Because a large disparity in pay between the public and private sector

Can some expert please explain why the answer is D and not B?

Because B seems to be a deduction out of the argument. D is correct assumption as only if one assumes that the officials will choose to change careers again for conclusion to be true.

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We are required to find an assumption here and assumption is a link between Conclusion and the premises and a foolproof one. when negated it will shatter the conclusion.
No where in the argument it is mentioned that experience makes one do a job properly.It only talks about pay disparity and the switching of jobs.
Hence B is wrong.

Simplify the argument first so that it is easy to see the correct answer.

Context -
large disparity in pay between government and private jobs --> Many experienced and extremely capable government administrators have quit and taken positions in private-sector.

Argument -
Raise salaries to a level comparable to those of the private sector --> recapture these capable administrators --> functioning of public agencies will be improved

Assumption should connect one part in the argument to the other. If that link is broken, the chain gets broken and the entire argument falls apart.

Let us take a look at the answer options --

Option A - Incorrect
This assumption is not required to be made. Even if their experience in private sector is not very valuable to government sector, I still know that these administrators are extremely capable and experienced.

The argument -- " .... recapture these capable administrators --> functioning of public agencies will be improved" -- will not be destroyed.

Option B - Incorrect
"Experience" need not be the "most important factor". It could be something else -- "capability of administrators".
As long as it is an important factor, the argument will hold true.

Option C - Incorrect
Whether it increases or remains the same is not relevant. Our argument is concerned with the "effects" of "raising salaries to a level comparable to those of the private sector".

Option D - Correct answer
This exposes a flaw in the argument and tries to plug it --
Raise salaries to a level comparable to those of the private sector --> recapture these capable administrators

Option E - Incorrect
This says that -- If disparity increases --> administrators will move to the public sector.

This defeats the purpose of "raising salaries in the public sector to match those in the private sector".
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I would go for D.

The paragraph's main idea is to bring back the people who moved to private sector so if the government announces any profitable changes in the salary the people will tend to move back. And inference from option D is the same

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Because a large disparity in pay between the public and private sectors has developed in recent years, many experienced and extremely capable government administrators have quit their posts and taken positions in private-sector management. Government will be able to recapture these capable administrators by raising salaries to a level comparable to those of the private sector. In that way, the functioning of public agencies will be improved.

Type- assumption

(A) Experience gained from private-sector management will be very valuable in government administration. -Maybe the experience is not valuable at all. Plus what is this idea of "value?" Will "value" contribute to a better functioning? Can it be possible that there was no valuable experience gained and yet the public agency will function better? Absolutely

(B) The most important factor determining how well government agencies function is the amount of experience the administrators have. --Most important is not needed here . Maybe the capable and experienced govt. administrators were good because of their drive. Maybe drive is the most important factor.

(C) Unless government action is taken, the disparity in pay between government administration and private-sector management will continue to increase.-- Irrelevant

(D) People who moved from jobs in government administration to private-sector management would choose to change careers again. - Correct

(E) If the disparity in pay between government administration and private-sector management increases, administrators will move to the public sector in large numbers. -- Irrelevant -- we don't know whether the disparity in pay will increase

Answer D
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How does option D work here ?

here author says, capable administrators are joining the private sectors for better salaries.
And govt. will recapture those administrators by providing comparable salaries.
Here, author assumes that after getting comparable salaries, employees will continue their work in agency or will not change carrier again.
Therefore, agency will improve.

Skywalker18 GMATNinja egmat

Choice (D) addresses this part of the conclusion:

Government will be able to recapture these capable administrators by raising salaries to a level comparable to those of the private sector.

The conclusion specifically refers to administrators who have already left their government jobs, and states that raising salaries will result in those administrators coming back to work for the government (consequently improving the functioning of public agencies).

However, increasing the salary at an administrator's former workplace doesn't automatically result in the administrator being "recaptured." The author assumes that these administrators would choose to come back. Choice (D) identifies that assumption precisely.

It's possible that increasing the salary would also improve retention of administrators who have not left their government posts, but the author's conclusion is not concerned with retention. It's concerned with recapturing administrators who have left.

I hope this helps!
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Not sure if D should be the answer or not, D holds true if the main conclusion of argument is “Government will be able to recapture these capable administrators” but it seems that this is the intermediate conclusion and the main conclusion of the argument could be “Functioning of public agencies will be improved” of which the premise is “being able to recapture old employees”, now with this being main conclusion B seems the ideal answer even though the wording of it is bit extreme by the usage of most


Experts can you please help here VeritasKarishma GMATNinja

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Option (B) is not relevant. The focus of the argument is on 'capable administrators'. It does mention 'experienced' too once but we do not need it to be the most important factor.

The argument introduces a plan.

Aim of the plan: Improve functioning of public agencies.
Plan: Raise the salaries to recapture capable administrators.

What is the assumption of the plan to achieve the aim? That people will be willing to switch jobs again (provided they get equivalent or more money).

The correct answer choice is (D)

The stimulus says that government bureaucrats have taken private-sector jobs due to the public-private pay gap. If the gap is closed, these bureaucrats will return to their government jobs. Thus, says the author, public agencies will function better.

Answer choice (A): It is not necessary that the old government bureaucrats, now moved to private-sector jobs, will use their private-sector skills when they return to government jobs. They may just use their old government skills.

Answer choice (B): The argument does not suggest that the skill, quality, or experience of bureaucrats is the "most important factor" in determining the functioning of government agencies. The argument is not about how well government agencies function...so, this is irrelevant

Answer choice (C): Assume the logical opposite of this statement: What if the public-private pay gap will not continue to increase without government action? Perhaps the public-private pay gap will stay positive but constant. This does not destroy the argument: there still may be a need for government action to close the pay gap to zero. Thus, by the Assumption Negation test, this answer choice is not correct.

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice. Assume the logical opposite of this statement: What if people who moved from government jobs to private-sector jobs would not choose to change careers back to government jobs? If so, the author's argument will totally fail. Thus, by the Assumption Negation test, the statement contained in this answer choice is absolutely necessary for the argument.

Answer choice (E): There is no mention of what would happen if the public-private pay gap increases, rather than shrinks in the argument. So, this is irrelevant.

Thanks karishma your explanations are always super helpful.

Because a large disparity in pay between the public and private sectors has developed in recent years, many experienced and extremely capable government administrators have quit their posts and taken positions in private-sector management. Government will be able to recapture these capable administrators by raising salaries to a level comparable to those of the private sector. In that way, the functioning of public agencies will be improved. LSAT

C: The functioning of the public agencies will be improved once the government recaptures the capable administrators

The position taken above presupposes which one of the following?

(A) Experience gained from private-sector management will be very valuable in government administration.

The passage suggests that the government administrators are already very capable to begin with…so let’s suppose they didn’t gain any experience…the functioning of the agencies will be improved anyway

(B) The most important factor determining how well government agencies function is the amount of experience the administrators have.

Not necessary to assume that it is the most important factor…it could be one of many factors…argument would still work

(C) Unless government action is taken, the disparity in pay between government administration and private-sector management will continue to increase.

This says something that is tangential to the argument. Related yes, but not an assumption

(D) People who moved from jobs in government administration to private-sector management would choose to change careers again.

Correct! If the people who left don’t come back then there is NO reason to think the functioning of the agencies will be improved through bringing these people back.

(E) If the disparity in pay between government administration and private-sector management increases, administrators will move to the public sector in large numbers.

Well, don’t we already know that from the passage?
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I was stuck between options B and D. Although I was not fully convinced with Option B, I still chose it as option D seemed to be restating a premise given in the argument.
"Government will be able to recapture these capable administrators by raising salaries to a level comparable to those of the private sector."

So, is Option D not restating the above premise?
Pls help me understand this..

(A) Experience gained from private-sector management will be very valuable in government administration.--->Out of Context. The argument is clearly talking about the disparity in pay.

(B) The most important factor determining how well government agencies function is the amount of experience the administrators have. --->No, the amount of experience is irrelevant to the argument.

(C) Unless government action is taken, the disparity in pay between government administration and private-sector management will continue to increase.--->This is too broad, the argument is specific for the action to be taken regarding the increase in pay

(D) People who moved from jobs in government administration to private-sector management would choose to change careers again. --->Yes, this can be concluded from the last sentence.

(E) If the disparity in pay between government administration and private-sector management increases, administrators will move to the public sector in large numbers.--->Clearly no, opposite of the idea proposed in the argument.

The phrase "will be" is actually the key. Based on those words, we know that the author certainly BELIEVES that the government will be able to recapture the administrators. But of course if the author is mistaken, then the argument falls apart. So, in order for the argument to hold, we have to assume that (D) is true.

The first sentence can definitely be regarded as a "premise" -- just the stating of certain facts relevant to the argument. But the second sentence represents the author's opinion. It's a future tense statement, and unless the author has a crystal ball, there's no way to make that statement with 100% certainty.

Sure, you can have a future tense thing serve as a premise in an argument: "If you eat too much pizza, you will get sick. Therefore, if you do not want to get sick, you should not eat too much pizza." But in this context, the "will be" represents an opinion, not a statement of fact.

I hope that helps!
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Yes. That certainly helps. Thanks a ton.

Because a large disparity in pay between the public and private sectors has developed in recent years, many experienced and extremely capable government administrators have quit their posts and taken positions in private-sector management. Government will be able to recapture these capable administrators by raising salaries to a level comparable to those of the private sector. In that way, the functioning of public agencies will be improved.

The position taken above presupposes which one of the following?

(A) Experience gained from private-sector management will be very valuable in government administration. - WRONG. 'Valuable' is not a concern but pay disparity is.

(B) The most important factor determining how well government agencies function is the amount of experience the administrators have. - WRONG. Both highlighted texts are not concerned.

(C) Unless government action is taken, the disparity in pay between government administration and private-sector management will continue to increase. - WRONG. Irrelevant.

(D) People who moved from jobs in government administration to private-sector management would choose to change careers again. - CORRECT. Because if they don't then govt. increasing the pay would be of no help.

(E) If the disparity in pay between government administration and private-sector management increases, administrators will move to the public sector in large numbers. - WRONG. Exactly the opposite to what passage says. The reverse will happen.

Either by the time govt. raises pay to match private sector whether private sector pay remain at same level as it is now or government administrators who have quit their posts would come back would have been an assumption. The latter case is what D covers.

Answer D.
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I initially chose B as well not now that I think of it, perhaps the answer is not B because it's too specific. If the answer choice said something like experience of people is important in good functioning of the government, that would probably make sense. But it states as "the most important" which is far-fetched and not what the argument depends on.