A study of work-related injuries showed that for workers who suffer

Question

Which of the following most logically completes the passage?

A study of work-related injuries showed that for workers who suffer an injury, the average number of days of work missed because of the injury is substantially lower for workers 18-25 years old than it is for workers 26 years old and older. It would be hasty to conclude from this fact, however, either that younger workers generally suffer less severe injuries on the job than older workers do or that the younger workers recuperate faster, since ______.

A. the younger workers are much more likely not to work a full five-day workweek than the older workers are
B. several of the industries in which workers 18-25 years old are common are among the more dangerous industries
C. certain kinds of work injuries do not prevent workers in either group from continuing on the job without missing a day of work
D. the number of work injuries suffered per year is, on average, no lower for younger workers than for older workers
E. the younger workers are much more likely to change jobs than the older workers are

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Official Answer

A

GMATNinja · Accepted Answer

The argument says that even though younger workers miss less time when they're injured, we shouldn't necessarily conclude that those injuries are less severe.

So let's make it concrete. Imagine we have two workers: one is Mike, who is 24 years old. The other is Tim, who is 35. When Mike gets hurt, he misses 4 days of work, but when Tim gets hurt, he misses 10 days of work.

If Mike isn't suffering a less serious injury, then why is he missing fewer days of work? We want an answer that would provide an explanation.

Here's (A) again:
 
Interesting. If Mike is working just two days a week, we'd have an explanation for why he's missing fewer days than Tim, despite suffering an injury that's no less serious. If they suffered similar injuries and were both out for two weeks, Mike would only miss four days, while Tim would miss 10.

No other answer choice gives any explanation for why Mike might be missing fewer days, despite not suffering a lesser injury, so (A) is our answer.

I hope that helps!

mitshivi2024 · Answer

GMATNinja  Can you please help in explaining why B is wrong. 
I completely agree with A, but I am facing issue on rejecting option B on strong grounds. My reason to reject B and D is they are talking about the scenarios or extending the conclusion but these are actually not giving the reasoning behind the conclusion which the question expects as the sentence is ending with "since".

Is this thought right? Please guide.

Many thanks !

KarishmaB · Answer

In such "quant" based questions notice exactly what data is given to us - percentages/proportion, actual amount etc. "A study showed that for workers who suffer an injury, the average number of days of work missed because of the injury is substantially lower for workers 18-25 years old than it is for workers 26 years old and older. " Of all workers who miss work due to injury, younger workers miss say 3 days per month due to injury while older workers miss say 5 days per month due to injury. "It would be hasty to conclude from this fact, however, either that younger workers generally suffer less severe injuries on the job than older workers do or that the younger workers recuperate faster, since ______." We are looking for a premise that will tell us that the fewer days (3) for younger workers is NOT because of less severe injuries or faster recuperation. So the premise could give us a alternative reason why younger workers miss fewer days or it could tell us that younger workers do suffer similar injuries and take similar time to recuperate. A. the younger workers are much more likely not to work a full five-day workweek than the older workers are Correct. This gives us an alternative reason. Younger workers work for fewer days, say 15 days per month while older workers work say 25 days a month. Then 3 missed days of work for younger workers makes sense. They work for fewer days and hence are less likely to get injured and hence take fewer missed work days. B. several of the industries in which workers 18-25 years old are common are among the more dangerous industries This is opposite to what we were looking for. We need why 18-25 years old take fewer days off due to injury, not more. This option would explain why younger people take more off days due to injury. If they worked in more dangerous industries, it could explain more off days due to injury. C. certain kinds of work injuries do not prevent workers in either group from continuing on the job without missing a day of work There is no distinction here between the two groups. Hence it cannot explain the fewer injury days of younger lot. D. the number of work injuries suffered per year is, on average, no lower for younger workers than for older workers This opposes the author's conclusion, not support it. We are looking for a premise supporting why the fewer days (3) for younger workers is not because of less severe injuries or faster recuperation. If their average number of work injuries in no lower than that for older workers, then it makes sense that they take fewer missed days because either their injuries are less severe or they recuperate faster. E. the younger workers are much more likely to change jobs than the older workers are Changing jobs is irrelevant. We are talking about all job related injuries, not injuries in a specific sector. Answer (A) GMAT-Club-Forum-rznjqf8w.png

GMATNinja · Answer

We're trying to show that the reason younger employees miss fewer days isn't because their injuries are less serious, or because they recuperate faster. In other words, we're looking for an alternative explanation.

If younger people are working in more dangerous industries and STILL missing less time, well, that's either irrelevant -- it certainly wouldn't explain why they're coming back faster from injuries if those injuries were suffered in a more dangerous environment -- or it's suggesting that young people are super resilient/quick healers, which is basically the opposite of what we want.

And then there's the added issue that (B) doesn't totally specify what "dangerous" means. Does it mean that the mortality rate in these industries is .02% rather than .01%? More dangerous to be sure, but not a stat that would greatly influence time missed from more mundane injuries.

All to say: (B) has multiple strikes against it and (A) is pretty irrefutable as an alternation explanation, so we don't have to agonize too much here.

I hope that helps!

lily123400 · Answer

The main ask here is to look for another reason as to why younger workers are missing work less during an injury and we know 2 not true reasons which is that they suffer less or recover faster.

A. the younger workers are much more likely not to work a full five-day workweek than the older workers are

If they work less days in total, they would take less days off since they have less days to work. This checks out and makes sense

B. several of the industries in which workers 18-25 years old are common are among the more dangerous industries 
This insinuates that these young workers should actually be taking more days off since there are possibly more work injuries so it doesn't support the statement stem

C. certain kinds of work injuries do not prevent workers in either group from continuing on the job without missing a day of work 
This would apply to both groups so not specifically young people

D. the number of work injuries suffered per year is, on average, no lower for younger workers than for older workers 
Once again this doesn't explain the reason why young works take less time off

E. the younger workers are much more likely to change jobs than the older workers are 
Initially I thought this made this because changing jobs could lead to time lapse between work but that would be reading too much into the statement. Just by itself it doesn't establish a connection between changing jobs more and taking less time off from injuries

A study of work-related injuries showed that for workers who suffer

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A study of work-related injuries showed that for workers who suffer

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