In Kravonia, the average salary for jobs requiring a college

C for me.

Fact 1: the average salary for jobs requiring a college degree > average salary for jobs that do not require a degree.

Fact 2: over the next four years the percentage of the Kravonian workforce with college degrees will increase dramatically.

Conclustion: the average salary for all workers in Kravonia is likely to increase over the next four years.

B. The percentage of Kravonians who attend college in order to earn higher salaries is higher now than it was several years ago.

I think this has been talked as the fact 2. it cannot be assumption.

C. The higher average salary for jobs requiring a college degree is not due largely to a scarcity among the Kravonian workforce of people with a college degree.

this is best. if the demand decreases, then the average salary for jobs that require a college degree will not increase. The conclusion will be refuted.

D. The average salary in Kravonia for jobs that do not require a college degree will not increase over the next four years.

even if the average salary for jobs that do not require a college degree will increase, the average salary for all workers in Kravonia will still increase over the next four years.

there are two types of assumptions: supporter and defender.

supporter: directly strengthens the conclusion.
All men like baseball games. Therefore, Jack likes baseball too.
supporter assumption: Jack is a man.

defender: protects the arguments by eliminating ideas that weaken the conclusion.
Jack is a lawyer and he is smart. Thus, studying law made Jack smart.
defender assumption: Jack was not smart before studying law

Conclusion: the average salary for all workers in Kravonia is likely to increase over the next four years
Possible reason of high pay: may be there are more jobs and less people who meet the requirement i.e. having a college degree.

C is also a defender assumption and is the right answer

another way to check assumption questions is to logically negate the answer and see if it weakens the conclusion.

Logical negative of C: the higher average salary for jobs requiring a college degree is due largely to a scarcity among the Kravonian workforce of people with a college degree.

the logical negative definitely weakens the conclusion and is the right answer

In Kravonia, the average salary for jobs requiring a college degree has always been higher than the average salary for jobs that do not require a degree. Current enrollments in Kravonia’s colleges indicate that over the next four years the percentage of the Kravonian workforce with college degrees will increase dramatically. Therefore, the average salary for all workers in Kravonia is likely to increase over the next four years.

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

A. Kravonians with more than one college degree earn more, on average, than do Kravonians with only one college degree.

B. The percentage of Kravonians who attend college in order to earn higher salaries is higher now than it was several years ago.

C. The higher average salary for jobs requiring a college degree is not due largely to a scarcity among the Kravonian workforce of people with a college degree.

D. The average salary in Kravonia for jobs that do not require a college degree will not increase over the next four years.

E. Few members of the Kravonian workforce earned their degrees in other countries.


The higher average salary for jobs requiring a college degree is not due largely to a scarcity among the Kravonian workforce of people with a college degree.->

Negate it.
Suppose higher average salary is due to scarcity of students with college degree.

Now, as there will be more students with college degree and students with college degree will be easily available ( no scarcity).
Then, the below will not hold true
"Therefore, the average salary for all workers in Kravonia is likely to increase over the next four years."

It weakens.

A very good question

The answer is C

The argument is taking a big leap to predict that the people with college degrees will earn more and there will be more people with college degree .
There can be many reasons for the higher salary for people with college degrees.
C tells us that the higher salary is not due to the scarcity of jobs that require college degree.
If it is not true than the conclusion will as there will more people with college degree who can now perform the job so the salary will indeed decrease .

So C is the necessary assumption .

Got this one correct, but took some time to do it

In Kravonia, the average salary for jobs requiring a college degree has always been higher than the average salary for jobs that do not require a degree. Current enrollments in Kravonia's colleges indicate that over the next four years the percentage of the Kravonian workforce with college degrees will increase dramatically.

Conclusion :Therefore, the average salary for all workers in Kravonia is likely to increase over the next four years.

Pre-thinking: Could not do much pre-thinking here. Just that the salary will either remain same or more for these people with college degree. And there should not be a drastic decrease in the salary of people without college degree, as that may bring down the overall average.

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

A. Kravonians with more than one college degree earn more, on average, than do Kravonians with only one college degree. [Out of Scope: Not concerned with people with more than one degree]

B. The percentage of Kravonians who attend college in order to earn higher salaries is higher now than it was several years ago. [This looked like a good option, but what I am concerned about is the percentage of people who have a college degree and not those who attended college (they might not get the degree). Thus discarded it.]

C. The higher average salary for jobs requiring a college degree is not due largely to a scarcity among the Kravonian workforce of people with a college degree. [Took me some time to understand the sentence . But this is the correct one. Negating this sentence would mean that higher salary is because of scarce workforce and if that is the case, then with the increase in the number of people with college degree, the average would go down. This shatters the argument. Hence this has to be the ASSUMPTION.]

D. The average salary in Kravonia for jobs that do not require a college degree will not increase over the next four years. [It could remain constant but that does not impact the conclusion.]

E. Few members of the Kravonian workforce earned their degrees in other countries. [Out of Scope - who cares where they got their degree from?]

The argument is that the average salary for ALL workers will INCREASE over the next 4 years.
This is because the average salary for jobs requiring a college degree has been increasing. AND
Current enrollments of college students indicates a higher percentage of the workforce will have college degrees soon.

What does the argumentator assume?

Strictly C and D

C is correct. This must be true because if the higher average salary for college degree type jobs decreases as more supply of the workforce have college degrees then the average cost of labour will go down. C points denies the possibility of this happening, thus allowing the author's argument to be held true.

D even if the average salary for jobs that do not require a degree does NOT increase this doesn't affect the salary of the higher paying jobs, which are typically college degree jobs. If the salary does increase, we already know that these jobs aren't as high paying as college degree jobs, so the average won't be impacted as much.

Hi VeritasKarishma - I understand why C is right but I am struggling to eliminate D specifically.

The argument is
i) People with college degrees get paid more on average.
ii) More people in the work force are getting college degrees

Hence

Average salaries of ALL WORKERS are going up

(D) if negated seems to weaken this argument.

Negated D says, folks w/o college degrees are also having their salaries increase as well.

Thus, If folks w/o college degrees are also having their salaries increased, then perhaps there is another reason why Average salaries of ALL folks are going up (not just because of people getting more college degrees)

Introducing another 3rd reason as to why A causes B is an example of a weakener.

Please let me know where is the break in my logic

Thank you for EVERYTHING !

Negation needs to break the conclusion.

Negated (D): folks w/o college degrees are also having their salaries increase as well.

Conclusion: Avg salary for all workers in Kravonia is likely to increase over the next four years.

Negated (D) helps our conclusion, not break it.

I made a similar mistake with D
In the next 4 years:
If the avg. salary of non-degree Kravonian workers stays the same / does not increase, but the degree holders' avg. salary increases, then its mathematically correct to say the average salary of all Kravonians would still increase. And while its a fact, it is not what the question asks for, which is; what does the assumption (all salaries increasing) depend on? The average salary of all Kravonian workers increasing does NOT depend on the salaries of non-degree holders staying the same / not increasing.

Understanding the argument -
In Kravonia, the average salary for jobs requiring a college degree has always been higher than the average salary for jobs that do not require a degree. Fact
Current enrollments in Kravonia's colleges indicate that over the next four years the percentage of the Kravonian workforce with college degrees will increase dramatically. Fact/Opinion
Therefore, the average salary for all workers in Kravonia is likely to increase over the next four years. - Conclusion.

We need to find the minimum condition or the missing premise or the assumption for the conclusion to hold true, which is "the average salary for all workers in Kravonia is likely to increase over the next four years."

What if the moment we have more college graduates, their number increases more than the demand, and thus salaries reduce instead of increase? So we need to safeguard the argument against this possible weakener.

Option Elimination -

A. Kravonians with more than one college degree earn more, on average, than do Kravonians with only one college degree. - We are not concerned about "Kravonians with more than one college degree." Out of scope.

B. The percentage of Kravonians who attend college in order to earn higher salaries is higher now than it was several years ago. - how does it even relate to the scope of the argument, which is "the average salary for all workers in Kravonia is likely to increase over the next four years." Out of scope.

C. The higher average salary for jobs requiring a college degree is not due largely to a scarcity among the Kravonian workforce of people with a college degree. - ok. Had it been due to scarcity, then the moment we have more college graduates, the salaries would not increase, and the conclusion would fall flat.

D. The average salary in Kravonia for jobs that do not require a college degree will not increase over the next four years. - If it doesn't increase, it doesn't mean it reduces. It can just stay the same as well. In that case, how does it impact "the average salary for all workers in Kravonia is likely to increase over the next four years"? No impact. Distortion.

E. Few members of the Kravonian workforce earned their degrees in other countries. - out of scope.

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