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County C

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by kaulnikhil » Mon Mar 22, 2010 11:48 am
Last year County C created and filled more manufacturing jobs than it had in previous years. Given that County C has the smallest work force and an unemployment rate equal to that of other counties in the state, the increase in new jobs in County C is startling.

Which of the following statements correctly points out the error in the reasoning above?

A. If the state in which County C is located lost manufacturing jobs last year, then countyC's r record number of new jobs is unimportant to the health of the state.

B. The county is judged against its own record, so the comparisons between its workforce and unemployment rate and those of other counties is irrelevant.

C. The unemployment rate in County C for workers with certain skills was higher than that for others.

D. Since unemployment in all counties in the state, except County C, declined markedly in the past decade, it is not surprising that County C has a high unemployment rate.

E. Since County C has the smallest population of any county in the state, County C is expected to have the smallest workforce.
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by Phirozz » Mon Mar 22, 2010 5:13 pm
kaulnikhil wrote:Last year County C created and filled more manufacturing jobs than it had in previous years. Given that County C has the smallest work force and an unemployment rate equal to that of other counties in the state, the increase in new jobs in County C is startling.

Which of the following statements correctly points out the error in the reasoning above?

A. If the state in which County C is located lost manufacturing jobs last year, then countyC's r record number of new jobs is unimportant to the health of the state.

B. The county is judged against its own record, so the comparisons between its workforce and unemployment rate and those of other counties is irrelevant.

C. The unemployment rate in County C for workers with certain skills was higher than that for others.

D. Since unemployment in all counties in the state, except County C, declined markedly in the past decade, it is not surprising that County C has a high unemployment rate.

E. Since County C has the smallest population of any county in the state, County C is expected to have the smallest workforce.
IMO B
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by reply2spg » Mon Mar 22, 2010 6:48 pm
Must be B
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by akahuja143 » Mon Mar 22, 2010 7:19 pm
IMO B
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by kstv » Mon Mar 22, 2010 8:30 pm
I 'll stick my neck out!
Please explain why B and not C.
Is my understanding, flawed ?
County C has created and filled more manufacturing jobs last year , say 2009.
C has the smallest workforce and unemployment rate = the average of the state.
Conclusion - The increase is startling. Why because if C created more jobs , its small workforce will be increasingly employed and lower the unemployment rate.
The unemployment rate is = (Number of unemployed / Total of the workforce) X 100
Total of workforce is assumed constant but small . The unemployment rate will go down with increase in employment and not be equal to other counties. Other counties did not create as much jobs.
Why is the comparison irrelevant ?
C) is possible cos' the Unemployment rate should have gone down but did not. because unemployment rate in County C for workers with certain skills was higher than that for others this affected the overall Unemplyment rate.
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by delhiboy1979 » Tue Mar 23, 2010 3:22 am
That is right, I went for C as well. More or less the same logic as above
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by Pdgmat2010 » Tue Mar 23, 2010 4:26 am
C makes sense by your logic above. but is this the OA?
i chose B out of mere frustration rather than carefully reasoning it like you guys did..
your expln has helped!
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by Phirozz » Tue Mar 23, 2010 7:55 am
kstv wrote:I 'll stick my neck out!
Please explain why B and not C.
Is my understanding, flawed ?
County C has created and filled more manufacturing jobs last year , say 2009.
C has the smallest workforce and unemployment rate = the average of the state.
Conclusion - The increase is startling. Why because if C created more jobs , its small workforce will be increasingly employed and lower the unemployment rate.
The unemployment rate is = (Number of unemployed / Total of the workforce) X 100
Total of workforce is assumed constant but small . The unemployment rate will go down with increase in employment and not be equal to other counties. Other counties did not create as much jobs. Why is the comparison irrelevant ?
C) is possible cos' the Unemployment rate should have gone down but did not. because unemployment rate in County C for workers with certain skills was higher than that for others this affected the overall Unemplyment rate.
plz have a look at ur reasoning.. as per ur statement - Other counties did not create as much jobs ?????
Do we know about other countries ??
How can u assume that The unemployment rate in County C for workers with certain skills was higher than that for others ?? we cannot make assumption, we have to show flaw in in reasoning already provided rather than providing alternate solution.
Unless and until we know the base ie last yr's employment how can u say increase in county C is startling ? I mean we have to look at %age increase in jobs over the previous year.
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by kaulnikhil » Tue Mar 23, 2010 9:36 am
OA B
Guy who have answered B plz put down your reasons
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by Phirozz » Tue Mar 23, 2010 9:50 am
As per question stem, increase in new jobs in county C is startling and the argument which support this conclusion is county C created and filled more manufacturing jobs last year than it had done in previous years.

So making comparison of workforce and unemplyment with that of other counties is irrelevant to our conclusion because we dont know how those counties have performed last year. And we cannot just say increase in new jobs in County C is startling because its workforce is the smallest. Other counties workforce might be larger but their increase in new jobs might be more in %age termsthan that of county C.
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