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31 Jul 2010, 00:52
ESSAY QUESTION:
The following appeared in the editorial section of a local newspaper:
“The inflow of immigrant workers into our community has put a downward pressure on wages. In fact, the average compensation of unskilled labor in our city has declined by nearly 10% over the past 5 years. Therefore, to protect our local economy, it is essential to impose a moratorium on further immigration.”
Discuss how well reasoned you find this argument. Point out flaws in the argument's logic and analyze the argument's underlying assumptions. In addition, evaluate how supporting evidence is used and what evidence might counter the argument's conclusion. You may also discuss what additional evidence could be used to strengthen the argument or what changes would make the argument more logically sound.
YOUR RESPONSE:
In the passage it is argued by the author that in order to protect our local economy it is essential to impose a moratorium on immigration. Support for this claim takes the form, primarily, of an assumption that inflow of immigrant workers into community has put a downward pressure on wages . On deeper analysis of the subject at hand, however, it becomes apparent that certain relevant aspects have not been taken into account, leading to a number of flaws.
One such flaw is the assumption that lowering of wages because of immigrant workers in the community is directly related to the economy of the community. Due to lack of availability of in house workforce the production houses may require immigrant workers which can results in economy boost. Such demand can reduce the average wages because a larger pool of workforce is available to the production houses but it cannot be assumed that this results in the economy . In order to strengthen the argument, more facts are required which can show that there is direct relationship between the wages and economy of the community irrespective of the production which can show that majority of immigrant workers are unskilled which results in lowering of wages
Another statement, significantly weakening the argument, is that declining of average compensation of unskilled labor in city over the past 5 years. However no facts are provided which led to the declining of the unskilled labor as the immigrant worker can be skilled or unskilled. To overcome this flaw, argument should contain proper facts about the immigrant workers whether skilled or unskilled coming in the community and also the information about available in house workforce.
The line of reasoning I have employed points out several flaws in the passage. After closer examination of the matter, I conclude that the above argument is not logically sound.