A Fair Wage: Multiple Choice Vocabulary Test

What constitutes a fair wage? The (0)      A      of money that people earn is (1)________ determined not by fairness but by market forces.

This fact, however, should not (2)________ us trying to devise a mechanism for deciding what is the right pay for the job.

A (3)________ point for such an investigation would be to try to decide the ratio which ought to (4)________ between the highest and the lowest paid. The picture (5)________ more complicated by two factors. The first is the 'social wage', that is, the benefits - (6)________ as holidays, sick pay and maternity leave - which every citizen is (7)_________ to.

Secondly, the taxation system is often used as an (8)_______ of social justice by taxing the rich at a very high (9) ______ indeed.

Allowing for these two things, most countries now (10)________ as socially acceptable ratio of 7:1between the best and the (11) _________ paid.

If the ratio is narrower, the highly-qualified people who usually (12)________ heavy responsibilities may become so dissatisfied that they (13)________ emigrating (the so-called 'brain drain’).

But, if it is wider, the (14)________ between rich and poor will be so great that it will (15)________ to social tension and, in extreme cases, to violence and revolution.