A large-scale medical diagnostics laboratory transitions from a system where individual technicians conduct entire multi-stage blood tests to a highly specialized system where each technician is responsible for a single, repetitive step of the testing process.
Which one of the following is the most likely microeconomic outcome of this increased division of labour?
An increase in the time wasted by technicians transitioning between different testing instruments
A rise in the average cost of training required for new staff to become productive
A reduction in the unit cost of testing due to gains in worker speed and dexterity at specific tasks
An expansion in the range of transferable skills acquired by individual technicians
156 exam-style questions on AQA A Level Economics 1.4 Production, costs and revenue, covering 1.4.1 Production and productivity, 1.4.2 Specialisation, division of labour and exchange, 1.4.3 The law of diminishing returns and returns to scale (A-level only), 1.4.4 Costs of production, 1.4.5 Economies and diseconomies of scale, 1.4.6 Marginal, average and total revenue, 1.4.7 Profit, and 1.4.8 Technological change (A-level only). Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.