At the county's Office of Disability Claims, we have seen that the

Question

At the county's Office of Disability Claims, we have seen that the most experienced, best educated and highly trained analysts are departing in record numbers. Analysts are leaving out of frustration that their salaries are not comparable to those paid at the Social Infrastructure Administration. The backlog in disability cases will not be resolved until we are able to retain the best-trained analysts by paying more competitive salaries.

Which of the following, if true, would provide the most support for the prediction that the suggested action will have its intended effect?

Which of the following, if true, would provide the most support for the prediction that the suggested action will have its intended effect?

(a) The county's Office of Disability Claims has the capability in its annual budget to accommodate more competitive salaries.
(b) Many analysts were paid less this year than they were last year
(c) Several county Office of Disability Claims analysts indicated that higher pay is the primary reason they'd prefer to work at the Social Infrastructure Administration.
(d) Raising salaries of county office of disability claims analysts will improve morale at the department
(e) There are several other more feasible ways the country’s office of disability claim’s number of unresolved disability claims can be reduced.

gmatexam439 · Accepted Answer

At the county's Office of Disability Claims, we have seen that the most experienced, best educated and highly trained analysts are departing in record numbers. Analysts are leaving out of frustration that their salaries are not comparable to those paid at the Social Infrastructure Administration. The backlog in disability cases will not be resolved until we are able to retain the best-trained analysts by paying more competitive salaries.

Which of the following, if true, would provide the most support for the prediction that the suggested action will have its intended effect?

Which of the following, if true, would provide the most support for the prediction that the suggested action will have its intended effect?

(a) The county's Office of Disability Claims has the capability in its annual budget to accommodate more competitive salaries. - Correct. The plan of retaining the employees will work only if the department is capable of paying the increased salary 
(b) Many analysts were paid less this year than they were last year - Out of scope 
(c) Several county Office of Disability Claims analysts indicated that higher pay is the primary reason they'd prefer to work at the Social Infrastructure Administration. - Okay? This is just restatement of the information given in the passage. Plus, it doesn't take into account the plan (increase the salary to retain the employee) 
(d) Raising salaries of county office of disability claims analysts will improve morale at the department - Morale? out of scope 
(e) There are several other more feasible ways the country’s office of disability claim’s number of unresolved disability claims can be reduced. - This weakens the argument

chesstitans · Answer

arvind910619  
I am just stunt to hear that C is not right because C sounds like an opinion. How can you find such valuable tips for GMAT? 
For me, I just repeat reading C to get what is really stated in C, and I realize C cannot be the right answer. I never though C is an opinion.

rahulkashyap · Answer

But isnt the point of the argument that IF paid more, analysts will stay and hence clear the backlog? We are supposed to strengthen the intended action, which is paying more.
 chetan2u  any insights would helpful. Thanks

chetan2u · Answer

Hi..
 rahulkashyap ,

Many times we see the OA and try to fit our response to the Q in a way that it meets the OA.
Surely do it in OG and official questions but always question as you have here.

we have to support the prediction...
 By paying extra salaries, the talent can be retained and thus would help in clearing backlog...

does it support the prediction..
 YES in a way.  if they have money, then they will be able to retain.
 BUT also NO, in other way  ..
by adding after the prediction " that the suggested action will have its intended effect ", it has restricted the SUPPORT 
now you have to support that the suggested action -  retain the best-trained analysts by paying more competitive salaries. - will have suggested effect -  The backlog in disability cases will be resolved  
"Having money" really doesn't suport this, it supports   THAT the suggested action is workable

so debatable.

AdityaHongunti · Answer

At the county's Office of Disability Claims, we have seen that the most experienced, best educated and highly trained analysts are departing in record numbers. Analysts are leaving out of frustration that their salaries are not comparable to those paid at the Social Infrastructure Administration. The backlog in disability cases will not be resolved until we are able to retain the best-trained analysts by paying more competitive salaries.

Which of the following, if true, would provide the most support for the prediction that the suggested action will have its intended effect?

The main conclusion is - The backlog in disability cases will not be resolved until we are able to retain the best-trained analysts by paying more competitive salaries. ( the backlog will not be resolved until we are able to retain )
the conclusion is not - we can retain . 
then how is the ability to retain important???

Which of the following, if true, would provide the most support for the prediction that the suggested action will have its intended effect?

(a) The county's Office of Disability Claims has the capability in its annual budget to accommodate more competitive salaries.

GMATNinja   DmitryFarber   VeritasPrepBrian   pqhai   VeritasKarishma

KarishmaB · Answer

AdityaHongunti 
The conclusion here is this:
The backlog in disability cases will not be resolved until we are able to retain the best-trained analysts by paying more competitive salaries.
This is another way of saying: Only if we are able to retain the best-trained analysts by paying more competitive salaries will the backlog in disability cases be resolved.

The point in question is this: Will we be able to resolve the backlog in disability cases? Is the only solution retaining the best trained analysts by paying more?

Option (A) talks about the ability to pay. This is not the answer. Whether we are able to pay or not is not the point. The point is whether we will be able to resolve the disability cases. 
Option (C) certainly makes more sense - 
(C) Several county Office of Disability Claims analysts indicated that higher pay is the primary reason they'd prefer to work at the Social Infrastructure Administration.

It seems that retaining the analysts by paying more will work since money is the primary concern.

IanStewart · Answer

Karishma's analysis above is perfect, though I think there are two additional fundamental problems with the question. Answer A is certainly wrong no matter how you interpret the question. C is a better answer, but C is also problematic. The stem tells us, as a premise, that "analysts are leaving   their salaries are not comparable". So we already know why they're leaving, and answer C tells us nothing we didn't know already; it doesn't provide any more "support" than the stem alone provides. At best it's neutral (but I guess that makes it better than all the other choices).

Even more fundamental, the question asks about a "suggested action" and an "intended effect" but there is no suggested action or intended effect in the stem. The stem does not propose or suggest doing something. It just says 'we won't resolve our backlog unless we pay higher salaries'. And the argument isn't even saying "paying better salaries will clear our backlog", so it isn't saying higher salaries on their own will produce a certain effect. It's saying better salaries are a necessary condition to clear the backlog, not that they're a sufficient condition. It's not clear even what the question might mean.

This question reminds me of an official problem, probably from GMATPrep, which does have an OA about having budget available to enact a certain proposal, but the wording of that question is different. I can't remember enough about it to find it, though; maybe someone else knows what question I'm talking about.

Thelegend2631 · Answer

With all due respect to explanations, this is a poor Question. One of main reasons why I hate solving prep Company Questions - barring Manhattan , Veritas , Princeton .

At the county's Office of Disability Claims, we have seen that the

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