Argosy Marine Stores Company manufactures special metallic materials and decorative fittings for luxury yachts that require highly skilled labor. Argosy uses standard costs to prepare its flexible budget. For the first quarter of the year, direct materials and direct labor standards for one of their popular products were as follows:

Direct materials: $4$ pounds per unit, $$4$ per pound

Direct labor $5$ hours per unit, $$17$ per hour

Argosy produced $4,000$ units during the quarter. At the end of the quarter, an examination of the labor costs records showed that the company used $21,000$ direct labor hours and actual total direct labor costs were $$375,000.$ The direct labor efficiency variance was $$17,000U.$ Which of the following is a logical explanation for this variance?

A$.$ The company used more labor hours than allowed by the standards.

B$.$ The company paid a higher cost for the direct materials than allowed by the standards.

C$.$ The company used a higher quantity of direct materials than allowed by the standards.

D$.$ The company paid a higher cost per hour for labor than allowed by the standards.