Passage Summary: Bosses say they love hard workers, but when hard workers get laid off, they actually have a harder time finding a new job than the slackers do.

Reasoning: Companies claim to value conscientiousness in employees, yet a study shows that laid-off workers with this trait take longer to find new jobs than their less responsible peers.

Analysis: This is a 'Resolve the Paradox' question with an 'EXCEPT' twist, meaning four choices will explain the discrepancy and one will not. The conflict is between what firms say they want and the actual hiring outcomes for conscientious people. To resolve this, we need information that explains why being a 'good' employee might actually hinder a job search—perhaps they are more selective, or perhaps their previous high salaries make them harder to rehire. The incorrect answer (the one we want) will likely be irrelevant or even deepen the mystery by making the conscientious workers seem even more attractive to employers.