Bunuel wrote:
Competition Mode Question
In the early nineteenth century, industrialists preferred to hire people with no weaving experience to work in their new textile mills. Evidence of this is that, when more than 2000 people applied to work at one New England mill, only 30 of the 150 who were hired had previous experience in weaving.
The statistics cited above provide no evidence supporting the author's contention unless it is assumed that
(A) some of the unsuccessful applicants to the textile mill had experience in weaving.
(B) the nature of the work at the new textile mills made previous experience in weaving of no advantage in a worker
(C) the 30 successful applicants with weaving experience had no experience of weaving in textile mills
(D) the industrialist's preference for workers without previous experience was economically motivated
(E) prior to the nineteenth century, there was no weaving done on a large industrial scale
The argument tells us that industrialists in the early nineteenth century preferred to hire people with no weaving experience to work in their textile mills. The evidence provided is that at a New England mill, of the 150 people hired, only 30 had previous experience in weaving. The rest, presumably, did not have such experience.
Our goal here is to find an assumption that is necessary to link this evidence to the author's contention, which is that industrialists preferred to hire those without weaving experience.
Here's how the answer choices stack up:
(A) If some of the unsuccessful applicants to the textile mill had weaving experience, it would lend support to the claim that industrialists preferred people without such experience. This choice fills in the information gap and strengthens the argument, so it's a good candidate for the correct answer.(B) If the nature of the work at the mills negated the advantage of previous weaving experience, industrialists might indeed prefer inexperienced workers. However, this does not explain why industrialists specifically preferred people with NO weaving experience, making it less compelling than option (A).
(C) Whether the 30 successful applicants with weaving experience had specifically worked in textile mills doesn't necessarily support the author's contention.
(D) While it may be true that the preference for inexperienced workers was economically motivated, this statement is not necessarily an assumption that supports the argument's evidence.
(E) Information about weaving in previous centuries is not relevant to the author's argument about preferences in the early nineteenth century.Given all these considerations, option (A) fits the bill as the necessary assumption to support the argument with the provided evidence.
_________________
EMPOWERgmat
Total GMAT Content & Tactical Training | 120 Point Guarantee | All 6 Official GMAT Tests
empowergmat.com