ESSAY QUESTION:
The following appeared in the editorial section of a local newspaper:
“The inflow of immigrant workers into our community has put a downward pressure on wages. In fact, the average compensation of unskilled labor in our city has declined by nearly 10% over the past 5 years. Therefore, to protect our local economy, it is essential to impose a moratorium on further immigration.”
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. Point out flaws in the argument's logic and analyze the argument's underlying assumptions. In addition, evaluate how supporting evidence is used and what evidence might counter the argument's conclusion. You may also discuss what additional evidence could be used to strengthen the argument or what changes would make the argument more logically sound.
YOUR RESPONSE:
In the past five years, more than 1 Million immigrants have been estimated to come into the country. However ,this need not necessarily be the primary reason the decline in average compensation of unskilled labor has come down. Therefore this reason alone is not enough to support the argument.There are many more reasons which affect the average wage of unskilled labor.
The general downhill trend in the economy could have affected the wage structure of unskilled labor. The decline in the pay might also be attributed to companies trying to make more profit by paying employees less i.e. companies trying to take capitilism to a new level.
The argument above assumes many facts such as the following. Firstly it assumes that the immigrant workers accept lower wages than the locals but does not present any evidence to prove this assumption. Another important assumption made by the argument is that the competition for jobs among the local population itself does not lead to employees agreeing to work for lesser wages. It also does not take into account the percentage of the total unskilled labor that the immigrant workers make up.
However if studies show that the percentage of immigrants in the unskilled labor category is incresing then it can be concluded that the inflow of immigrants is the major reason begind the decline in the average pay. But if evidence can be provided that the number of locals in the unskilled labor category is incresing or that the companies are making more profit because of the decrease in the salaries of emplayees then serious doubt is casted over the argument's justification.
Thus the decline in the average wage of the unskilled worker cannot be attributed to sole reason of increase in the number of immigrant workers but to many more reasons which probably play a more important role.
“Monetary compensation is the most powerful stimulus for improving employee productivity.”
Discuss the extent to which you agree or disagree with the position stated above. Support your viewpoint using reasons and examples from your own experience, observations, or reading.
YOUR RESPONSE:
The average salary of an employee in Company X is a staggering 80,000 dollars a year. Some people might wonder if these employess actually deserve such mind-boggeling salaries. Most companies belive that higher pay means higher productivity. I agree with this statement to large extent, but not entirely.
I feel that employee productivity depends on more reasons than monetary benefit and that productivity of employees reaches a maximum when the employee actually enjoys the work he is doing. Therefore it is very important that the companies choose the most suitable candidates while recruiting because money is not going to make a big difference to the productivity of an employee who does not enjoy doing his job.
Some companies also use high monetary compensation as a way to decrease the overall workforce and thus decrease the total gross salary given to employees. This would burden lesser number of employees with the job of a larger number of employees.
The work culture prevailing at the workplace plays a very big role in deciding how much useful work is done at the workplace everyday. For example, the work environment at Microsoft, the IT giant, is rated by the employees to be the best in the world for women. The "work culture" generally includes the relationship that an employee shares with his peers and his bosses and the stress levels of the employees.
Therefore I conlude by saying that though higher monetary benefits may entice employees to work harder and increase the output, this is not the only factor that has to be considered when companies think about increasing productivity. As the popular saying goes- " Money cannot buy everything in the world".
