CAT 2025 Slot 3 · Quant · Question 12

There are 5+25=30 employees averaging 60000, so the total salary is 30\times 60000=1800000.

A 5% rise in the average takes it to 60000\times 1.05=63000.

The new total is then 30\times 63000=1890000.

So the total rose by 1890000-1800000=90000.

That entire rise came from the managers' 20% increase, so 0.20\times \left( \text{managers’ total}\right)=90000.

The managers' total is therefore \frac{90000}{0.20}=450000.

The engineers' total is 1800000-450000=1350000.

Dividing by 25, the engineers' average salary is 54000.

Shortcut. Only the managers changed, so the rise in the grand total is 20% of their total. One division recovers the managers' pay and the engineers follow by subtraction — the individual salaries never matter.