Relative to a perfectly-competitive labor market, a monopsonized one:

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In examining the question about relative outcomes in a monopsonized labor market, we need to compare how a single buyer (employer) interacts with the labor supply.
Option 1: 'Pays lower wages and hires fewer workers.' This aligns with the standard monopsony model: the firm has market power over the wage it must pay and hires only up to the point where marginal cost equals marginal revenue, which typically results in a wage below competitive levels and employment below the socially efficient amount. The reasoning rests on the fact that the firm faces an upward-sloping supply curve for labor and must raise the wage to hire additional workers, so it hires fewer workers and pays less than in a perfectly competitive market.
Option 2: 'Pays higher wages and hires more workers.' This would be characteristic of a competitive market with many employers or a monopsony with exceptional competitive behavior, but it contradicts the core feature of monopsony where single-payer power depresses wages and reduces employment relative to competition. Therefore this option misstates the typical outcome of monopsony.
Option 3: 'Pays lower wages and hires more workers.' Paying lower wages could be consistent with monopsony, but the 'hires more workers' part clashes with the standard monopsony condition where the firm uses its wage-setting power to hire fewer workers than in a competitive equilibrium. This combination is inconsistent with the usual monopsonic outcome where employment is restricted.
Option 4: 'Pays higher wages and hires fewer workers.' Higher wages paired with fewer workers also contradicts monopsony logic: if the firm were paying higher wages, it would either be closer to competitive wages or, if it still faced a limited number of hires, employment would not typically rise above the competitive level. This option mischaracterizes the incentive structure faced by a monopsonist.
Overall, the reasoning demonstrates that the monopsonized labor market tends to suppress wages and reduce employment compared with a perfectly competitive market, explaining why the first option correctly captures the standard result while the others describe scenarios inconsistent with monopsony theory.

Relative to a perfectly-competitive labor market, a monopsonized one:

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