Question: Labor Variances Ellen Chenoweth, the manager of the city of St. Paul road maintenance shop, uses standards to judge performance. Because a clerk mistakenly discarded some labor records, however, Ellen has only partial data for April. She knows that the total direct-labor flexible-budget variance was $1,643 favorable. Moreover, a recent pay raise produced an unfavorable labor price variance for April of $1,157. The actual hours of input were 1,780 and the standard labor price was $20 per hour.
1. Find the actual labor rate per hour.
2. Determine the standard hours allowed for the output achieved.