Final answer:
Elena's earnings consist of a constant hourly wage and a flat transportation fee, leading to a linear increase in earnings with more hours worked. Svetlana's earning structure, represented by the linear equation y = 25 + 15x, serves as an example. Changes in wage levels, like Vivian's increased wage to $12/hour, can affect the number of hours a worker decides to work.
Step-by-step explanation:
The question discusses Elena's earnings which consist of a constant transportation fee plus a constant hourly wage.
This scenario is similar to what Svetlana experiences in that she charges a one-time fee plus an hourly wage for her tutoring services.
A linear equation, such as y = 25 + 15x, can represent this type of earning structure, where 'x' is the number of hours worked and 'y' is the total earnings.
When analyzing how earnings change with the number of hours worked, if both the hourly wage and the transportation fee are constant, the earnings will increase linearly with time.
This is because each additional hour worked adds the same amount of money (the constant hourly wage) to the total earnings, plus the initial one-time fee.
In the case of Vivian's situation, where her wage level increases to $12/hour, a higher wage results in a steeper budget constraint and may influence her decision regarding the number of hours to work.
The response to a change in wages can differ among workers based on their employment circumstances and their elasticity of labor supply.