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Purchasing power depends on how income growth compares to price growth (inflation). If wages rise 2% but prices rise 4%, real income (inflation-adjusted) falls by roughly 2% because income has not kept pace with cost of living. The HiSET Social Studies test includes basic economic reasoning like this to assess understanding of inflation, real vs. nominal values, and cost-of-living effects. Option A reverses the logic; a wage increase smaller than inflation cannot increase purchasing power. Option C incorrectly adds the rates. Option D ignores the gap between wage growth and price growth. As a rule of thumb, approximate real change ≈ nominal change − inflation rate, so 2%−4%=−2%2\% - 4\% = -2\%. In practice, compounding makes the exact figure slightly different, but for small percentages this subtraction is a sound estimate. Thus, the worker can buy fewer goods and services than before, meaning purchasing power decreases by about 2%. Therefore, B is correct.