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For the first century or so of the Industrial Revolution, increased productivity led to decreases in working hours. A generation

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问题     For the first century or so of the Industrial Revolution, increased productivity led to decreases in working hours. A generation ago social planners worried about what people would do with all this new-found free time. In the US, at least, it seems they need not have bothered.
    Although the output per hour of work has more than doubled since 1945, leisure(freetime)seems reserved largely for the unemployed. Those who work full-time spend as much time on the job as they did at the end of World War II. In fact, working hours have increased noticeably since 1970.
    There are several reasons for lost leisure. Since 1979, companies have responded to improvements in the business climate by having employees work overtime rather than by hiring extra personnel. Most increased production doesn’t relate to the employment. Some firms are even downsizing as their profits climb. It’s more profitable to ask 40 employees to labor an extra hour each than to hire one more worker to do the same 40-hour job.
    Although employees complain about long hours, they, too, have reasons not to trade money for leisure. People who work reduced hours pay a huge price in career terms. It’s taken as a negative(负面的)signal about their commitment to the firm. Many managers find it difficult to measure the contribution of their staff to a firm’s well-being, so they use the number of working hours instead of the output to evaluate the employees. Well aware of this, employees adjust their behavior accordingly.
    It may take some time before workers can successfully trade increased productivity and money for leisure time. The reality is that the U.S. market for goods has focused on fulltime, two-career households. Car makers no longer produce cheap models, and developers do not build the tiny bungalows that served the first postwar generation of house seekers.
    In a word, in U.S., goods are appropriate only for high incomes and long hours.
______have got more free time to enjoy themselves since 1945.
选项 A、The employees
B、The unemployed
C、The employers
D、Social planners
答案B
解析 文章第二段第一句说明空闲时间似乎为失业人员储备了大量的时间。
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