There is a sentence that is missing in the paragraph below. Look at the paragraph and decide where (option 1, 2, 3, or 4) the following sentence would best fit.

Sentence: This reality is putting stress on employees who have to pay for transport, desk lunches, more childcare, clothing and that after-work socialisation - costs they haven’t incurred for nearly two years.

Paragraph: ___(1)___. Prices are rising at their fastest rate in 40 years; consequently, return-to-office-related costs have shot up - think petrol and food, for instance.___(2)___. Yet wages haven’t kept up with inflation - even despite the salary growth many workers have enjoyed during a favourable pandemic labour market. ___(3)___.This is especially jarring for workers who were able to save during remote work, when these expenditures weren’t a factor. ___(4)___. In April 2022, Umus, a London university lecturer, told BBC Worklife that they were spending nearly a quarter of what they made every day on return-to-work costs.

The given sentence focuses on the impact of these rising costs on employees - an idea that hasn’t yet been introduced here. Placing this in Blank 1 would prematurely shift the focus from a general economic observation to the employee-specific consequences, disrupting the logical flow. Similarly, Blank 2 would be a poor choice since it would interrupt the argument about wages not keeping pace with inflation. The broader context of inflation and wages needs to be fully established before narrowing the discussion to employee struggles.

Blank 3 could be a good fit. We observe that the preceding sentence sets up the problem: wages are lagging behind rising costs. The subsequent sentence emphasises the stark contrast between remote work savings and current financial stress; the anecdote from the London University lecturer is further linked to this. Therefore, Blank 4 is also unsuitable. By placing the given sentence in Blank 3, we bridge the two ideas presented above by specifying how these rising costs and stagnant wages directly impact employees. It introduces the tangible pressures employees face, which makes the subsequent sentence about savings during remote work even more impactful.

Hence, Option B is the correct choice.