GMAT Essays (AWA)

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:
The author states that we need to impose a moratorium on further immigration of workers to protect our local economy. While proving his point the author makes a number of assumptions and provides us with statistical data to support his argument. However, his argument is flawed because of faulty assumptions and inappropriate statistics.

The first assumption made by the author is that all immigrant workers coming into the country are unskilled workers. If the number of skilled workers immigrating into the country is quiet large then the statistics provided by the author are misleading. The fall in average consumption of unskilled labour cant be because of immigration as the immigrants are major skilled workers.

Another assumption made by the author is that only downward pressure on wages is creating problems for the local economy and it need to be protected only from downward pressure on wages. However, there can be other factors that create problems for the local economy like restriction on foreign trade, political instability, communal riots, etc.

The third assumption made by the author is that there is enough labour force in the country to satisfy the local economy's demand. In case, where there is not enough local labour force the production of goods in the country will be hampered causing further hurdles in the local economies growth. If immigration of labour is allowed enough labour force will be available for production of goods and services and the economy will have a better GDP.

Therefore, because of the faulty assumptions made by the author and inappropriate statistics used to state his argument the authors argument is flawed. He needs to provide details of local labour force available, number of unskilled workers immigrating to support his argument. As the argument stands now it is flawed because of faulty reasoning