2.1 Consumer and Employment Documents
Key Takeaways
- CASAS consumer items usually ask you to locate the exact number, condition, date, or label detail that answers the question.
- Receipts, bills, and shelf labels often require a simple calculation after you identify the correct line item, fee, tax, balance, or unit price.
- Food labels must be read by serving size first; container totals require multiplying the per-serving amount by the number of servings.
- Pay stubs separate gross pay from deductions and net pay, while job ads and workplace notices separate requirements from preferences.
- Schedules and workplace documents reward careful matching of date, time, location, department, and required action.
Reading Consumer and Employment Documents
CASAS reading tasks are built around documents adults actually use. A question may show a receipt, utility bill, grocery label, paycheck stub, work schedule, job advertisement, or posted workplace notice. Your job is to find the part of the document that answers the question and ignore details that are true but not relevant.
A strong approach is: read the question first, scan for the matching label, use only document evidence, then check units or dates. This prevents two common errors: choosing a familiar-looking answer from memory, or using the wrong row because the document contains several similar numbers.
Consumer Documents: Receipts, Bills, Labels, and Unit Price
Receipts and bills usually organize information by line item. Look for subtotal, tax, fees, payments, balance due, due date, and late fee language. If a question asks what is still owed, do not use the original total if the bill also lists a payment or credit.
Food labels are different because the numbers are usually per serving. If a Nutrition Facts label says 150 calories per serving and the container has 3 servings, the whole container has 450 calories. The same rule applies to sodium, sugar, protein, and other nutrients.
Unit price questions ask for cost per unit, such as dollars per ounce, pound, item, or tablet. Use this pattern:
| Task | Document clue | Move |
|---|---|---|
| Find total paid | Receipt total or amount charged | Use the final total, not only subtotal |
| Find amount still owed | Bill balance due | Subtract payments or credits if shown |
| Find container total | Nutrition label servings | Per-serving amount times servings |
| Compare values | Shelf label or package size | Price divided by unit count |
Employment Documents: Pay, Schedules, Ads, and Notices
Employment questions often test whether you can tell the difference between similar work terms. Gross pay is pay before deductions. Net pay is take-home pay after deductions. A pay stub may also list year-to-date amounts, which are not the same as the current pay period.
Job ads and workplace notices are reading tasks before they are vocabulary tasks. Separate requirements from preferences. Words such as must, required, minimum, deadline, report to, and effective date usually control the answer.
Work schedules require exact matching. Check the employee name, date, day of week, start time, end time, location, and department. A time can be correct for the wrong day, and a shift can be correct for the wrong employee.
Exam Moves for This Section
- Circle or mentally mark signal words: before, after, only, except, by, minimum, required.
- In money questions, label each number before calculating: subtotal, tax, payment, fee, balance, gross, deduction, or net.
- In food-label questions, decide whether the question asks for one serving or the whole package.
- In schedule questions, match both the time and the date before choosing.
- In job-ad questions, treat required qualifications as non-negotiable unless the document says otherwise.
The safest answer is the one that can be pointed to in the document. If two choices seem possible, reread the exact wording of the question and the heading near the number or rule you plan to use.
A shelf label shows oatmeal for $3.60 for 18 ounces and granola for $4.80 for 24 ounces. Which statement is best supported by the unit prices?
A pay stub lists gross pay of $520.00. Deductions are $48.00 federal tax, $16.00 state tax, and $22.00 health insurance. What is the net pay for this pay period?