Suppose that the firm in the figure to the right is contemplating using 17
units of labor, and it knows that doing so would cause its total product to increase from 359
to 371
units. What would be the resulting marginal product of the 17
th
unit of labor employed?
Part 2
The marginal product of the 17th
unit of labor employed would be---units of output per unit of labor.
To calculate the marginal product of the 17th unit of labor, you need to subtract the total product when using 16 units of labor from the total product when using 17 units of labor.
Given that the total product increases from 359 to 371 units when employing 17 units of labor, the marginal product of the 17th unit of labor would be:
Marginal Product = Total Product with 17 units of labor - Total Product with 16 units of labor
= 371 - 359
= 12
Therefore, the resulting marginal product of the 17th unit of labor employed would be 12 units of output per unit of labor.