Many economists claim that financial rewards provide

Question

Many economists claim that financial rewards provide the strongest incentive for people to choose one job over another. But in many surveys, most people do not name high salary as the most desirable feature of a job. This shows that these economists overestimate the degree to which people are motivated by money in their job choices.

Which one of the following, if true, most weakens the argument?

Which one of the following, if true, most weakens the argument?

(A) Even high wages do not enable people to obtain all the goods they desire.

(B) In many surveys, people say that they would prefer a high-wage job to an otherwise identical job with lower wages.

(C) Jobs that pay the same salary often vary considerably in their other financial benefits.

(D) Many people enjoy the challenge of a difficult job, as long as they feel that their efforts are appreciated.

(E) Some people are not aware that jobs with high salaries typically leave very little time for recreation.

Source: LSAT

broall · Accepted Answer

Easily come to choice C.

The argument is like this:

Economists: People choose job by mainly financial rewards
Surveys: People choose job not mainly by high salary.
Conclusion: Economists are not right.

It's clear that the conlusion take the term "financial rewards" with the same meaning as "high salary". The correct answer is the one points out this misunderstanding.

Choice C stated that "financial rewards" are not only "salary". "Financial packages" include other "financial benefits", for example insurance packages, vouchers, some caring policies for employees,.... This choice directly weakens the conclusion made above. Hence, choice C is the correct answer.

abhimahna · Answer

Are we sure OA marked is correct?

I believe option B clearly says in case of identical jobs, people prefer the high paying ones. So, it should be a weakener to the conclusion of the author.

Please confirm.

broall · Answer

In option B, there are just some surveys people said that they would prefer a high-wage job, but that didn't represent everyone generally. Hence choice B is not the correct answer.

daboo343 · Answer

If we show people are somewhat motivated by financial gain, the the argument is weakened.
C says the same
Hence C

arunavamunshi1988 · Answer

I think B should 100% weaken the argument... To make the conclusion, the author talks about some surveys on which the conclusion is dependent. So the assumption here is "the surveys are representative of the people the argument is talking about".... If e can prove that these surveys did not consider the whole set of people, rather it considered a subset of people then the argument is weakened.... So 'B' provides the evidence that the Surveys were not correct because there were other people who were not surveyed.... So the ans is wrong here.....

ganand · Answer

Hi  arunavamunshi1988 ,

The official answer is C. I have rechecked it.

nguyendinhtuong  has already explained why C is correct. I found good explanation on Manhattan LSAT forum. I am posting the same:

Hope this helps.

Thank you.

max0010 · Answer

The key point to understand here is that the comparison is between the  financial rewards  and not jus the salaries. Hence between options B and C, only option C talks about 'other' ways of financial benefits. So C wins!

GGMU · Answer

Between B and C i will go with option C as financial rewards is not necessarily equivalent to high salary as suggested in the argument.

GMATNinjaTwo · Answer

Thanks for all of your replies!

To post additional questions not already addressed in this thread, feel free to use the  request verbal experts' reply  button.

arichinna · Answer

Narrowing down to B and C.

In GMAT, the premise is taken as true and unquestionable all the time. It is only the reasoning which is to be tested. Now, "in many surveys, most people do not name high salary as the most desirable feature of a job" is a premise which is true.

Option B:
In many surveys, people say that they would prefer a high-wage job to an otherwise identical job with lower wages.

Yes, in many surveys people say something. Ok. But how many? Is this the majority? This statement is not negating the premise. It talks about others in the survey who prefer high wage. But, even if the answer choice were to say, the majority prefers a high-wage job, it would negate the premise which says majority prefers other things as highly desirable. Hence, such as answer will not be presented.

Option C:
Jobs that pay the same salary often vary considerably in their other financial benefits.

When comparing two similar pay jobs, people consider other financial benefits and hence, they must have named them more desirable in the survey. It does not mean they do not consider the choice of money. This weakens the conclusion.

aniket16c · Answer

Argument - Financial rewards are the most important while choosing a job. Survey says that high salary is not the most desirable feature. Conclusion = Economists overestimate the financial motivation of people while choosing a job
Question - Show that financial motivation is the most important

(A) Even high wages do not enable people to obtain all the goods they desire.
- This discusses about the aftermath of high salary. We do not know if people prefer high salary for materialistic purposes/ for ostentatious purpose etc.
- Wrong

(B) In many surveys, people say that they would prefer a high-wage job to an otherwise identical job with lower wages.
- This argument goes against the premise. Question says that survey indicates high salary is not the most desirable feature
- Wrong

(C) Jobs that pay the same salary often vary considerably in their other financial benefits.
- This represents a gap between the premise and the conclusion. The premise focuses on financial rewards, while the conclusion focuses on wages. Financial rewards = wages + other benefits. It could be the case that job with high wages have a lower financial reward compared to the other jobs

(D) Many people enjoy the challenge of a difficult job, as long as they feel that their efforts are appreciated.
- Effort appreciated = financial reward (Assumption). The option does not discuss about the degree of the appreciation.
- Wrong

(E) Some people are not aware that jobs with high salaries typically leave very little time for recreation.
- We need to focus on strengthening the fact that financial rewards are the most important
- Wrong

Mizar18 · Answer

Conclusion: Economists overestimate the degree to which people are motivated by money in their job choices
 
 (B) vs (C)

(B) In many surveys, people say that they would prefer a high-wage job to an otherwise identical job with lower wages.

This option just talks about a preference of people regarding a high wage over lower wages at an identical job. Does this one help us to weaken the conclusion? Absolutely not, it just help us to get that people obviously wants to earn more money. Incorrect.

(C) Jobs that pay the same salary often vary considerably in their other financial benefits.

If jobs that pay the same salary vary considerably in other financial benefits, can we asure that economists overestimate money? Not necesarily, it may be the case that people is making a lot in  "other"  financial benefits, so if we sum all the financial benefits (salary + "others") we get that the total of benefits is making the strogest incentive to choose one job over another. So this one clearly makes us doubt about the conclusion of the author.  Correct

shrgmat · Answer

Wow! I love this question

; quality and if I get this right, I’m surely looking at a damn good verbal score Posted from my mobile device

UkrHurricane · Answer

I think, option B does not go against the premise. For instance, if the number of surveys is 100, and the number of participants in each survey is also 100. It is possible that in each of 50 surveys, from 51 to 100 participants do not name high salary as the most desirable feature of a job; at the same time, in each of other 50 surveys, from 1 to 100 participants say that they would prefer a high-wage job to an otherwise identical job with lower wages. Many does not mean most.

Deadpool3 · Answer

Choice (B) is very tempting, however, is wrong.
It states that people prefer a high-wage job to an identical job with lower wages. In other words, this answer choice suggests that salary matters for many people when choosing a job. If the author had suggested that salary is entirely irrelevant in choosing a job, this answer choice would certainly weaken that argument. However, the author tried to convince us that salary is not the most important factor in choosing a job, not that it is entirely unimportant.

unraveled · Answer

Essence of the passage is that economists believe financial rewards are the strongest factor behind people choosing one job over another. However, in MANY surveys people don't agree with salary as the greatest of the factor -  here the flaw lies in the number of surveys which test takers normally might not pay much attention to . Then the conclusion goes overboard in saying that economists overestimate about people's motivation i.e. they are motivated by money.

Only B and C are the contenders as others are irrelevant. B makes a similar error as the passage makes about the number of surveys - MANY is too open to go ahead with such conclusion. Otherwise B is in line to what we are looking for in the right answer. In C, on the other hand, there's another parameter of financial nature that compensates the financial rewards. C gives another dimension to passage and thus weakens the argument.

Answer C.

abhishekujjawal · Answer

Option C is correct because even if respondent of the survey are not quoting salary directly, but the surveyor didn't included total financial benefits  of any job.

23ss23 · Answer

Many say the answer is B. But as per my understanding, B in fact in some way strengthens the argument to a certain extent -

Option B  - In many surveys, people say that they would prefer a high-wage job to an  otherwise identical job  with lower wages. This simply shows that when everything else is equal, people prefer the job that pays more. But what if the jobs are not identical and differ in ways that are not financial? then people might have a different pick.  This only confirms that financial incentive is a priority only if everything else about both jobs remains the same.

Now let's look at C - Jobs that pay the same salary often vary considerably in their other financial benefits. In the survey - "most people do not name high salary as the most desirable feature of a job." and this option suggests that salary alone doesn’t capture the full picture of financial rewards. People might be motivated by other financial benefits (bonuses, insurance, stock options etc.) rather than just salary. This weakens the argument by showing that people might still be financially motivated, just not solely by salary, which undercuts the conclusion that economists are overestimating financial motivation in general.

Hence C is the correct option.

Many economists claim that financial rewards provide

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Many economists claim that financial rewards provide

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