Quantitative Literacy Practice Exam 2026 – Comprehensive Preparation Guide

When an employee's pay is adjusted from a 52-week year to a 48-week year, the fundamental concept at play is that their total annual compensation is being distributed over fewer weeks. This means that the employee will effectively be receiving their annual salary based on a smaller number of pay periods, which leads to a proportional decrease in the amount of pay received per paycheck.

If the pay remains fixed but is now divided across only 48 weeks instead of 52, the logical outcome is that each paycheck must increase to cover the same total annual salary, and thus, this isn’t the correct interpretation of the question. The correct understanding is to consider the overall salary being reduced due to the fewer number of weeks of work. Therefore, the overall income will decrease because the employee is working fewer weeks, which means they are earning less pay for that year.

This proportionate relationship between the number of weeks worked and the total pay earned is key in understanding why the pay decreases based on the weeks worked.