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Phat Hoang
- Newbie | Next Rank: 10 Posts
- Posts: 2
- Joined: Sat Oct 22, 2011 8:38 am
"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.
ANSWER:
From the preceding statement, the author claims that the inflow of immigrant workers makes wages decrease. Therefore, further immigration needs to be temporary prohibited to secure local economy. The claim may have good merit; however, the author presents poorly reasoned argument, based on several questionable premises, and based on the evidence the author provides, we cannot accept the conclusion as valid.
The primary issue of the author's argument lies in his or her unsubstantiated premises. Firstly, the author mentions only immigrant workers as only factors that put negative impact on wages. He or she does not include other economic elements that can support to draw big picture for the reasoning. Secondly, the number of 10% decline in average compensation of unskilled labor is provided without norm for readers to put any benchmark on. The premises, the basis of the author's argument, fail to provide legitimate supports and render the conclusion unacceptable.
In addition, the author makes several assumptions that remain unproven. The author at the beginning refers to only unskilled labor group in the society but later links directly to the economy. That is clearly a big jump because there is no supported information saying that unskilled labor group is representative for the economy. Also, wage is the only factor when people mention the economy; therefore, it is too ambitious to assume that only statistics on wage's downward trend can definitely demonstrate the entire economy. The author weakens his or her argument by making assumptions and failing to provide explication for the assumptions between the wage's trend and the economy's situation, between unskilled labor group to the whole economy.
While the author does have several key issues in the argument's premises and assumptions, that is not to say that the entire argument is without base. The conclusion will be much more convincing if the author can provide more statistic that can strengthen the relationship between wages and the economy. Moreover, the reasoning will be more solid if there is data showing the percentage of unskilled labor force in the city's total workforce. At last, if the author can provide other cities's successful case studies in applying this policy, the argument will be much trustworthy. Although there are several key issues with the author's reasoning, with further research and clarifications the author can improve his or her argument significantly.
In sum, the author cites a poorly reasoned argument by providing unsubstantiated premises and unsupported assumptions. He or she needs to largely restructure the argument, clearly provide examples and fix flaws in the logic. Without these things, the author's argument can likely convince few people.[/b]
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.
ANSWER:
From the preceding statement, the author claims that the inflow of immigrant workers makes wages decrease. Therefore, further immigration needs to be temporary prohibited to secure local economy. The claim may have good merit; however, the author presents poorly reasoned argument, based on several questionable premises, and based on the evidence the author provides, we cannot accept the conclusion as valid.
The primary issue of the author's argument lies in his or her unsubstantiated premises. Firstly, the author mentions only immigrant workers as only factors that put negative impact on wages. He or she does not include other economic elements that can support to draw big picture for the reasoning. Secondly, the number of 10% decline in average compensation of unskilled labor is provided without norm for readers to put any benchmark on. The premises, the basis of the author's argument, fail to provide legitimate supports and render the conclusion unacceptable.
In addition, the author makes several assumptions that remain unproven. The author at the beginning refers to only unskilled labor group in the society but later links directly to the economy. That is clearly a big jump because there is no supported information saying that unskilled labor group is representative for the economy. Also, wage is the only factor when people mention the economy; therefore, it is too ambitious to assume that only statistics on wage's downward trend can definitely demonstrate the entire economy. The author weakens his or her argument by making assumptions and failing to provide explication for the assumptions between the wage's trend and the economy's situation, between unskilled labor group to the whole economy.
While the author does have several key issues in the argument's premises and assumptions, that is not to say that the entire argument is without base. The conclusion will be much more convincing if the author can provide more statistic that can strengthen the relationship between wages and the economy. Moreover, the reasoning will be more solid if there is data showing the percentage of unskilled labor force in the city's total workforce. At last, if the author can provide other cities's successful case studies in applying this policy, the argument will be much trustworthy. Although there are several key issues with the author's reasoning, with further research and clarifications the author can improve his or her argument significantly.
In sum, the author cites a poorly reasoned argument by providing unsubstantiated premises and unsupported assumptions. He or she needs to largely restructure the argument, clearly provide examples and fix flaws in the logic. Without these things, the author's argument can likely convince few people.[/b]
