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SajjadAhmad
Source: McGraw Hill GMAT

Many non-profit companies pay their employees a wage significantly lower than the wage earned by employees doing comparable work in the for profit sector. A director of a non-profit company argued that the pay scale was justified because working at a non-profit company provides employees with valuable workplace experience.

Which of the following, if true, seriously weakens the explanation offered by the director?

A. Directors of non-profit companies earned salaries comparable to those of directors in the for profit industry.
B. Some employees at non-profit companies believe they are doing a service for society.
C. Most of the employees in the non-profit industry have worked there for more than five years.
D. After working in the non-profit sector for many years, some employees earn wages higher than those earned by some employees in the for profit sector.
E. Non-profit companies often provide services that for profit companies will not.

I was with A as well...
'C' it seems strengthens the argument ..since wages are low but still people are working there ...Some other factor are driving their motivation level...may be good work experience...
please post OE for this.
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SajjadAhmad
Source: McGraw Hill GMAT

Many non-profit companies pay their employees a wage significantly lower than the wage earned by employees doing comparable work in the for profit sector. A director of a non-profit company argued that the pay scale was justified because working at a non-profit company provides employees with valuable workplace experience.

Which of the following, if true, seriously weakens the explanation offered by the director?

A. Directors of non-profit companies earned salaries comparable to those of directors in the for profit industry.
B. Some employees at non-profit companies believe they are doing a service for society.
C. Most of the employees in the non-profit industry have worked there for more than five years.
D. After working in the non-profit sector for many years, some employees earn wages higher than those earned by some employees in the for profit sector.
E. Non-profit companies often provide services that for profit companies will not.

can you post the official explanation. I cant see how C weakens.
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Official Explanation

This is a weaken question. The conclusion and premise are:

Premise: Working at a non-profit company provides employees with valuable workplace experience.

Conclusion: That the pay scale was justified.

This argument relies on the assumption that the experience gained at a workplace justifies low pay. You want to weaken the argument, so you should find a choice that breaks this link and shows that the gain in experience doesn’t justify low pay. The director’s pay is not the issue, so choice A is out of scope.

The motivations of the employees mentioned in choice B are not important, so eliminate it.

Choice C weakens the argument by showing that most employees already have experience, so the pay scale is not justified.

Choice D might show a possible benefit of working at a non-profit, but it doesn’t go far enough because only “some” workers are affected. Plus, it doesn’t address the link between experience and pay.

Choice E is irrelevant to the argument.

Answer: C.

goforgmat
SajjadAhmad
Source: McGraw Hill GMAT

Many non-profit companies pay their employees a wage significantly lower than the wage earned by employees doing comparable work in the for profit sector. A director of a non-profit company argued that the pay scale was justified because working at a non-profit company provides employees with valuable workplace experience.

Which of the following, if true, seriously weakens the explanation offered by the director?

A. Directors of non-profit companies earned salaries comparable to those of directors in the for profit industry.
B. Some employees at non-profit companies believe they are doing a service for society.
C. Most of the employees in the non-profit industry have worked there for more than five years.
D. After working in the non-profit sector for many years, some employees earn wages higher than those earned by some employees in the for profit sector.
E. Non-profit companies often provide services that for profit companies will not.

can you post the official explanation. I cant see how C weakens.
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arunavamunshi1988
Did not understand the ans given... Can anyone please explain why C has to be the ans? Does the option mean that if working in non profit industry gives an employee a valuable work experience, then the employees should not stay in the company for long. As the work experience has high value in market, so the employees should have moved to profit making organizations in less than 5 years and thus weakening the argument?

The question is actually a poor one, as it doesn't mention whether 5 years is a lot or not, but as the right answer is C, it means the 5 years is a long period of time.

The logic behind C is the following: the employees get the low salary, as they have other benefits. In this particular case, it is "valuable workplace experience". Why do they need it? The only explanation could be to quit the job and find new or do something else, where that valuable experience may be needed. Option C states that employees stay for a more than 5 years, this means that they are unlikely in non-profit industry for the valuable experience, but rather consider it main job.
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Merged topics. Please, search before posting questions!
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arunavamunshi1988
Did not understand the ans given... Can anyone please explain why C has to be the ans? Does the option mean that if working in non profit industry gives an employee a valuable work experience, then the employees should not stay in the company for long. As the work experience has high value in market, so the employees should have moved to profit making organizations in less than 5 years and thus weakening the argument?

The question is actually a poor one, as it doesn't mention whether 5 years is a lot or not, but as the right answer is C, it means the 5 years is a long period of time.

The logic behind C is the following: the employees get the low salary, as they have other benefits. In this particular case, it is "valuable workplace experience". Why do they need it? The only explanation could be to quit the job and find new or do something else, where that valuable experience may be needed. Option C states that employees stay for a more than 5 years, this means that they are unlikely in non-profit industry for the valuable experience, but rather consider it main job.


The question has GMAT options A, B, C, D and E. All of them looks rubbish. Now, we have to select an option to answer this question. Eliminate B,D and E---straight irrelevant. So, we are left with A or C. Now we A is less rubbish than option C. As it weakens the director point to view.
So answer option A is my answer.

Please provide us OA??..Help!!..VeritasPrepKarishma.
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I rejected the OA with some reasoning....like there is no limit on time to keep on experiencing or learning.....and there is no explicit mention of a time limit to have the necessary experience. What if the non-profits keep on pushing for some novel venture every 5 year, a venture that satisfies the low salary again.....
Seems like a poor question....not a GMAT type..
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How is C weakening the argument? Please help!
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Mahima1203
How is C weakening the argument? Please help!

Please read the OE in post below in the link.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/many-non-pro ... l#p1828569

Good Luck!
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Mahima1203
How is C weakening the argument? Please help!

Please read the OE in post below in the link.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/many-non-pro ... l#p1828569

Good Luck!

Yes, I read it. It says - "Choice C weakens the argument by showing that most employees already have experience, so the pay scale is not justified." They got experience by working in the non-profit company right? So, that means that non-profit company was helpful for them to get experience. Then how is it weakening? Could you please elaborate?
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Hello Mahima1203

I have attempted this question and I have no issue saying that the question is totally garbage. There is no reason to practice such a question otherwise you will lose even your existing CR strategies. There is no logic in any of the answer choices of the question.

Read the stimulus

Many non-profit companies pay their employees a wage significantly lower than the wage earned by employees doing comparable work in the for profit sector. A director of a non-profit company argued that the pay scale was justified because working at a non-profit company provides employees with valuable workplace experience.

According to the director the for-profit companies did not provide employees with valuable workplace experience while non-profit companies do.

Two things can weaken the director's explanation:

1. An answer choice that proves that the for-profit companies also provide employees with valuable workplace experience.

2. An answer choice that proves that the director is mistaken and is in the wrong lead in his/her explanation and that the non-profit companies did not provides employees with valuable workplace experience.

No answer choice is saying anything stated above hence there is no answer here. A good question could have been written based on this argument but the faulty answer choices spoil everything.

I hope that helps.

Mahima1203
Sajjad1994
Mahima1203
How is C weakening the argument? Please help!

Please read the OE in post below in the link.

https://gmatclub.com/forum/many-non-pro ... l#p1828569

Good Luck!

Yes, I read it. It says - "Choice C weakens the argument by showing that most employees already have experience, so the pay scale is not justified." They got experience by working in the non-profit company right? So, that means that non-profit company was helpful for them to get experience. Then how is it weakening? Could you please elaborate?
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why E is right ?

Conclusion - A director of a non-profit company argued that the pay scale was justified because working at a non-profit company provides employees with valuable workplace experience.

To weaken this, lower payscale is being justified by services often provided to the employees as E states.

With C - Can we say 5 years is more than sufficient valueable experience ? Yes and No (we don't know).
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Option C weakens the director's explanation because:
    The director's justification relies on the premise that lower wages are acceptable since employees gain valuable experience.However, if most employees stay for 5+ years, they are well past the "gaining experience" phase yet continue to be underpaid.Hence, This could be the reason why C is the correct option.

TheUltimateWinner
Many non-profit companies pay their employees a wage significantly lower than the wage earned by employees doing comparable work in the for profit sector. A director of a non-profit company argued that the pay scale was justified because working at a non-profit company provides employees with valuable workplace experience.

Which of the following, if true, seriously weakens the explanation offered by the director?

A. Directors of non-profit companies earned salaries comparable to those of directors in the for profit industry.

B. Some employees at non-profit companies believe they are doing a service for society.

C. Most of the employees in the non-profit industry have worked there for more than five years.

D. After working in the non-profit sector for many years, some employees earn wages higher than those earned by some employees in the for profit sector.

E. Non-profit companies often provide services that for profit companies will not.

Source: McGraw Hill GMAT
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What does Option E say?
“Non-profit companies often provide services that for-profit companies will not.”

This implies: The work done, and the experience gained, are not comparable to what for-profit companies do.

Weakener : If the work is fundamentally different, how is the experience gained at a non-profit valuable or marketable outside the non-profit world?
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