Since the 1980s, experts have been claiming that the skill demands of today’s jobs have outstripped the skills workers possess. Moss and Tilly counter that worker deficiencies lie less in job-specific skills than in such attributes as motivation, interpersonal skills, and appropriate work demeanor. However, Handel suggests that these perceived deficiencies are merely an age effect, arguing that workers pass through a phase of early adulthood characterized by weak attachment to their jobs. As they mature, workers grow out of casual work attitudes and adjust to the workplace norms of jobs that they are more interested in retaining. Significantly, complaints regarding younger workers have persisted for over two decades, but similar complaints regarding older workers have not grown as the earlier cohorts aged.

The passage suggests that Moss and Tilly are most likely to disagree with the “experts” about which of the following?

A) Whether the skills demanded by jobs in the labor market have changed since the 1980s
B) Whether employers think that job-specific skills are as important as such attributes as motivation and appropriate work demeanor
C) Whether workers in today’s labor market generally live up to the standards and expectations of employers
D) Whether adequate numbers of workers in the labor market possess the particular skills demanded by various different jobs
E) Whether most workers are motivated to acquire new skills that are demanded by the labor market



The last sentence serves primarily to

A) suggest that worker deficiencies are likely to become more pronounced in the future
B) introduce facts that Handel may have failed to take into account
C) cite evidence supporting Handel’s argument about workers
D) show that the worker deficiencies cited by Handel are more than an age effect
E) distinguish certain skills more commonly possessed by young workers from skills more commonly found among mature workers