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Strengthen Question

by csandeepreddy » Sat Sep 20, 2008 1:19 pm

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Political Advertisement:
Mayor Delmont’s critics complain about the jobs that were lost in the city under Delmont’s leadership. Yet the fact is that not only were more jobs created than were eliminated, but the average pay for these new jobs has been higher than the average pay
for jobs citywide every year since Delmont took office. So there can be no question that throughout Delmont’s tenure the average paycheck in this city has been getting steadily bigger.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument in the advertisement?

A. The average pay for jobs created in the city during the past three years was higher than the average pay for jobs created in the city earlier in Mayor Delmont’s tenure.
B. Average pay in the city was at a ten-year low when Mayor Delmont took office.
C. Some of the jobs created in the city during Mayor Delmont’s tenure have in the meantime been eliminated again.
D. The average pay for jobs eliminated in the city during Mayor Delmont’s tenure has been roughly equal every year to the average pay for jobs citywide.
E. The average pay for jobs in the city is currently higher than it is for jobs in the suburbs surrounding the city.
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by abhi75 » Sat Sep 20, 2008 4:21 pm

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The answer is D.

D strengthens the underlying assumption that the average pay for the jobs eliminated is equal to the avg of the jobs citywide.
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by Indradeep » Sat Sep 20, 2008 10:51 pm

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It should be D because new jobs avg. pay > jobs citywide. Now if eliminated jobs > jobs citywide, there is a prob.
So eliminated jobs <= jobs citywide
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by crak.gmat » Sun Sep 21, 2008 12:08 pm

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IMO A, whats the OA?
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by stop@800 » Sun Sep 21, 2008 1:37 pm

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A: We are not talking within Mayor Delmont’s tenure.
c: Created jobs have been elimintaed, this can not stregthen.
E: Suburbs is completely oiut of question so I think it can not be the answer

Answer is either D or B
My preference is for D but I am not abel to rule out B.

B actually justifies that Mayor Delmont’s tenure caused the increase.
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by banker1 » Sun Sep 21, 2008 1:50 pm

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stop@800 wrote:A: We are not talking within Mayor Delmont’s tenure.
c: Created jobs have been elimintaed, this can not stregthen.
E: Suburbs is completely oiut of question so I think it can not be the answer

Answer is either D or B
My preference is for D but I am not abel to rule out B.

B actually justifies that Mayor Delmont’s tenure caused the increase.
I eliminated (A), (C), and (E). They all seem out of scope.

I'm stuck between (B) and (D) and am leaning toward (B) as well (although (B) seems too straightforward...).

I interpreted the Mayor's advertisement to be something like: "Others complain about job loss under my watch. Not only did I create more jobs than jobs were lost, but the jobs I created were worth more than existing jobs in the city."

The conclusion states during the Mayor's tenure paychecks increased. Average pay at a 10 year low seems to support the conclusion that paychecks have increased.

(D) seems to reference job elimination during the Mayor's tenure, not job creation...

What is the OA?
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by csandeepreddy » Sun Sep 21, 2008 8:10 pm

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The OA is D
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by kris610 » Fri Sep 26, 2008 5:18 pm

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stop@800 wrote:A: We are not talking within Mayor Delmont’s tenure.
c: Created jobs have been elimintaed, this can not stregthen.
E: Suburbs is completely oiut of question so I think it can not be the answer

Answer is either D or B
My preference is for D but I am not abel to rule out B.

B actually justifies that Mayor Delmont’s tenure caused the increase.
You are right, but the argument's conclusion is that "The average paycheck has been steadily getting bigger". Only D strongly supports this.
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by GMATGuruNY » Thu Dec 31, 2015 10:43 pm

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csandeepreddy wrote:Political Advertisement:
Mayor Delmont�s critics complain about the jobs that were lost in the city under Delmont�s leadership. Yet the fact is that not only were more jobs created than were eliminated, but the average pay for these new jobs has been higher than the average pay
for jobs citywide every year since Delmont took office. So there can be no question that throughout Delmont�s tenure the average paycheck in this city has been getting steadily bigger.

Which of the following, if true, most strengthens the argument in the advertisement?

A. The average pay for jobs created in the city during the past three years was higher than the average pay for jobs created in the city earlier in Mayor Delmont�s tenure.
B. Average pay in the city was at a ten-year low when Mayor Delmont took office.
C. Some of the jobs created in the city during Mayor Delmont�s tenure have in the meantime been eliminated again.
D. The average pay for jobs eliminated in the city during Mayor Delmont�s tenure has been roughly equal every year to the average pay for jobs citywide.
E. The average pay for jobs in the city is currently higher than it is for jobs in the suburbs surrounding the city.
I received a PM requesting that I comment about answer choices A and D.

Premise: More jobs were created than were eliminated, and the average pay for these new jobs has been higher than the average pay for jobs citywide.
Conclusion: The average paycheck in this city has been getting steadily bigger.

The following case satisfies all of the constraints in the premise:
100 jobs that pay $11 per hour have been created.
Average pay for all jobs citywide is $10 per hour.
99 jobs that pay $10,000 per hour have been eliminated.
In this case, the average paycheck would likely be LOWER, since so many high-paying jobs have been eliminated.

One way to strengthen the conclusion is to RULE OUT the bad case above.
Answer choice D does just that:
The average pay for jobs eliminated in the city during Mayor Delmont's tenure has been roughly equal every year to the average pay for jobs citywide.
Here, the eliminated jobs are NOT high-paying, strengthening the conclusion that the creation of jobs with higher-than-average pay has lead to bigger paychecks for the average worker.

The correct answer is D.

A: The average pay for jobs created in the city during the past three years was higher than the average pay for jobs created in the city earlier in Mayor Delmont's tenure.
This option seems to strengthen the PREMISE that the average pay for new jobs has been high.
A premise is a FACT; it cannot be strengthened.
The correct answer choice must strengthen the CONCLUSION.
Eliminate A.
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