts to find his total pay.
Multiply 200 by piecework pay.
200 × 0.45 = 90
Subtract to find the amount picked
over the initial 200 containers.
270 – 200 = 70
Multiply 70 by additional container pay.
70 × 0.65 = 45.50
Total pay is the sum of the two amounts.
90.00 + 45.50 = 135.50
Tony earned $135.50 in piecework pay last week.
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Brianna picks tomatoes on a local farm. She receives 11 cents per
crate. Last week, her total piecework earnings was x dollars. Express
the number of crates she picked algebraically.
6-3
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:305
Commissions, Royalties, and Piecework Pay
305
09/03/11 9:19 PM
EXAMPLE 5
Workers who sell high
priced items such as cars
and homes do not usually
do a large volume of sales.
They work hard, many
hours, weeks, or even
months, for a few sales
which have a large payoff.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
Glassman Chevrolet pays commission to its car salespeople. They are
paid a percent of the profit the dealership makes on the car, not on the
selling price of the car. If the profit is under $750, the commission rate
is 20%. If the profit is at least $750 and less than or equal to $1,000,
the commission rate is 22% of the profit. If the profit is above $1,000,
the rate is 25% of the profit. If x represents the profit, express the commission c(x) as a piecewise function.
SOLUTION
There is a different rule for each of the different domains.
The 20% commission rate is for profits less than $750.
The 22% commission rate is for profits from $750 to $1,000, inclusive.
The 25% commission rate is for profits greater than $1,000.
Answer $15.20
EXAMPLE 6
Advise students to check
their work by taking their
answer and computing the
earnings on it to see if their
answer is correct. This is
better as a check than simply reviewing the algebraic
steps they took.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
EXAMPLE 5
Translate the words into
algebraic symbols.
0.20x when 0 ≤ x < 750
c(x) = 0.22x when 750 ≤ x ≤ 1,000
0.25x when x > 1,000
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Find the difference between the commission paid if a Glassman
Chevrolet salesman, from Example 5, sells a car for a $750 profit
compared to selling a car for a $749 profit.
Answer $2,300
EXAMPLE 6
Joyce works at Fortunato’s Furniture. She is paid on commission. She
receives 10% of her first $900 in sales and 15% of the balance of her
sales. Last week she earned $750. What was the total value of the furniture she sold?
SOLUTION
Let x represent the total value of the furniture.
Commission for the first $900.
0.10(900)
Balance of sales after the first $900.
x – 900
Commission for the balance.
0.15(x – 900)
Add the two commissions.
0.10(900) + 0.15(x – 900) = 750
Simplify.
90 + 0.15x – 135 = 750
Combine like terms.
Add 45 to each side.
Divide each side by 0.15.
0.15x – 45 = 750
0.15x = 795
x = 5,300
Joyce sold $5,300 worth of furniture last week.
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Lauren is a salesperson at Koslow’s Tires. She is paid a monthly
commission. She receives 6% of her first $1,000 in sales and 11% of
the balance of her sales. Today she earned $203. What was the total
value of the tires she sold?
306
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:306
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:19 PM
Applications
He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be
suspected of doing everything for money.
Benjamin Franklin, American Statesman
1. Interpret the quote in the context of your experiences with money.
See margin.
2. Rock musician Donny West is paid 15% on his CD sales and tour video
sales. Last year, he sold one million CDs and 550,000 videos. The CDs
were sold to music stores for $5 each and the videos for $6 each.
a. What was the total amount of CD sales? $5,000,000
b. What was the total amount of video sales? $3,300,000
c. What was the combined total of CD and video sales? $8,300,000
d. How much did Donny West receive in royalties last year? $1,245,000
3. Joan sells new cars at a local dealership. She receives a 25% commission on the profit each car is sold for. Last month she sold
9 cars, for a total of $8,870 dealer profit. How much did she earn
in commission? $2,217.50
4. Liz works at Heedle’s Computer Outlet. She receives a weekly salary of
$200 plus 3% commission on her sales. Last week, she sold $29,700
of computer equipment. How much did Liz earn last week? $1,091
TEACH
Students should always use
number sense to make sure
their answers are reasonable. Most of the exercises
in this lesson are numerical
for that reason; students
need to develop this financial number sense.
ANSWERS
1. To many people, money
is a top priority. Many
people feel that money
buys happiness, and, as
a result, they go to great
lengths to acquire it.
5. Oscar sells Internet access subscriptions by telephone. He receives
12% of the first $1,000 and 15% on the balance over $1,000. Last
month he sold $7,500 worth of Internet access subscriptions. What
was his commission for last month? $1,095
6. Professional baseball player Rusty Raspberry earns $1,715,000 a year
playing baseball. Last year, a biography that he had written sold
300,000 copies at a price of $24 each. Raspberry received 10% in
royalties on the book sales. What was his total salary last year from
the book and his baseball career? $2,435,000
7. Maram is a real estate agent. She earns 6.5% commission on each
sale she makes. Last month she sold one house for $250,000 and
another for $310,000. What did Maram earn in commissions for the
month? $36,400
8. Glen has a job selling magazine subscriptions by phone. He makes a
base salary of $9.60 per hour plus a 5% commission on all sales. Last
week, Glen worked 35 hours and sold $230 worth of subscriptions.
What was his gross pay for the week? $347.50
9. Hillside Travel pays its employees $10 per hour plus 8% commission
on all trips booked. Tyrus worked 20 hours last week and booked
trips amounting to $2,100. What was his gross pay for last week? $368
10. Silvan picks berries at Seymour’s Berry Farm. He receives 28 cents
for each small basket picked. Last weekend, he was able to pick
731 baskets. How much did he earn? $204.68
6-3
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:307
Commissions, Royalties, and Piecework Pay
307
09/03/11 9:19 PM
TEACH
Exercise 20
Students should review
the definitions of mean,
median, and mode before
they begin this exercise.
Remind students that the
mean and median can be
values that are not actual
elements in the set, but the
mode must be a number
that is in the set of data.
11. Alanna is a stockbroker. She receives a commission based on the
value of the trades she makes.
a. If Alanna earns $50 for sales of $1,000, what is her percent of
commission? 5%
b. If she earns x dollars for sales of y dollars, express her percent of
x
(100)
commission algebraically. __
y
12. Barb works in a local factory. She receives 92 cents for each of
the first 100 units she produces and $1.01 for each unit over 100.
Yesterday, she produced 120 units. How much did Barb earn? $112.20
13. Bill works for the Stuff-It Mailing Service. He receives 25 cents for
each document he puts together and prepares for mailing. Last week,
Bill prepared 2,000 documents for mailing for a local department
store. He received a check with gross pay of $474 and is certain that
the amount is incorrect.
a. What is Bill’s correct total piecework pay? $500
b. How much does his boss owe him? $26
14. Audrey works in a factory. She receives a salary of $8 per hour and
piecework pay of 12 cents per unit produced. Last week she worked
38 hours and produced 755 units.
a. What was her piecework pay? $90.60
b. What was her total hourly pay for the week? $304
c. What was her total pay for the week? $394.60
d. What would her total weekly salary have been if she produced
0 units? $304
15. Anton picks corn at a local farm. He is paid 80 cents per bushel for
the first 50 bushels, 90 cents per bushel for the next 50 bushels, and
$0.95 per bushel for all bushels picked over 100. Express algebraically the amount Anton earns if he picks x bushels, where x > 100.
85 + 0.95(x – 100)
16. Danielle works in an exclusive dress factory. She is paid $156 for
each dress she sews. Last month she sewed 30 dresses. What was her
total pay for the month? $4,680
17. Jason types papers for local college students. He charges $6.50 per
page. How much will he receive for a 22-page paper? $143
18. Neil sells subscriptions by phone. He makes $2.10 for each subscription sold. At the holiday time last year, he sold n subscriptions.
Express his earnings algebraically. 2.10n
19. Last week Eric received a total piecework paycheck of $252.48.
He receives 12 cents per unit produced. How many units did he
produce? 2,104
20. Arielle receives a piecework rate of 10 cents per unit from the
Wiggy Factory. Her production record for last week was affected
by a machinery breakdown on Tuesday. Her production results
were: Monday, 375 units; Tuesday, 22 units; Wednesday, 410 units;
Thursday, 390 units; and Friday, 390 units.
a. What is the mean number of units produced per day? 317.4
b. What is the median number of units produced? 390
c. What is the mode number of units produced? 390
308
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:308
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:19 PM
21. Janice is a travel agent. She receives a 7% commission based on the
value of the trips she books. Today she spent five hours arranging a
$3,300 cruise for a newlywed couple.
a. How much commission did she earn? $231
b. What was her mean hourly pay for the work she did? $46.20
TEACH
22. Linda is a salesperson for Spooner’s Cleaning Service, which cleans
office buildings. She receives a 14% commission for every office that
signs a contract for the cleaning services. Last week she received
$1,233.60 in commissions. What was the total value of the cleaning
contracts she sold, rounded to the nearest dollar? $8,811
Exercise 24
23. Appel’s Music Store pays its sales staff a commission of 9.5% of the
first $1,000 in sales and 15.5% of the balance of sales. Alex, the
store’s drum expert, received $1,234.25 in commission last week.
What were his total sales for the week? $8,350
Exercise 21
Explain that travel agents
get paid based on the value
of the trips they book.
Students need to examine the domains carefully
before picking the function
rule to use.
ANSWERS
25a.
c(x) =
0.17x when 0 ≤ x ≤ 500
0.20x when 500 < x ≤ 1,100
0.22x when x > 1,100
24. Salespersons at the Kings Park Auto Giant are paid a commission,
c(p), based on the profit, p. The following piecewise function gives
the commission rules.
0.20 p when 0 ≤ p < 900
c( p) = 0.23 p when 900 ≤ p < 1,500
0.25 p when p ≥ 1,500
a.
b.
c.
d.
If the profit is $1,500, what is the percent commission rate? 25%
If the profit is $900, what is the percent commission rate? 23%
What is the commission on a car sold for a $970 profit? $223.10
Kings Park Auto Giant purchases a car for $32,090 and sells it for
$33,200. What commission is paid to the salesperson? $255.30
25. McCormack Chrysler pays their sales staff by commission. They are
paid a percent of the profit the dealership makes on the car. If the
profit is $500 or less, the commission rate is 17%. If the profit is
greater than $500 and less than or equal to $1,100, the commission
rate is 20%. If the profit is above $1,100, the rate is 22%.
a. If x represents the profit, express the commission c(x) as a piecewise function. See margin.
b. If the dealer purchases the car for $21,696 and Kristin, a salesperson, sells it for $22,800, how much commission does Kristin earn
for the sale? $242.88
c. Kristin is thinking of leaving McCormack Chrysler and working
at Glassman Chevrolet, from Example 5. How much more commission would she have made for the same sale at Glassman? $33.12
26. A car dealer pays d dollars for a car, which is sold for c dollars. The
commission paid to the salesperson is 24% of the profit. Express the
commission algebraically. 0.24(c – d)
27. Aileen is a salesperson at Lopez Sporting Goods. She is paid a
monthly commission on all Little League uniforms she sells. She
receives 10% of her first $2,000 in sales and 12% of the balance of
her sales. Last week she earned $231.20. What was the total value of
the uniforms she sold? $2,260
6-3
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:309
Commissions, Royalties, and Piecework Pay
309
09/03/11 9:19 PM
To find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth.
Pearl S. Buck, American Novelist
6-4 Employee Benefits
Objectives
Key Terms
• Understand and
calculate the
value of certain
employee benefits.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
EXAMINE THE
QUESTION
In order to have a discussion about the question
posed here, it is necessary
to first define job benefits.
Ask students for their definition of the benefits of a
job. Their responses could
include a variety of benefits
such as monetary, social,
and emotional. Lay the
groundwork for a discussion of employee benefits
that are part of the salaried
package that many workers
receive.
CLASS DISCUSSION
The benefits listed may
already be familiar to some
students. Before describing any of the benefits, ask
students what they know
and how they learned about
these benefits.
Be sure to emphasize that a
criteria for unemployment
insurance is that the laid off
worker is actively looking
for a job during the compensated period.
310
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:310
employee benefits
insurance
paid vacation time
paid holiday time
retirement plans
stock ownership plans
childcare leave
•
•
•
•
•
•
family health care
individual health care
pension
unemployment
insurance
base period
worker’s compensation
What are the benefits of a job?
The first time you get a full-time job, someone will probably ask you, “Does
it come with benefits?” You might think this is a foolish question because
the best benefit you know of is that the job is salaried. This is a monetary
benefit. You might respond that you will find satisfaction in working in a
career you trained for. This is an emotional benefit. But the questioner is
probably asking you about employee benefits. Employee benefits are
value-added options that an employer may choose to offer employees.
Typically, benefits are in the forms of insurance (health, life, and disability), paid vacation time, paid holiday time, retirement plans,
stock ownership plans, childcare leave, and more. Family health
care covers all members of the immediate family for health care bills to
the extent outlined in the health care coverage plan. Individual health
care covers only the employee. A pension is compensation that an
employee receives from an employer after retirement.
While the above benefits are not required, there are some benefits
that are required. Unemployment insurance is a government program that offers benefits to eligible employees who, through no fault
of their own, have become unemployed. These workers must meet certain eligibility requirements. The program is meant to offer temporary
assistance to people who are out of a job, but looking for replacement
employment. For example, suppose that you work for a telephone company. Over the last few years, land lines have increasingly been replaced
by cellular phones. As a result, your employer found that she must
reduce the workforce in order to stay in business. She informed you that
you would no longer have a job in the company. Here, your impending
loss of a job was not your fault. If you also meet other requirements as
outlined by state law, you could be eligible for unemployment compensation. The amount you receive is based on a percentage of what you
earned at your job over a qualifying period of employment. There is a
state maximum for this benefit. The benefits are sometimes extended by
federal and state agencies beyond the initial compensation period. The
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:19 PM
actual formula used to compute the weekly compensation varies from
state to state, but most states make the determination on salaries that the
employee earned during a fixed period of time known as a base period.
Another benefit that is required by the government is worker’s
compensation. The extent of compensation from this program is governed by state laws. But, the purpose of the program is to offer assistance
to employees who are injured while working at their job.
The question that you may be asked about whether or not you
have benefits when you get your job is the question you should be asking before you accept your job. Employee benefits add to the value of
employment beyond the salary for that job.
CLASS DISCUSSION
Discuss why worker’s
compensation is a valuable
benefit for all injured workers who qualify.
TEACH
The Skills and Strategies
examples will expose
students to a variety of
employee benefits. Be sure
to stress that the benefit
plans that are addressed in
Skills and Strategies
Here you will learn about a variety of employee benefits and the mathematics that is needed to get the most out of them.
the examples are just sample packages. The details
of benefit plans vary from
employer to employer.
EXAMPLE 1
EXAMPLE 1
Alan works for a printing company. It has been a little over four years
The problem solving skill of
since he was hired. He now makes $54,080 per year. When he was hired,
making a table is useful in
he was told that he had five days of paid vacation time. For each year
finding the solution to this
exercise. Once the table has
that he worked at the company, he would gain another two days of paid
been created, ask students
vacation time to a maximum of 20 days. How many paid vacation days
if they see the pattern in the
does he now get at the end of four years of employment and how much
will he make during the time he is on vacation?
Number of
Number of Paid
SOLUTION Examine the table. Alan has comYears
Worked
Vacation Days
pleted four full years of work for his company. He
0
5
is in his fifth year of employment and is entitled
to 13 paid vacation days. Because he is making
1
5+2=7
$54,080 per year, you can determine his weekly
2
5+2+2=9
salary by dividing this amount by 52 weeks.
3
5 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 11
54,080 ÷ 52 = 1,040
4
5 + 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 13
Alan makes $1,040 per week. A typical workweek
relationship between the
consists of five business days. Therefore, Alan has
number of years worked
two work weeks plus three days of paid vacation coming to him this
and the number of paid
year. The remaining three vacation days can be expressed as a fracvacation days. This will lead
3
into the algebraic modeltional part of a work week. The fraction __ can be written as 0.6. Alan
5
ing that is asked for in the
gets 2.6 work weeks of paid vacation time.
Check Your Understanding
Weekly salary × 2.6
that follows Example 1.
1,040 × 2.6 = 2,704
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
Alan will make $2,704 while on vacation this year.
Answer y = 2x + 5
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Let x represent the number of the working year and y represent the
number of paid vacation days. Based on the table above, write an
algebraic equation that models the relationship between these two
variables.
6-4
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:311
Employee Benefits
311
09/03/11 9:19 PM
EXAMPLE 2
EXAMPLE 2
Before addressing the
solution, make sure that
students understand the
meaning of a biweekly
pay period. In addition,
discuss how most health
care coverage consists of a
shared contribution on the
parts of both employee and
employer.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
26d
Answer ____
p
Frieda’s employer offers her family health care. Frieda must contribute 12% of the cost, and her employer will cover the rest. Frieda gets
paid on a biweekly basis, and she notices that $88.50 is taken out of
each paycheck for her portion of the contribution to the family health
care coverage. How much does Frieda’s employer contribute for her
coverage?
SOLUTION Let x represent the cost of Frieda’s family health care.
Frieda’s total contribution is 12% of that cost, or 0.12x. Since Frieda
has $88.50 taken out of her biweekly paychecks for the coverage, her
total yearly contribution is determined by multiplying that biweekly
amount times 26 which is the number of biweekly paychecks.
88.50 × 26 = 2,301
Frieda’s health care contribution
EXAMPLE 3
Frieda’s contribution of $2,301 is 12% of the total amount.
The calculation of an
individual’s pension varies
from work place to work
place. In Example 3, a popular method is used which
involves the average of the
final salaries for a specified
number of years.
Write an equation and solve for x.
Divide each side by 0.12.
0.12x = 2,301
2,301
0.12x ______
______
=
0.12
0.12
x = 19,175
Frieda’s family health care coverage costs $19,175. She contributes
$2,301 to that amount, and her employer pays the rest.
Subtract to find her employer’s contribution.
19,175 – 2,301 = 16,874
The employer’s contribution is $16,874.
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Mark’s employer offers individual health care. Mark pays d dollars
out of his biweekly paycheck for his share of the total cost. If Mark’s
contribution is a percentage of the total cost, where p represents that
percentage written as an equivalent decimal, represent the total cost
of Mark’s coverage in terms of d and p.
EXAMPLE 3
Marina works at Washington Performing Arts Center. Her employer
offers her a pension. Marina’s employer uses a formula to calculate
the pension. A retiring employee will receive 1.5% of their average
salary for the last five years of employment for every year worked.
Marina is planning on retiring at the end of this year after 25 years of
employment. Marina would receive this amount each year until her
death. Her salaries for the last five years are $88,900, $92,200, $96,000,
$98,000, and $102,000. Calculate Marina’s pension.
SOLUTION
Find Marina’s 5-year average salary.
88,900 + 92,200 + 96,000 + 98,000 + 102,000
_____________________________________________
= 95,420
5
312
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:312
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:19 PM
Marina’s average salary for her last five years of work is $95,420. For
each of the 25 years she worked at the Center, she will receive 1.5% of
that average.
Find 1.5% of $95,420.
Multiply this amount by 25 years.
0.015 × 95,420 = 1,431.30
1,431.30 × 25 = 35,782.50
Marina will receive a pension of $35,782.50 per year until her death.
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
DeBrown Corporation offers employees a retirement plan based upon
the following formula. The retiree will get 2% of the average of the
final three year salaries times the number of years employed by the
company. Suppose an employee’s last three years of salaries are A, B,
and C, and the employee worked at DeBrown for D years. Write the
algebraic expression that represents the employee’s yearly pension.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
(
A+B+C
Answer 0.02D _________
3
)
EXAMPLE 4
The exact formula used for
unemployment compensation is a function of what
has been approved in any
given state. Example 4
serves as a model for the
typical way that the compensation is calculated.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
Answer $15,600
EXTEND YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
EXAMPLE 4
Answer $950
In Reese’s state, the weekly unemployment compensation is 60% of
the 26-week average for the two highest-salaried quarters. A quarter is
three consecutive months. For July, August, and September, he earned
a total of $9,024. In October, November, and December, he earned a
total of $9,800. Determine Reese’s unemployment compensation.
SOLUTION
Find Reese’s total earnings for the two quarters.
9,024 + 9,800 = 18,824
Divide the total of $18,824 earned during these months by 26, since
there are 26 weeks in this half-year period.
18,824 ÷ 26 = 724
His 26-week average is $724 per week.
Find 60% of 724.
0.60 × 724 = 434.40
Some states have a maximum compensation amount. In Reese’s state,
$434.40 falls below that maximum. He will receive that amount for
the next 26 weeks or until he finds another job during that time.
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Wanda lives in the same state as Reese. Her weekly unemployment
compensation is $360. What were the total 26-week earnings for her
highest two consecutive quarters of employment?
■ EXTEND YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Lara lives in the same state as Reese. Lara made the same weekly
salary for each of the 26 weeks in her two highest consecutive
quarters. She will receive a weekly unemployment compensation
check for $570. What was Lara’s weekly salary when she worked
for her company?
6-4
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:313
Employee Benefits
313
09/03/11 9:19 PM
Applications
To find joy in work is to discover the fountain of youth.
Pearl S. Buck, American Novelist
TEACH
1. How can the quote be interpreted in light of what you have learned?
Exercises 2 and 3
2. Roberto’s employer offers a sliding paid vacation. When he started
work, he was given three paid days of vacation. For each six-month
period he stays at the job, his vacation is increased by two days.
a. Let x represent the number of 6-month periods worked and y represent the total number of paid vacation days. Write an equation
that models the relationship between these two variables. y = 3 + 2x
b. How much vacation time will he have earned after working for
4.4 years? 19 days
See margin.
Encourage students to set
up a table. This will assist
them in determining the
modeling equation.
Exercise 5
The equation that models
this situation is an exponential equation. Alert students
to the fact that the solutions
may not always be linear.
ANSWERS
1. Perhaps one of the biggest employee benefits
a person can attain from
work is the joy of that
work. Pearl Buck implies
that if you find that joy,
then you have discovered a treasure.
3. When Lisa started at her current job, her employer gave her two days
of paid vacation time with a promise of three additional paid vacation days for each year she remains with the company to a maximum of four work weeks of paid vacation time.
a. Let x represent the number of years she has worked for this
employer and y represent the number of paid vacation days
she has earned. Write an equation that models the relationship
between these two variables. y = 2 + 3x
b. It has been five years since Lisa began working for this employer.
How many paid vacation days has she earned? 17 days
c. When will she reach the maximum number of paid vacation days
allowed? After 6 years
4. When Lou started his current job, his employer told him that he
would receive two vacation days for each full year he worked. Let x
represent the number of years he has worked for the company and y
represent the number of paid vacation days he earned.
a. Write an equation that models the relationship between these
two variables. y = 2x
b. How long will it take him to earn 18 paid vacation days? 9 years
5. When George started his current job, his employer told him that at
the end of the first year, he would receive two vacation days. After
each year worked, his number of vacation days would double up to
five work weeks of paid vacation.
a. Let x represent the work year and y represent the number of paid
vacation days. Write an equation that models the relationship
between these two variables. y = 2x
b. How many vacation days will he have earned after four years? 16 days
c. In what year will he have maxed out his vacation days? In the fifth
year he will receive the maximum number.
6. Ruth contributes 18% of the total cost of her individual health care.
This is a $67.50 deduction from each of her biweekly paychecks.
What is the total value of her individual coverage for the year? $9,750
314
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec1:314
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:19 PM
7. At Richardson Manufacturing Company, there are two factors that
determine the cost of health care. If an employee makes less than
$55,000 per year, he pays $40 per month for individual coverage and
$85 per month for family coverage. If an employee makes at least
$55,000 per year, individual coverage is $70 per month and family
coverage is $165 per month.
a. Arielle is an office assistant at Richardson. She makes $47,700 per
year. She has individual health care. Her yearly contribution is
5% of the total cost. How much does her employer contribute? $9,120
b. Catherine is a department manager at Richardson. Her annual
salary is $68,300. She has family health care. Her employer contributes $935 per month towards her total coverage cost. What
percent does Catherine contribute toward the total coverage? 15%
8. Eddie is a plant manager at North Salem Construction Company. He
has been employed there for 20 years and will be retiring at the end
of this year. His pension is calculated on the average of his last four
years’ salaries. In those years, he earned $82,000, $96,000, $105,000,
and $109,000. His employer will give him 1.2% of that average for
each year he worked. Calculate Eddie’s pension. $23,520
11. Natalia worked in an automobile plant. She lost her job when
the plant relocated to another state. She applied for unemployment compensation. In her state, the amount is calculated by taking 55% of the average of the last 26 weekly salary amounts. The
gross incomes from her last 26 paychecks are listed in the table.
Determine Natalia’s unemployment compensation weekly amount
to the nearest cent. $400.65
Exercise 7
There is a great deal of
numerical information that
needs to be sorted in this
exercise. Students may find
it easier if they organize the
data in a chart.
Exercises 8 and 9
Once students have completed these exercises and
you have reviewed the
solutions with them, ask the
class which pension plan
might be more beneficial—
using the average of the last
four annual salaries or the
average of the three highest
year’s salaries.
Exercise 11
Students may wish to write
a spreadsheet in order to
find the solution to this exercise. They can use the one
listed next to Exercise 10 and
alter it to fit 26 pay periods.
9. As part of their employee benefits, all workers at Middletown
Electronics receive a pension that is calculated by multiplying the
number of years worked times 1.65% of the average of their three
highest years’ salary. Maureen has worked for Middletown for
27 years and is retiring. Her highest salaries are $97,000, $97,800,
and $98,198. Calculate Maureen’s pension. $43,510.20
10. The spreadsheet calculates a yearly pension. Users enter the pension percentage as a percent in cell B1, the number of years worked
in cell B2, and the last four working years’ salaries in cells B3–B6.
That 4-year average salary is calculated and displayed in cell B7.
The yearly pension amount is calculated and displayed in cell B8.
a. Write the spreadsheet formula for cell B7. =average(B3:B6)
b. Write the spreadsheet formula for cell B8. =B1/100*B7*B2
TEACH
A
B
1
Pension percentage
2
Years worked
3
Year 1 salary
4
Year 2 salary
5
Year 3 salary
6
Year 4 salary
7
Average salary
8
Yearly pension
Week
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
Salary
$715
$700
$730
$730
$730
$720
$700
$720
$720
$720
$725
$720
$725
Week
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
Salary
$730
$730
$735
$735
$735
$740
$740
$740
$740
$740
$740
$740
$740
12. In Rodger’s state, unemployment compensation is calculated by finding the total of the quarterly wages of two consecutive quarters and
dividing by 26. The weekly unemployment is 65% of that amount.
In the quarter of January, February, and March, Rodger made a total
of $13,950.80. In the quarter of April, May, and June, he made a total
of $14,250.10. Find Rodger’s weekly unemployment amount. $705.02
6-4
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec5:315
Employee Benefits
315
09/03/11 9:19 PM
A nation’s strength lies in the well-being of its people. The
Social Security program plays an important part in providing for
families, children, and older persons in the time of stress.
President John F. Kennedy
6-5 Social Security and
Medicare
Objectives
Key Terms
• Compute paycheck
deductions for
Social Security.
•
•
•
• Compute paycheck
deductions for
Medicare.
Most students have heard
of Social Security and
Medicare but probably
know very little about them.
They should be encouraged
to learn more about them
through the Reality Check
projects at the end of the
chapter.
CLASS DISCUSSION
Ask students if they have
ever noticed a FICA box on
their paycheck stubs.
Emphasize the importance
of keeping their Social
Security number secure to
avoid identity theft.
Underscore the fact that
their contributions to Social
Security and Medicare are
matched by their employers, but they are not being
saved for them in a bank
account. The amounts are
being recorded, but the
money is being spent on
current benefits.
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec5:316
•
•
•
•
Social Security tax
Medicare tax
maximum taxable income
Social Security number
What are social security
and medicare?
EXAMINE THE
QUESTION
316
Social Security
Federal Insurance
Contributions Act (FICA)
FICA tax
An insurance program is available jointly through your employer and
the United States government. This insurance, Social Security,
covers 90% of all American jobs. President Franklin D. Roosevelt started
Social Security in 1935. It was established in the Federal Insurance
Contributions Act (FICA). Social Security provides income for people
after they retire. Social Security also pays benefits to disabled workers. If
an eligible worker dies, benefits are paid to surviving family members.
When you work at a job covered by Social Security, you must pay
FICA taxes. Both Social Security tax and Medicare tax fall under
this category. These taxes help cover the cost of these federal insurance
programs. Medicare is the nation’s largest health insurance program for
people 65 years of age and older and some disabled people under 65.
The costs of Social Security and Medicare are split evenly between
you and your employer. The amount of Social Security tax you pay
depends on the Social Security percentage and the maximum
taxable income for that year. A percentage of each worker’s salary is
taken out of each paycheck, up to a set maximum amount. Any annual
income greater than that amount is not subject to Social Security tax.
Medicare tax is paid on all of your income. The money that you and your
employer contribute to Social Security and Medicare is used to pay the
current benefits to someone else. When you become eligible for benefits,
the people working at that time will be paying for your benefits.
The government keeps records of the amounts that you have paid to
Social Security and Medicare under your own personal Social Security
number. Your Social Security number is a unique nine-digit number
that belongs only to you. It will be on all of your paycheck stubs, so be
sure to check that it is correct every time you get paid. You will have the
same Social Security number for your entire life. It is important to keep
your Social Security number private to prevent identity theft.
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:19 PM
Skills and Strategies
Here you will learn about Social Security and Medicare payments, and
how they have changed over the years.
EXAMPLE 1
Ramiro got his first job in 2006. In that year, Social Security tax was 6.2% of
income up to $94,200. Medicare tax was 1.45%. If Ramiro earned $73,210
in 2006, how much did he pay for Social Security and Medicare taxes?
SOLUTION Ramiro’s income was below the 2006 maximum taxable
income of $94,200, so he paid Social Security tax on all of his income.
Multiply his income by 6.2%.
73,210 × 0.062 = 4,539.02
His Social Security tax for 2006 was $4,539.02. Find the Medicare tax.
Multiply his income by 1.45%.
73,210 × 0.0145 = 1,061.545
His Medicare tax for 2006 was $1,061.55, rounded to the nearest cent.
To find his total Social Security and Medicare tax, add them together.
4,539.02 + 1,061.55 = 5,600.57
Ramiro paid $5,600.57 for Social Security and Medicare in 2006. He
should verify that the government has these exact numbers in their files.
TEACH
Even students who work
know little about how Social
Security is computed. They
probably don’t realize that
there is a maximum taxable
income. These exercises
show them how these computations are made.
EXAMPLE 1
This exercise introduces
students to the maximum
taxable income, which
none of them have earned
in their part-time jobs. The
very first dollar they earn
is subject to Social Security
tax.
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
Answer 0.062x + 0.0145x
or 0.0765x
Have students find the
current maximum taxable
income on the Internet.
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Lisa made a total of x dollars last year, which was less than the
maximum taxable income for the year. Social Security tax was 6.2%
and Medicare tax was 1.45%. Write an expression that represents
what Lisa paid to Social Security and Medicare combined.
EXAMPLE 2
Students revisit piecewise
functions again here. They
should start getting more
skilled at this precalculus
concept.
EXAMPLE 2
Express the Social Security tax for 2006 as a piecewise function.
SOLUTION Let x represent the income. Use the tax rate and maximum taxable income from Example 1. For incomes less than or equal
to $94,200, Social Security tax is modeled by the equation
f (x) = 0.062x
All incomes over $94,200 pay the same Social Security tax, 6.2% of 94,200.
94,200(0.062) = 5,840.40
Social Security tax, f (x), can be represented by a piecewise function, as
f (x) =
0.062x
when 0 < x ≤ 94,200
5,840.40 when x > 94,200
It is not necessary to use a piecewise function to represent the Medicare
tax for 2006, because the Medicare tax for that year was 1.45% of total
income. The Medicare tax function m(x) is
m(x) = 0.0145x
6-5
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec5:317
Social Security and Medicare
317
09/03/11 9:19 PM
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
Ming worked three jobs in 2006. The total of her incomes was less than
$94,200. At QuickMart, she made x dollars. At the College Book Store,
she made y dollars. At the Mail Depot, she made z dollars. Express the
combined total of her Social Security and Medicare taxes algebraically.
Answer 0.0765 (x + y + z)
EXAMPLE 3
The graph shows that all
workers pay the same
maximum amount for the
year into Social Security.
EXAMPLE 3
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
Graph the Social Security tax piecewise function from Example 2.
SOLUTION Determine appropriate values for the x- and y-axes. The
$55,000
maximum value you need to graph on the y-axis is $5,840.40. The
x-axis should extend beyond $94,200.
Social Security tax on 0 dollars is 0, so
the point (0, 0) is on the graph. The
(94,200, 5,840.40)
maximum taxable income, $94,200,
and the maximum you could pay to
Social Security, $5,840.40, are coordinates of a second point. Draw a line
segment connecting (94,200, 5,840.40)
to (0, 0). This line segment has the equation y = 0.062x. The slope is the Social
60,000 80,000 100,000 120,000
Security tax rate. For incomes greater
Income ($)
than $94,200, the Social Security tax is
$5,840.40, so a horizontal ray finishes
the graph. The horizontal ray has a slope of 0. Notice that there is a
sharp point where the ray and the line segment with different slopes
meet. This point, located at (94,200, 5,840.40), is a cusp.
Social Security Tax ($)
Answer approximately
7,000
6,000
5,000
4,000
3,000
2,000
1,000
0
0
20,000
EXAMPLE 4
Show students how the
maximum taxable income
has changed since 1988.
40,000
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
CHECK YOUR
UNDERSTANDING
Mark’s Social Security tax was $3,500 during the year in the graph in
Example 3. Use the graph to approximate his taxable income.
Answer $38,000
ANSWERS
(Applications on page 319)
1. A nation is stronger
when its people are cared
for. The Social Security
program does just that.
5. a. Social Security
$3,571.20; Medicare
$1,957.50
b.
0.062x when 0 <
x ≤ 84,900
f (x) =
5,263.80 when
x > 84,900
EXAMPLE 4
In 1988, Social Security tax was 7.51%, to the maximum income of
$45,000. If Grace earned $51,211 in 1988, how much Social Security
did she pay?
SOLUTION Grace’s income, $51,211, is over the maximum taxable
income of $45,000 for that tax year.
Find 7.51% of income.
45,000 × 0.0751 = 3,379.50
Grace’s Social Security tax for 1988 was $3,379.50.
This was the most anybody contributed to Social Security in 1988.
Even if you earned millions of dollars, this is the amount you contributed to Social Security.
■ CHECK YOUR UNDERSTANDING
In 1988 Ramona paid $2,853.80 in Social Security tax. What was
Ramona’s taxable income in 1988?
318
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec5:318
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:19 PM
Applications
A nation’s strength lies in the well-being of its people. The
Social Security program plays an important part in providing for
families, children, and older persons in the time of stress.
President John F. Kennedy
1. How can the quote be interpreted in the context of what you have
learned? See margin.
2. The table on the right gives a historical look at
Social Security tax before there was a separate
Medicare tax. Find the maximum you could pay
into Social Security for each year. See below.
3. In 1990, Jerry’s gross pay was $78,000.
a. What was his monthly gross pay? $6,500
b. In what month did Jerry hit the maximum
taxable Social Security income? August
c. How much Social Security tax did Jerry pay
in January? $497.25
d. How much Social Security tax did Jerry pay
in December? $0
4. In 1978, Dawn earned $48,000.
a. What was her monthly gross
pay? $4,000
b. In what month did Dawn reach
the maximum taxable Social
Security income? May
c. How much Social Security tax
did Dawn pay in February? $242
d. How much Social Security tax
did Dawn pay in May? $102.85
e. How much Social Security tax
did Dawn pay in November? $0
5. In 1991, Social Security and
Medicare taxes were itemized separately on paycheck stubs and tax
forms for the first time. The table
on the right gives a historical look
at Social Security and Medicare
taxes. See additional answers.
a. Find the maximum a person
could contribute to Social
Security and Medicare in 1993.
b. If f (x) represents the Social
Security tax, and x represents
income, express the 2002 Social
Security tax as a piecewise
function.
Year
Year
Maximum You
Could Pay Into
Social Security
1978
6.05%
17,700
a.
1980
6.13%
25,900
b.
1982
6.7%
32,400
c.
1984
6.7%
37,800
d.
1986
7.15%
42,000
e.
1988
7.51%
45,000
f.
1990
7.65%
51,300
g.
a. $1,070.85; b. $1,587.67; c. $2,170.80; d. $2,532.60;
e. $3.003; f. $3.379.50; g. $3,924.45
Maximum
Maximum
Taxable Income
Taxable
Social
for Social
Income for
Security (%) Security ($)
Medicare (%) Medicare ($)
1991
6.2%
53,400
1.45%
125,000
1992
6.2%
55,500
1.45%
130,200
1993
6.2%
57,600
1.45%
135,000
1994
6.2%
60,600
1.45%
All income
1995
6.2%
61,200
1.45%
All income
1996
6.2%
62,700
1.45%
All income
1997
6.2%
65,400
1.45%
All income
1998
6.2%
68,400
1.45%
All income
1999
6.2%
72,600
1.45%
All income
2000
6.2%
76,200
1.45%
All income
2001
6.2%
80,400
1.45%
All income
2002
6.2%
84,900
1.45%
All income
2003
6.2%
87,900
1.45%
All income
2004
6.2%
87,900
1.45%
All income
2005
6.2%
90,000
1.45%
All income
2006
6.2%
94,200
1.45%
All income
2007
6.2%
97,500
1.45%
All income
2008
6.2%
102,000
1.45%
All income
2009
6.2%
106,800
1.45%
All income
6-5
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec3:319
Maximum
Social
Taxable
Security (%) Income ($)
Social Security and Medicare
319
09/03/11 9:19 PM
TEACH
For Exercises 6–10, use the table on the previous page that provides a historical look at Social Security and Medicare.
Exercise 11
This exercise involves an
interpretation of the slope.
You may want to discuss it
in depth.
6. Express the 1993 Social Security tax function as a piecewise function
t(x), where x is the annual income. Graph the function. What are the
coordinates of the cusps on the graph? (57,600, 3,571.20); see additional
answers for graph.
This exercise involves interpreting a discontinuity in a
graph, another skill usually
taught in precalculus.
Exercise 15
If you have two employers, you could have paid
too much in Social Security
taxes, since the employers
do not know the earnings
from the other job.
ANSWERS
11. If the slope was 1, then
the Social Security contribution would be 100%
of the income.
12. They will pay a very
high Social Security
tax and may pay more
than they are able to get
from the Social Security
system.
14. If you make $99,999.99,
you would pay very
close to $6,000. But,
if your income is
just 2 cents more,
$100,000.01, you would
pay $2,000 more in
taxes.
16. Yes; the player’s
per game salary is
$154,320.99, which is
greater than the taxable
income of $106,800.
7. Graph the Social Security tax function for 1992. What are the
coordinates of the cusp? On the same axes, graph the Medicare
function. (55,500, 3,441); see additional answers for graph.
8. In 2007, Jessica earned p dollars, where p > 100,000. She was paid
monthly. Express the amount her employer contributed to her Social
p
Security tax in February algebraically. 0.062 ___
( 12 )
9. In 1995, Eve earned d dollars, where d < 50,000. Express the amount
she paid to Social Security and Medicare as a function of d.
0.062d + 0.0145d, or 0.0765d
10. Keesha earned x dollars per month in 2006, where x < $5,600.
a. Did she earn more or less than the maximum taxable income
for 2006? less
b. Express her Social Security tax for the year algebraically. 0.062(12x), or 0.744x
c. Express her Medicare tax for the year algebraically. 0.0145(12x), or 0.174x
11. Explain why the slope of the Social Security function, before it
becomes horizontal, cannot equal 1. See margin.
12. A politician is considering removing the maximum taxable income
and having all income subject to Social Security tax. Why might this
be unfair to very affluent people? See margin.
13. Find the Social Security and Medicare tax rates for the current year.
Also find the maximum taxable income for the Social Security tax.
Use the information to graph this year’s Social Security tax function.
See students’ work.
14. A politician is listening to
a proposal for a new Social
Security tax plan. The graph
is shown. The two parts of the
graph are disconnected where
x = 100,000. Explain why
this would be an unfair Social
Security tax function. See margin.
Social Security
Tax ($)
Exercise 14
y
8,000
6,000
100,000
Income ($)
x
15. In a year when the maximum income for Social Security was
$106,800, Bart worked at two jobs. In one job he earned $99,112. In
his second job, he earned $56,222. Both of his employers took out
Social Security tax. As a result, Bart had paid excess Social Security
tax, and the government must return some of it to him. How much
does the government owe him for excess Social Security paid? $3,009.11
16. An All-Star baseball player earning $25,000,000 per year plays
162 games per year. If you divide the salary by the number of games,
does that baseball player reach this year’s maximum taxable income
in the first game of the year? See margin.
320
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec3:320
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:19 PM
CHAPTER
6
Assessment
around this graph. You can find an electronic copy at www.cengage .com/
You Write the Story!!
Write a short newspaper-type article based on the graph below. You
can find an electronic copy at www.cengage.com/school/math/
financialalgebra. Copy and paste it into your article.
Real Numbers
CHAPTER 6
ASSESSMENT
REAL NUMBERS
You Write the Story!
Unemployment Percentage Rates
6
5
4
01/98 01/99 01/00 01/01 01/02 01/03 01/04 01/05 01/06 01/07 01/08
Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics
The unemployment rates
for years beyond 2008 can
be found by searching data
available on the U.S. Bureau
of Labor Statistics website.
REALITY CHECK
Reality Check projects are a
terrific form of alternative
assessment. They give students an additional avenue
to show what they’ve
learned, so their grades are
not solely-based on tests.
These Reality Checks have
students doing research
on topics involving Social
Security, labor statistics,
minimum wage, and more.
In addition, students are
encouraged to speak with
parents and community
members about employment related topics.
Reality Check
1. Every taxpayer should periodically ask the Social Security Administration for a copy of their Social Security records. This is a record of every
dollar ever earned in a taxpayer’s entire life, shown year-by-year. Visit
the Social Security website for more information. Discuss this with your
parents. Ask them if they might walk you through their record to illustrate their working history.
2. You are going to research benefits payable under Social Security. Go to
the Social Security website. Do an Internet search for other sites about
Social Security benefits. Read through each site and compile a list of
benefits and a description of each benefit in a few sentences. Prepare
a written report, oral report, or PowerPoint report on your findings.
Assessment
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec3:321
321
09/03/11 9:19 PM
REALITY CHECK
3. Do an Internet search and speak to your librarian and English
teacher about sources available to you so you can learn how to
write a job resume. Pretend you are applying for a job of your
choice. Prepare a cover letter and job resume about yourself that
can include fictional colleges or trade schools, employment, community experience, and so on.
Projects can be presented
to the class on any schedule that works for your
program. It may be too
time-consuming for every
student to present their
project for every chapter.
4. Contact the Department of Labor for your state by mail or email, or
visit their Internet site. Gather information about unemployment
insurance, state minimum wage for different industries, labor laws,
child labor laws, and so on. Ask them to send you informative brochures, or download information from the website. Compile a list of
facts you found in your readings. Create a presentation board to be
displayed in your classroom.
Remind students who are
personally visiting local
businesses or community
members that they are
representing the school,
and need to be cordial
and patient. These projects
deliberately have students
taking field trips, so they
don’t conduct everything
online.
Explain that they need to
thank any person who helps
them in completing their
Reality Check projects. A
letter is the most personal
way to do this.
You can offer students extra
projects for extra credit.
5. Search a newspaper’s help-wanted classified ads. Cut out 20 ads
related to a specific profession. Interpret each ad in full sentences.
Compute the annual, weekly, and monthly gross salary based on
information given in the ad. Present your information in a report.
6. Do a library or Internet search on the federal minimum wage over
the past two decades. Also research your state’s minimum wage over
the past two decades. The minimum wage could be different in different industries. Pick two of them. Create a graph that shows both
federal and state minimum wages over the past 20 years. Present
your graph on a poster.
7. Visit a local business that employs teenagers. Make an appointment
to interview the manager. Prepare a list of questions for the manager
about pay, pay periods, benefits, and other job-related facts. Prepare
your information in a report.
8. Interview your parents about their opinions on what to consider
when taking a job or choosing a career. How do they weigh benefits compared to salary? What other factors have their experiences
taught them should be considered when planning a career?
9. Use the Internet to find the salaries of famous, highly paid athletes,
movie stars, and other personalities. Set up rates that compare their
salaries per day, per inning, per hour, per race, per pitch, per lap,
per goal, per hour, per game, and so on. Present your information in
graph form on a poster.
10. Call the help-wanted customer service line for several local newspapers. Find out the cost to an employer of placing a classified ad in the
help-wanted section. Express the cost as a piecewise function. Present
your findings on a poster.
322
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec3:322
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:19 PM
Dollars and Sense
Your Financial News Update
Go to www.cengage.com/school/math/financialalgebra where you will find a link to
a website containing current issues about employment. Try one of the activities.
REVISITED
In Really? Really! you were introduced to statistics about the American
workforce. Now take a look at statistical predictions of how that workforce may look by the year 2016.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor
Statistics, the following is a list of the 10 fastest growing occupations
from 2006 to 2016.
Employment Number
(in thousands)
Job Title
Network systems and data
communications analysts
2006
262
2016
402
Personal and home care aides
767
1,156
Home health aides
787
1,171
Computer software engineers,
applications
507
733
71
100
176
248
2
3
417
565
Veterinarians
62
84
Substance abuse and behavioral
disorder counselors
83
112
Veterinary technologists and
technicians
Personal financial advisors
Makeup artists, theatrical and
performance
Medical assistants
Really?
Really!
REALLY? REALLY!
REVISITED
In order to answer the
question, it is important to
have a discussion about the
meaning of fastest growing jobs from 2006 to 2016.
How does the data presented in the chart contribute to the sorting formula?
You may need to suggest
that the solution lies in setting up ratios.
ANSWERS
The sorting was done by
determining the percent
change in employment
numbers from 2006 to 2016.
For example, network analysts increased by 140,000
from 2006 to 2016. This
represents a 53.4% increase
over the ten year period.
By calculating the percent
increase over the ten year
period for each occupation,
you will see how the jobs
have been ranked.
Based on the data in the list, explain how these ten jobs were sorted
with network systems and data communications analyst as the fastest
growing occupation and substance abuse and behavioral disorder counselors as the tenth fastest growing occupation. Justify your response. See margin.
Assessment
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec3:323
323
09/03/11 9:19 PM
ANSWERS
9.
0.18x when x ≤ 900
c(x) = 0.20x when 900 <
x ≤ 1,500
0.25x when x > 1,500
Applications
1. Josephine is looking for a new part-time job as a plumber. She responds
to a classified ad for a position that pays 44.5K. What would her
weekly salary be to the nearest cent if she gets this job? $855.77
2. Frank got a new job through the Valley Employment Service. The
job pays $51K per year, and the agency fee is equal to 35% of one
month’s pay. How much must Frank pay the agency? $1,487.50
3. Derek is placing a seven-line classified job for an assistant. The following piecewise function gives the price of an x-line ad.
a(x) =
32
when x ≤ 3
32 + 9(x − 3) when x > 3
Find the difference between the cost of a 6-line ad and the cost of a
7-line ad. $9
4. Carole worked her 40 regular hours last week plus 5 overtime hours
at the time-and-a-half rate. Her gross pay was $451.25. What was her
hourly rate? $9.50
5. Tania earns $13.50 per hour at the Glendale Florist. She regularly
works 40 hours per week. She is paid time-and-a-half for each hour
of overtime work. Last week she worked 43 hours. What was her
gross pay for the week? $600.75
6. Patrick earns x dollars per hour for his regular 40 hours per week. He
also works three hours overtime each week, at a time-and-a-half rate.
Express his annual salary algebraically. 52(40x + 4.5x) = 52(44.5x)
7. An author writes a computer self-help manual that sells for x dollars
each. He received a bonus of $1,000 to sign with his publisher, and he
receives 10% commission on each book sale. Express the total amount
of income he earns from selling y books algebraically. 0.10xy + 1,000
8. Jim received a total piecework paycheck of $291.81. He receives
71 cents per unit produced. How many units did he produce? 411
9. The Price King Auto Mall pays their sales staff by commission. They
are paid a percent of the profit the dealership makes on each sold
car. If the profit is $900 or less, the commission rate is 18%. If the
profit is greater than $900 and less than or equal to $1,500, the commission rate is 20% of the profit. If the profit is above $1,500, the
rate is 25% of the profit. If x represents the profit, express the commission c(x) as a piecewise function. See margin.
10. Jean’s Jeans pays its sales staff a commission of 4% of the first $1,000
in sales and 6% of the balance of sales, plus a weekly salary. If a salesperson sold x dollars worth of clothing and x > $1,000, express the
commission earned algebraically. 40 + 0.06(x – 1,000)
11. Gabe contributes 15% of the total cost of his individual health care
coverage. He pays $28.80 per week towards this contribution. What
is the total value of Gabe’s health care coverage for the year? $9,984
324
Chapter 6
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec3:324
Employment Basics
09/03/11 9:19 PM
12. Anton works at First National Bank. His employer offers him a pension retirement plan which will be 1.45% of his average salary for
the last five years of employment for every year worked. Anton is
planning on retiring at the end of this year after 22 years of employment. His salaries for the last five years are $92,000; $92,800;
$99,000; $100,500; and $105,000. Calculate Anton’s pension. $31,217.34
13. In Don’s state, the unemployment compensation is calculated by
finding the total of the quarterly wages of two consecutive quarters and dividing that amount by 26. The weekly unemployment
amount is 47% of that figure. In the quarter consisting of January,
February, and March, Don made a total of $19,574. In the quarter
consisting of April, May, and June, he made a total of $21,974. Find
Don’s weekly unemployment amount. $751.06
14. In 2008, the Social Security percentage was 6.2% for the first
$102,000 earned. The Medicare percentage was 1.45% of your entire
salary. Darby made $143,000 in 2008.
a. Write the combined taxes, y, as a piecewise function where x represents the income. See margin.
b. How much did Darby pay in Social Security tax? $6,324
c. How much did Darby pay in Medicare tax? $2,073.50
ANSWERS
14a.
0.062x + 0.0145x when
x < 102,000
6,324 + 0.0145x when
x ≥ 102,000
y=
15a.
Social
Security
Medicare Combined
2000 $4,724.40 $1,165.80 $5,890.20
2001 $4,984.80 $1,165.80 $6,150.60
2002 $4,984.80 $1,165.80 $6,150.60
b. 7.3%, 7.65%; his percentage increased to
the combined Social
Security and Medicare
rate of 7.65% when the
salary was less than the
maximum. The more you
make, the smaller percentage of your salary is
used.
15. The percentages at the turn of the 21st century are shown in the
table. Ray worked at the same job for those three years making
$80,400 without any increase in salary. See margin.
Social Security
Maximum
Taxable Income
Medicare
Maximum
Taxable Income
2000
6.2%
$76,200
1.45%
All income
2001
6.2%
$80,400
1.45%
All income
2002
6.2%
$84,900
1.45%
All income
a. Calculate his Social Security and Medicare taxes for those years.
b. Calculate the percent of his salary for the combined taxes in each
year. What do you notice?
16. In many states, the weekly unemployment compensation is a certain percentage of the 26-week average for the two highest-salaried
quarters. A quarter is three consecutive months. In the spreadsheet
below, the user enters the two highest quarter salaries and the state
unemployment compensation percentage in the indicated cells.
A
B
1
Enter your state’s unemployment compensation percentage.
2
Enter the two highest quarter salaries for the year.
3
Quarter 1
4
Quarter 2
5
Quarter 3
6
8
Quarter 4
Your weekly unemployment compensation will be:
Write a spreadsheet formula that will calculate the weekly unemployment compensation. =(sum(B3:B6)/26*B1/100)
Assessment
49657_06_ch06_p288-325.indd Sec3:325
325
09/03/11 9:19 PM