The list of the highest paying cities in the world is headed by cities

Question

The list of the highest paying cities in the world is headed by cities in Switzerland. This serves to reaffirm the fact that people in Western European cities on average earn three times more than those in Eastern Europe. The fact that, in Switzerland, deductions from salary are relatively low, further widens the gap between net wage level earned there and in other countries, especially in the rest of Western Europe. The largest wage differences are in Asia, where the highest value (Tokyo) is twelve times higher than the lowest (Delhi).

Which of the following can properly be inferred from the statements above?

(A) The Swiss pay less money in taxes than do people in the rest of Western Europe.

(B) Delhi is the poorest city in the Asian continent.

(C) The wage difference between the richest and poorest cities of Eastern Europe is less than twelve times.

(D) Switzerland is not situated in Western Europe.

(E) Tokyo has more rich people than does Delhi.

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ankush4april1994 · Accepted Answer

Option C . Passage clearly states wage differences is highest in ASIA and that difference is 12 times , which means no other country in the world has higher difference.So no comparison for eastern european countries is required.

Option A mentions about taxes , passage mentions about deductions ( which can be angthing other than taxes also). Also it mentions taxes as whole , it could be any other taxes that swiss pay higher than other countries. So this option is incorrect

Ishaan30 · Answer

I usually distribute information in inference questions in different points to ease my process for understanding - 
1. 
 
2. 
 
3.

It could also be possible that the swiss pay more taxes on things other than wages but we'll keep it aside.

NO , Lowest wages does not mean country is poor.

NO , Comparison between eastern Europe cities has not been made. Easy elimination.

NO , focusing on second point above shows that Swiss is in Western Europe.

NO , not a logical inference. It could be possible that Delhi business owners save enough from the cheap wages that they are richer than people in Tokyo. Also, this option brings in unwanted variables like population in Tokyo and Delhi.

IMO , A is correct. Do correct if needed so.

Dereno · Answer

In the list of highest paying cities -  SWITZERLAND  occupies the top position. Switzerland occupying the highest position helps to reaffirm the fact that : average salary of Western Europe = 3* ( average salary of Eastern Europe).

The deductions of Switzerland salary is low. Meaning the difference between gross and net salary is fairly low. Deductions usually are taxes, premiums paid or health insurances paid etc.

Larger wage differences is seen in Asia. Tokyo (highest) = 12 * lowest (Delhi).

Let’s see the options :

(A) The Swiss pay less money in taxes than do people in the rest of Western Europe.

From the question stem, the tax deductions are less compared to the tax deductions to the rest of Western Europe. This can be inferred. Hence, correct. ✅

(B) Delhi is the poorest city in the Asian continent.

The question stem speaks about the wage difference. The highest wage difference is for Tokyo and the lowest wage difference is for Delhi. Wage difference is entirely different from poor and rich. Hence, wrong.

(C) The wage difference between the richest and poorest cities of Eastern Europe is less than twelve times.

12 times wage difference is for Asia. And, No comparison is made between Eastern Europe in the question stem. Hence, wrong.

(D) Switzerland is not situated in Western Europe.

Switzerland may or may not be situated in Western Europe. Hence, wrong.

(E) Tokyo has more rich people than does Delhi.

This cannot be true. Tokyo has few people whose salaries are extremely great compared to others. This is contradictory to the option statement. Hence wrong.

Option A

Tumbler · Answer

A is explicitly given how can it be the inference

Dhruvdaddy1 · Answer

How can you infer about "Richness" or "Poorness" just based on wage differences?  Bunuel

velvetwhisper · Answer

I am confused between A & C.

egmat · Answer

velvetwhisper

Why C is the Correct Answer:

The passage states:  "The largest wage differences are in Asia, where the highest value (Tokyo) is twelve times higher than the lowest (Delhi)."

This is a  superlative statement  - it tells us Asia has THE LARGEST wage differences at  12  times. By logical necessity, if Asia has the largest difference, then  every other region  (including Eastern Europe) must have differences  < 12  times. This is a  definite, mathematical inference .

Why A is Tempting but Wrong:

Choice A requires an extra leap. The passage says  "deductions from salary are relatively low"  in Switzerland. While deductions often include taxes, they could also include:
- Health insurance premiums
- Pension contributions 
- Other mandatory withholdings

We can't be  100% certain  that lower deductions = lower taxes specifically. GMAT inference questions require absolute logical certainty, not reasonable assumptions.

Quick Decision Framework for Inference Questions: 
 
 Does the answer require ANY assumption beyond what's stated? → Likely wrong 
 Can you say "This MUST be true" or just "This PROBABLY is true"? → Choose MUST 
 Is there a superlative or absolute statement supporting it? → Strong candidate

I hope this helps! If you'd like, you can practice similar questions  here  (you'll find a lot of OG questions) - select  Critical Reasoning  under  Verbal  and choose  Medium  level questions focusing on "Inference" type.

durd3n047 · Answer

imo C is correct

it is supported by an explicit statement (“largest wage differences are in Asia”). A requires the assumption (deductions = taxes)

AbhishekP220108 · Answer

Hi "Velvetwhisper", lets dissect the segments of given information and then analyse why given options are correct or incorrect.

The list of the highest paying cities in the world is headed by cities in Switzerland. ( lets say there are 10 cities are in highest paying list, and 6 are from Switzerland)

This serves to reaffirm the fact that people in Western European cities on average earn three times more than those in Eastern Europe. (It has been claimed too but with this data again it is affirmed that western Europe salary is 3x of eastern europe cities. Since cities of Switzerland tops in highest paying list, then Switzerland will be in western europe, right)

The fact that, in Switzerland, deductions from salary are relatively low, further widens the gap between net wage level earned there and in other countries, especially in the rest of Western Europe.
 (Also the deduction from salary, which can be pf income tax or something like that is very less compared to others and because of that difference between Switzerland cities and other cities salary are also bigger)

The largest wage differences are in Asia, where the highest value (Tokyo) is twelve times higher than the lowest (Delhi).
 (It was given western and esstern europe difference in salary is 3x now in asia difference in two cities of asia is 12x)

That's all for the info part

Which of the following can properly be inferred from the statements above?

(A) The Swiss pay less money in taxes than do people in the rest of Western Europe. (it was given only about the deduction from salary we don't know anything about other taxes too apart from salary may be those taxes are higher)so eliminate

(B) Delhi is the poorest city in the Asian continent. ( we cant say it is mentioned lowest, lowest cant guarantee poorest) so eliminate

(C) The wage difference between the richest and poorest cities of Eastern Europe is less than twelve times. (yes the largest difference is of asia which is 12x and in western and eastern it is 3x so eastern europe has to be between 3x and 12x, otherwise the argument will break apart the largest difference premise will not hold) so keep

(D) Switzerland is not situated in Western Europe. (This is opposite otherwise the reaffirmed claim will be broken)

(E) Tokyo has more rich people than does Delhi. (no info given)eliminate

Hope it helps

AbhishekP220108 · Answer

Hi egmat your explanation is not as per the info. How the deduction in salary is equivalent to the taxes paid? Can you absolutely say that only deductible from salary are only tax person is paying. Please check your explanation.

Second it has been given largest wage difference is for Asian cities if the eastern europe difference is more or even equal to 12 then can the premise hold?

glagad · Answer

Bunuel  - Is there an explanation for the correct solution here? Would be helpful to clarify the difference between A and C

egmat · Answer

glagad  Here's how I'll tackle this:

Why C is the Correct Answer:

The passage states:  "The largest wage differences are in Asia, where the highest value (Tokyo) is twelve times higher than the lowest (Delhi)."

This is a  superlative statement  - it tells us Asia has THE LARGEST wage differences at  12  times. By logical necessity, if Asia has the largest difference, then  every other region  (including Eastern Europe) must have differences  < 12  times. This is a  definite, mathematical inference .

Why A is Tempting but Wrong:

Choice A requires an extra leap. The passage says  "deductions from salary are relatively low"  in Switzerland. While deductions often include taxes, they could also include:
- Health insurance premiums
- Pension contributions 
- Other mandatory withholdings

We can't be  100% certain  that lower deductions = lower taxes specifically. GMAT inference questions require absolute logical certainty, not reasonable assumptions.

I hope this helps now. If you have any confusion about any other option, feel free to ask.

( velvetwhisper  fyi, please ignore my last explanation)

egmat · Answer

AbhishekP220108 thanks for pointing this out. I made an error while reading the passage- my bad! (To err is human, after all!). I have now revisited this and provided the correct solution

Bunuel · Answer

Official Explanation

Answer: C

Since this is an Inference question, let’s analyze each option one by one.

(A) We know that the Swiss have lower deductions from their salary but we don’t necessarily know whether these are on account of taxes are some other heads.

(B) All that the stimulus tells us is that the average wage in Delhi is considerably lower than in Tokyo. We don’t even know whether we have data for each city in the Asian continent so there is no way we can conclude that Delhi is the poorest city in the continent.

(C) The correct answer.  The argument states that the difference between the highest and lowest wage rates is highest in Asia, so it has to be lower in all other places such as Eastern Europe.

(D) In fact, the argument suggests that Switzerland is most likely situated in Western Europe.

(E) Again, this depends on the population of the two countries because the wage level in consideration is an average. So it’s possible for Delhi to have more rich people than Tokyo but since Delhi also has many more relatively poorer people, this fact pulls the average wage down.

Gambrosio · Answer

A is incorrect because the text states low deductions - which can be seen as a low percentage deducted from your salary. Due to the high salaries, this still can mean they pay more money, even if it is less percent. Hence, IMO A incorrect.

JackyJan · Answer

you cant infer it just based on wage differences, thats why those answer choices are wrong

The list of the highest paying cities in the world is headed by cities

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The list of the highest paying cities in the world is headed by cities

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