richachampion wrote:Yorco and Zortech are two corporations that employ large numbers of full-time workers who are paid by the hour. Publicly available records indicate that Yorco employs roughly the same number of such hourly wage workers as Zortech does but spends a fairly higher total sum per year on wages for such workers. Therefore, hourly wages must be higher, on average, at Yorco than at Zortech, since _____.
A. Zortech spends a higher total sum per year than Yorco does to provide its hourly wage workers with benefits other than wages
B. the work performed by hourly wage workers at Zortech does not require a significantly higher level of skill than the work performed by hourly wage workers at Yorco does
C. the proportion of all company employees who are hourly wage workers is significantly greater at Yorco than it is at Zortech
D. overtime work, which is paid at a substantially higher rate than work done during the regular work week, is rare at both Yorco and Zortech
E. the highest hourly wages paid at Yorco are higher than the highest hourly wages paid at Zortech
Conclusion: hourly wages must be higher, on average, at Yorco.
Premise: Yorco employs the same number of hourly wage workers as Zortech, but spends a greater total on wages per year for these workers.
Well, if Yorco employs the same number of workers, but is paying those workers more, in aggregate, the two most likely explanations that come to mind are 1) these workers receive a higher hourly wage or 2) these workers are working more hours. '1' is the argument's conclusion. And if we want to strengthen the conclusion, we'd want verification that '2' is not the case.
This is what
D gives us. If overtime hours are rare, then it seems likely that Yorco workers are not working significantly more hours than workers at Zortech. Thus, it seems reasonable to conclude that workers at Yorco do, in fact, receive a greater hourly wage. (Note that if Yorco workers did work many overtime hours, and overtime pay is higher, then we'd have a pretty good alternative explanation to the one given by the argument.)