Question Statement:
The following appeared as part of an editorial in a campus newspaper:
"With an increasing demand for highly skilled workers, this nation will soon face a serious labor shortage. New positions in technical and professional occupations are increasing rapidly, while at the same time the total labor force is growing slowly. Moreover, the government is proposing to cut funds for aid to education in the near future."
My AWA essay:
The argument states that the nation will soon face a serious labor shortage due to the increasing demand of highly skilled workers. The above conclusion omits some important concerns that must be addressed to substantiate the argument and is fundamentally flawed. The argument makes numerous unwarranted assumptions such as the nation does not currently have many highly skilled workers, total labor force constitutes mostly of technical and professional occupations. The statements mentioned in the argument fail to provide substantial evidence or support to the author's claim.
One basic flaw in the argument is that the nation does not have many highly skilled workers currently. The author would need to provide more evidence to prove this statement since it is making a highly generic statement regarding the labor force of an entire nation. Also, even if we assume that the nation currently does not have many highly skilled workers, the argument fails to explain why the nation would now suddenly need this set of workers.
Secondly, the argument does not throw any light on the skill set required for a worker to fit into this set of highly skilled workers. Also, it does not show any proof that the nation has efficiently searched for workers with the required skill set. This widens the logical gap that the author has made while stating the conclusion that the nation does not have the required number of highly skilled workers.
Thirdly, the author wrongly assumes that the labor force of an entire nation is limited only to two types of occupations, i.e., technical and professional. There are many other occupations that a nation needs to have in order to maintain the overall economy of the nation. But, this statement also hints that the author means to say that the nation needs highly skilled workers who are either from professional or technical background.
Fourthly, the statement that the Government is proposing to cut the funds for aid to education in the future is appalling. The argument assumes that the Government might be cutting down on the expenses by stopping the financial aid currently been given to the students for education. This can actually reduce the number of students going for higher education and acquiring higher skills than others. But, the author fails to see the after-effects of this action, i.e., the number of workers who will join the nation's labor force in the future will have a much lesser skill set than the required level. This would only reduce the requirements of the nation to have more highly skilled workers.
To address the flaws, the author would have to provide more supporting evidence regarding the criteria for a worker to be highly skilled, and a valid reason to stop giving financial aid for education. In summary, the given argument has many logical flaws which can be removed if the author could provide more substantial evidence that could strengthen the argument.
The following appeared as part of an editorial in a campus newspaper:
"With an increasing demand for highly skilled workers, this nation will soon face a serious labor shortage. New positions in technical and professional occupations are increasing rapidly, while at the same time the total labor force is growing slowly. Moreover, the government is proposing to cut funds for aid to education in the near future."
My AWA essay:
The argument states that the nation will soon face a serious labor shortage due to the increasing demand of highly skilled workers. The above conclusion omits some important concerns that must be addressed to substantiate the argument and is fundamentally flawed. The argument makes numerous unwarranted assumptions such as the nation does not currently have many highly skilled workers, total labor force constitutes mostly of technical and professional occupations. The statements mentioned in the argument fail to provide substantial evidence or support to the author's claim.
One basic flaw in the argument is that the nation does not have many highly skilled workers currently. The author would need to provide more evidence to prove this statement since it is making a highly generic statement regarding the labor force of an entire nation. Also, even if we assume that the nation currently does not have many highly skilled workers, the argument fails to explain why the nation would now suddenly need this set of workers.
Secondly, the argument does not throw any light on the skill set required for a worker to fit into this set of highly skilled workers. Also, it does not show any proof that the nation has efficiently searched for workers with the required skill set. This widens the logical gap that the author has made while stating the conclusion that the nation does not have the required number of highly skilled workers.
Thirdly, the author wrongly assumes that the labor force of an entire nation is limited only to two types of occupations, i.e., technical and professional. There are many other occupations that a nation needs to have in order to maintain the overall economy of the nation. But, this statement also hints that the author means to say that the nation needs highly skilled workers who are either from professional or technical background.
Fourthly, the statement that the Government is proposing to cut the funds for aid to education in the future is appalling. The argument assumes that the Government might be cutting down on the expenses by stopping the financial aid currently been given to the students for education. This can actually reduce the number of students going for higher education and acquiring higher skills than others. But, the author fails to see the after-effects of this action, i.e., the number of workers who will join the nation's labor force in the future will have a much lesser skill set than the required level. This would only reduce the requirements of the nation to have more highly skilled workers.
To address the flaws, the author would have to provide more supporting evidence regarding the criteria for a worker to be highly skilled, and a valid reason to stop giving financial aid for education. In summary, the given argument has many logical flaws which can be removed if the author could provide more substantial evidence that could strengthen the argument.
