HOT Competition: A large manufacturing firm, on average, offers a high

A. Out of scope. We are not concerned about the type of training.
B. This statement may be true as an assumption, but this does not affect the conclusion.
C. Correct. The assumption is that % of skilled employees will be higher than previous year, hence average salary/employee will increase.
D. This statement can undermine the argument to some extent, but not serve as the assumption.
E. Out of scope. We don't need to know why skilled employees earn higher salary

A large manufacturing firm, on average, offers a higher compensation to skilled employees than to unskilled ones. This year, the management has decided to hire a higher number of skilled employees than they hired the previous year. This indicates that the average compensation of all the employees in the firm will increase this year.

Won't deny that I got a little lost but used elimination to find my way.

Deconstructing the passage:
In terms of compensation, skilled employees > unskilled ones
In terms of hiring, this year, more skilled employees than previous years.

Conclusion: Average compensation of all the employees in the firm will increase this year.

Pre-think : what could possible render the conclusion valid?
-the no of unskilled people hired is lesser in proportion to the skilled ones so that this compensates in the average figures of the salaries.
- there are already a more/equal no skilled employees
- the average salary of unskilled employees will increase to a greater percentage. This will in turn up the average.


Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?


A. Skilled employees who received their training from abroad earn more than those who received such training domestically.
(out of scope. The argument addresses the salary proportion and its impact on the average salary figures.)

B. The higher average salary for skilled employees is not because of their scarcity in that firm.
(Not relevant. The reason why their salary is higher doesn't impact the argument. We are looking for proportion between unskilled/skilled so that the point of salary average can be validated)

C. The percentage of skilled employees is higher now than it had been the previous year in that firm.
(As per the pre-thinking, this one fits)

D. The average salary of unskilled employees will not increase this year.
(this acts as a weakener of the conclusion. We need the opposite as an assumption for the conclusion to hold true)

E. Employees who have advanced skillsets earn higher salaries than employees who don’t
(Irrelevant. Same as A)

OA : C

Fact- Firm offer higher salary to Skilled Employees than to unskilled employees.
Management decided to hire a higher number of skilled employees.

Conclusion- Average compensation of all the employees in the firm will increase this year.



We need to find out assumption which supports conclusion.




There is no mention of location of training in argument. Eliminate option A



Whole argument is based on employees and average salary. Current Skilled employees are already included in average calculation. People who are not in firm are not making any changes to average. Eliminate option B



core of argument is employees have specific average last year. This Year more new skilled employees got added so if old employees remains same and new gets added, percentage of skilled employees will increase. If % of skilled employees will increase then Average salary will increase. It is simple mathematical thought. This assumption supports conclusion. Let's keep this option.



if average salary of unskilled employees doesn't increase and more skilled employees gets added then this overall average will increase. This assumption doesn't decrease overall average. Eliminate option D



This is mentioned in passage. It is fact. It is not an assumption. Eliminate option E.

imo C


A large manufacturing firm, on average, offers a higher compensation to skilled employees than to unskilled ones. This year, the management has decided to hire a higher number of skilled employees than they hired the previous year. This indicates that the average compensation of all the employees in the firm will increase this year.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

Conclusion : the average compensation of all the employees in the form will increase this year .

Avg = (Total Skilled people * compensation to Skilled +Total UnSkilled people * compensation to UnSkilled ) / (Total Skilled people + Total UnSkilled people)

Given Premise
compensation to Skilled > compensation to UnSkilled

Hiring of Skilled people this year > Hiring of Skilled people Last year

Hence average sal of all emp will increase only if there is no decrease of total skilled than last year .

with understanding let's go for POE

A. Skilled employees who received their training from abroad earn more than those who received such training domestically.

-- Training from abroad is out of scope

B. The higher average salary for skilled employees is not because of their scarcity in that firm.

We are not concerned about the reason for the average salary of skilled employees .. out of scope

C. The percentage of skilled employees is higher now than it had been the previous year in that firm.
-- Exactly this can be correct choice.. Hiring more skilled employees does not mean that .. The company is not firing skilled employees . If the total number of skilled employees is less this year then the average of all the employees will be less.

Hence the conclusion to be true... This has to be the correct assumption

D. The average salary of unskilled employees will not increase this year.

-- Incorrect.. We don't have information about the total average salary of skilled employees ..

E. Employees who have advanced skillsets earn higher salaries than employees who don’t

Advance skill set -> and earning higher

is out scope

A. Skilled employees who received their training from abroad earn more than those who received such training domestically. - not relevant

B. The higher average salary for skilled employees is not because of their scarcity in that firm. - even if they are less in number if ratio of skilled employees entering is more or same as that of unskilled employees they will still have higher salary. This does not provide any new information or support.

C. The percentage of skilled employees is higher now than it had been the previous year in that firm. - This might be the answer!!

D. The average salary of unskilled employees will not increase this year. - I selected this as right answer because if unskilled remains same new skilled people are joined and average salary will increase.

E. Employees who have advanced skillsets earn higher salaries than employees who don’t - this is not new information and is not relevant.

Option C is the correct option for this question. It rightly calls out the assumption that to is necessary to achieve the conclusion.

Conclusion - Average compensation of the firm increases. This can only happy if the % of higher paid employees (skilled employees) increase.

Option A and B can be eliminated as they introduce new information which is not relevant to the conclusion (Eg. Training from abroad, Scarcity of Skilled Employees)

Option D mentions that that average salary will not increase. If taken as an assumption, this does not necessarily mean that the average compensation of the firm will go up.

Option E is states the first premise of the sentence in different words and is not an assumptions.

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IMO C is the correct answer.

The conclusion here is "This indicates that the average compensation of all the employees in the firm will increase this year.", which is a comparison of average compensation of all employees this year vs. last year. This conclusion only happen if this year the company has higher % of skilled employees, who yield higher average compensation than unskilled employees. Therefore we need an assumption to support this idea.

A. Skilled employees who received their training from abroad earn more than those who received such training domestically.
--> Eliminate because information about "training from abroad" and "training domestically" is irrelevant

B. The higher average salary for skilled employees is not because of their scarcity in that firm.
--> Eliminate because the reason why skilled employees have higher average salary is irrelevant

C. The percentage of skilled employees is higher now than it had been the previous year in that firm.
--> Correct. Same as our pre-thought

D. The average salary of unskilled employees will not increase this year.
--> Eliminate because even if the average salary of unskilled employees will not increase, the conclusion might still happen

E. Employees who have advanced skillsets earn higher salaries than employees who don’t
--> Eliminate because same reason as B. The reason why skilled employees have higher average salary is irrelevant

A large manufacturing firm, on average, offers a higher compensation to skilled employees than to unskilled ones. // so we know that two groups of employees earn different rates

This year, the management has decided to hire a higher number of skilled employees than they hired the previous year. // so we know that they plan to increase the number of the skilled group

This indicates that the average compensation of all the employees in the firm will increase this year. // This conclusion is based on there being two groups and the knowledge that one of them will increase in size.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?


A. Skilled employees who received their training from abroad earn more than those who received such training domestically. // The prompt doesn’t discuss where the employees were trained

B. The higher average salary for skilled employees is not because of their scarcity in that firm // Tempting, but if this were the assumption then the result would be that the average compensation will go DOWN as a result of less scarcity

C. The percentage of skilled employees is higher now than it had been the previous year in that firm. // The prompt did not discuss what happens to the other group of employees. This resolves that missing information and appears correct

D. The average salary of unskilled employees will not increase this year // While this discusses the unskilled employees, it is the opposite of what would lead to the conclusion. The conclusion was based on an average compensation of all employees increasing, so not giving a raise to one group does nothing to advance the argument that employees generally are being paid more on average.

E. Employees who have advanced skillsets earn higher salaries than employees who don’t // This is very close to what the first sentence in the prompt said. But note that the prompt does not discuss salaries (only compensation) and only discusses skilled workers, not workers with advanced skills. Either way, this does not address the conclusion that this year workers will be paid more on average than last year.

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High skill workers (HS) = High Salary (suppose $200)
Low skill workers (LS)= Low salary (suppose $100)
Imagine if the number of HS = no. Of LS. In that case the average will be $150 (mean of two)

Now the company is increasing the number of HS and claiming that the average will increase (i.e. > $150)

Prethinking:
We know that only increase is HS is not sufficient to conclude anything about Average. We've to assume that either the LS has also either decreased, stayed same or increased in number but the increase was less than that of HS.

Let's go to options now.

A. Bringing a new information about *abroad training*. In addition, it's not aligned with our pre-thinking. Hence out.

B. Doesn't say anything about the average wage. Out.

C. This makes sense. In our case we assumed the % of HS to be 50%. Now even if both LS and HS Increase in number but HS will be >50% and hence the weighted average will be >$150. Completely makes sense. Keep it.

D. Even if the LS remains same ($100) but if the number of LS increases >50% then the average will drop. Hence out.

E. Doesn't give much info about the average wage. Out.

Hence, C is our best option here.

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Premises:

-Skilled employees are offered a higher compensation than are unskilled ones
-This year, the management has decided to hire a higher number of skilled employees

Conclusion:
Average compensation of all the employees in the firm will increase this year.

So, clearly we have gap between the management decision to hire a higher number and the fact that the average compensation of ALL the employees will increase.

A. Skilled employees who received their training from abroad earn more than those who received such training domestically.

This one tries to explain why a subgroup of skilled employees earn more money, so it is irrelevant. Incorrect

B. The higher average salary for skilled employees is not because of their scarcity in that firm.

This one tries to eliminate a reason for the higher average salary for skilled employees, totally irrelevant. Incorrect

C. The percentage of skilled employees is higher now than it had been the previous year in that firm.

Here we have something, if we have an increase percentage of skilled employees, then the average of ALL employees will increase for sure, weighted average right? Correct.

D. The average salary of unskilled employees will not increase this year.

This one gives information about unskilled employees, so it is irrelevant to fill the gap of the argument. Incorrect

E. Employees who have advanced skillsets earn higher salaries than employees who don’t

This one sort of explains why some employees have higher salaries, irrelevant. Incorrect.

C) is the answer.

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Conclusion: Average compensation of employees will increase this year compared to previous year
Premise/Basis (Why?): Because more (# number) skilled employees will be hired this year.

So what? Why would the average compensation of ALL employees increase?

Because,

Avg. compensation (skilled employees) > Avg. compensation (unskilled employees)


Crux:

Since more skilled workers (who have higher avg. salary) will be hired this year -à firm’s avg. salary for all employees will increase.

In which scenario can we FALSIFY above condition?

WHAT IF – company hires significantly higher number of unskilled workers (having lower avg. salary) also? If this happens, firm’s average salary for ALL employees will decrease.

So, clearly author is making an assumption that company will not hire significantly more workers. In other words,


This year:


#of skilled worker > # of unskilled workers OR

Proportion of skilled worker > Proportion of unskilled workers OR

Percentage (%) of skilled worker > percentage (%) of unskilled workers ----- (1)


Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?


A. Skilled employees who received their training from abroad earn more than those who received such training domestically.

We already know that salary of skilled employees is greater than salary of unskilled employees. Now, segmentation of skilled workers based on salary which depends of location of training (abroad v/s domestic) has NO IMPACT on increasing or decreasing the average salary of ALL employees.

B. The higher average salary for skilled employees is not because of their scarcity in that firm.

This option tells us about a factor which is not the reasoning for why skilled employees earn more on an average. Again, knowing or not knowing reasons behind skilled employees’ higher salary has NO IMPACT on increasing or decreasing the average salary of ALL employees.

C. The percentage of skilled employees is higher now than it had been the previous year in that firm.

This is same as point (1) above. If percentage of skilled employees is higher, than their salaries contribute more towards total salary earned by ALL employees in the firm and increase the average salary of ALL employees.

Moreover, if you negate this option i.e.

NEGATION: The percentage of skilled employees is not higher (could be same or lower) now than it had been the previous year in that firm,

then the conclusion completely breaks down. So this is the CORRECT option.


D. The average salary of unskilled employees will not increase this year.

This information is not useful unless we know other related information to assess the overall impact on conclusion i.e. whether the avg. salary of unskilled workers remain same or decrease?

Case 1: If the avg. salary of unskilled workers remain the same, then firm’s avg. salary of ALL employees can

INCREASE – If many unskilled workers are fired this year
DECREASE – If significantly more unskilled workers are hired this year

Case 2: If the avg. salary of unskilled workers decrease, then firm’s avg. salary of ALL employees can

May INCREASE or DECREASE – If many unskilled workers are fired this year
DECREASE – If significantly more unskilled workers are hired this year

So again, we can’t assess the impact of this option on the conclusion.

E. Employees who have advanced skillsets earn higher salaries than employees who don’t

Argument already gives us this information that skilled employees (a.k.a those having advanced skillsets) earn more than unskilled employees (those who do not have advanced skills), so this need not to be assumed and hence no impact on the conclusion.

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Hello guys!

The question above expects us to know the reason behind the surge in the compensation of employees that takes place.

Using Process of Elimination (POE),

Eliminate Option A, we are not concerned about the employees who received training from abroad, and we are not comparing them with the domestic ones.

Eliminate Option B, the scarcity of employees is not a question because the company has hired skilled employees who will get a better share this year.

Option C seems close. Let's hold it for a while.

Option D. This one also isn't that bad. Let's come back here.

Eliminate Option E, we are not specifically discussing the skill sets of employees here. IMO, it does not sync with our pre thinking.

Option C vs Option D,

Option D talks about the average salary of unskilled workers, which will not increase this year. Negating it, average salary of skilled workers will increase this year. This option isn't completely up to the mark because it fails to talk about why the average compensation will increase this year. D was very close.

Option C mentions that the number of skilled workers is greater than the previous year, this helps us in concluding that the average compensation of workers is
going to increase as the company has hired maximum number of skilled employees than the previous year.

IMO,
Answer:- Option C

PS- Do aid me with your explanation if this answer is not apt.

Thank you!

Regards,
Raunak Damle

IMO C

Given:
(i) Compensation- Skilled > Unskilled
(ii) Higher recruitment of Skilled Employees this year
(iii) Conclusion: Average compensation of all the employees in the firm will increase this year.

Question Type: Assumption

A. Skilled employees who received their training from abroad earn more than those who received such training domestically. Incorrect -- We are not concerned with the type of skilled employees (whether they receive training abroad or domestically). This option does not affect the conclusion.

B. The higher average salary for skilled employees is not because of their scarcity in that firm. Incorrect -- Reason for higher salary is irrelevant to conclusion. All that we know and required is that the salary of skilled employees is greater.

E. Employees who have advanced skillsets earn higher salaries than employees who don’t Incorrect -- All we are concerned with is skilled vs unskilled employees. Comparison between Employees with advance skillset & those who don't will not affect the conclusion.

Option C & D look good. Lets apply the "Assumption negation technique" to these options-

D. The average salary of unskilled employees will not increase this year.
Let in Previous Year :
Compensation , Skilled (S) = 10 & Unskilled (NS) = 5
Number of employees: S = 50 , NS=50
Avg. Salary = 7.5
This Year: Skilled (S) = 10 & Unskilled (NS) = 6
Number of employees: S = 60 , NS=50
Avg. Salary = 8.2
Negation of option D doesn't break the conclusion. So This option is Incorrect

C. The percentage of skilled employees is (Not) higher now than it had been the previous year in that firm.
Let in Previous Year :
Compensation , Skilled (S) = 10 & Unskilled (NS) = 5
Number of employees: S = 50 , NS=50
Avg. Salary = 7.5
This Year: Skilled (S) = 10 & Unskilled (NS) = 5
Number of employees: S = 60 , NS=61 (S<50%)
Avg. Salary = 7.47
Negation of option C breaks the conclusion.Correct

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Assumption should point out why the average compensation of all the employees in the firm will increase this year.
A. Skilled employees who received their training from abroad earn more than those who received such training domestically. - So that doesn't defines increase in average compensation. It just tells the income for skilled employees who get training from abroad.(Out)

B. The higher average salary for skilled employees is not because of their scarcity in that firm. - This just tells us that it is because of their capabilities that they are paid higher. Doesn't tells anything regarding average compensation(out)

C. The percentage of skilled employees is higher now than it had been the previous year in that firm.-(Correct) As this year skilled employees are higher in number than the previous year so average has to go up.

D. The average salary of unskilled employees will not increase this year. - So this way if we assume that skilled employees are less and than unskilled employees have no increase so average will definitely go down (out)

E. Employees who have advanced skillsets earn higher salaries than employees who don’t - Just the stated in argument. Can't be assumption (out)

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A large manufacturing firm, on average, offers higher compensation to skilled employees than to unskilled ones. This year, the management has decided to hire a higher number of skilled employees than they hired the previous year. This indicates that the average compensation of all the employees in the firm will increase this year.

The author concludes that the average compensation of the firm will increase this year.
He makes this conclusion based on the following premises:
A) The manufacturing firm offers higher compensation to skilled employees than unskilled employees
B) and This year they will hire more of such employees than the previous year.

So from average compensation of skilled employees, the author makes a jump to the average compensation of all the employees.
1) What if the average compensation of unskilled workers goes down, then the average may go down.
2) What if the number of unskilled labor this year also increase a lot, so that the overall average remains low.
3) It is also possible that many skilled employees leave the firm and their overall number decreases.

Presented above are some of the logical gaps that exist in the argument.


A. Skilled employees who received their training from abroad earn more than those who received such training domestically.
Even if there is a salary discrepancy among the skilled employees, they will still earn on average higher than unskilled workers. This does not affect the argument.

B. The higher average salary for skilled employees is not because of their scarcity in that firm.
Irrespective of the fact they are scarce or not they earn a higher salary. Even if their number increases we can't be sure that their salary will be reduced. This option also does not affect the conclusion.

C. The percentage of skilled employees is higher now than it had been the previous year in that firm. -Correct

The percentage of skilled employees is higher now. Hence currently the proportion of the people who earn a higher salary has increased this year. So the average salary this year will be higher. If we consider the negation of the argument- The percentage of skilled employees is not higher than it had been the previous year. So the proportion of people earning a higher salary has not increased or may even be reduced. We can't say that the average compensation will be higher this year. Also, this option addresses our logical gap point number 2) and 3).

D. The average salary of unskilled employees will not increase this year.
If the salary stays the same then the average salary might still be higher. But if their salary decreases than the average could decrease. This statement weakens the conclusion.

E. Employees who have advanced skillsets earn higher salaries than employees who don’t

This statement states about some employees who have advanced skillsets. We don't have any information regarding skilled workers, we can't be sure whether they are referring to the same set of workers.

The conclusion of the argument is : "the average compensation of all the employees in the firm will increase this year."

From a mathematical view, it should be seen as a weighting problem ! In order to the average salary of the workers increase, the percentage of the community earning higher should be greater than that percentage of the last year,

A. Out of scope, nothing talks about training abroad or domestically
B. Out of scope, nothing talks about scarcity
C. Correct answer
D. Even if the average salary of unskilled people increase, that would strenghten our conclusion, so this assumption is not relevant
E. Not relevant, it is an info already given in the paragraph stem

A large manufacturing firm, on average, offers a higher compensation to skilled employees than to unskilled ones. This year, the management has decided to hire a higher number of skilled employees than they hired the previous year. This indicates that the average compensation of all the employees in the firm will increase this year.

PREMISE:
1) firm offers a higher compensation to skilled employees than to unskilled ones.
2) This year, firm hire a higher number of skilled employees than they hired the previous year.

CONCLUSION: The average compensation of all the employees in the firm will increase this year.

PRE-THINKING: What if firm hire a higher number of skilled employees this year than they hired the previous year because skilled employees also resigned more this year than last year? If this true, the number of skilled employees this year may qual to the number of those last year, so the average compensation of all the employees in the firm probably remains the same this year.


Which of the following is an assumption on which the argument depends?

A. Skilled employees who received their training from abroad earn more than those who received such training domestically. --> OUT OF SCOPE We don't care the source of skilled employees education.

B. The higher average salary for skilled employees is not because of their scarcity in that firm. --> IRRELEVANT We don't want to know why skilled employees receive more money than unskilled.

C. The percentage of skilled employees is higher now than it had been the previous year in that firm. --> CORRECT Bang on our pre-thinking! We need to make sure that overall percentage of skilled employees is higher this year than last year, and not remain the same or lower.

D. The average salary of unskilled employees will not increase this year. --> Hmm.. This is quite tempting for me, but if you negate this statement, you will see that The average salary of unskilled employees will increase this year. Then, this would actually support the conclusion and the conclusion can still hold true.

E. Employees who have advanced skillsets earn higher salaries than employees who don’t --> OUT OF SCOPE
We don't care who earn more.

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