Economist: Real wages in this country will increase significantly only

Question

Economist: Real wages in this country will increase significantly only if productivity increases notably. Thus, it is unlikely that real wages will increase significantly in the near future, since this country’s businesses are currently investing very little in new technology and this pattern is likely to continue for at least several more years.

Which one of the following, if assumed about the economist’s country, allows the economist’s conclusion to be properly drawn?

(A) Neither real wages nor productivity have increased in the last several years.
(B) Real wages will increase notably if a significant number of workers acquire the skills necessary to use new technology.
(C) Sooner or later real wages will increase significantly.
(D) Productivity will not increase if businesses do not make a substantial investment in new technology.
(E) The new technology in which businesses are currently investing is not contributing to an increase in productivity.

m1033512 · Answer

IMO D

Here ,

here author talks about productivity and then suddenly jumps to technology invesement

So author is assuming that the technology is essential for productivity increase .

Option D talks the same

award kudos if helpful

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hiralk126 · Answer

Could someone highlight why E is incorrect?

ssonesh · Answer

hiralk126

E is incorrect because the economist mentions that 'Real wages in this country will increase significantly only if productivity increases notably'. Notice the word 'notably' here. So the current new technology might be adding to an increase in productivity, but it is not notable.

That's my reason for eliminating E.

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Bombsante · Answer

Well my reason of eliminating choice E is that the argument stem states that businesses are investing very little in new technology. Option E means that businesses are actually investing in new technology but the tech is not increasing productivity.
Option D states that Productivity will not increase if businesses do not make a  substantial investment . If we negate option D, the conclusion falls apart. Assume  Productivity will increase  if businesses do not make a substantial investment, which destroys the conclusion. If we negate option E, it actually strengthens the conclusion.
Hope this makes sense.

akela · Answer

Complete Question Explanation

This conditional question concludes that it is unlikely that real wages will increase significantly in the near future. This is based on the idea that for real wages to increase significantly productivity must increase notably, and currently this country’s businesses are investing very little in new technology (and this pattern is likely to continue). Clearly what must be connected here is the idea that if a country invests very little in new technology (or does not invest a lot in new technology) then productivity will not increase notably. This can be diagrammed as follows:

....................  Invest heavily new tech  ->  Productivity increase ->  Real wages increase significantly

(The bolded portion is the connection needed in the correct answer choice.)

Answer choice (A): The conclusion is about the near future, so the trends of the past are unrelated to the argument here.

Answer choice (B): You cannot know that a number of workers will acquire the skills to use whatever new technology may develop, so this answer choice cannot be thought to prove the conclusion.

Answer choice (C): Again, the conclusion is about the “near future” so this answer choice is not related to it (“sooner or later” is not the same as the “near future,” and if it were this answer choice would actually attack the conclusion).

Answer choice (D): This is the correct answer choice.  If productivity increasing is necessary for wages to increase, and productivity requires substantial investment in new technology (which is not happening), then real wages cannot increase in the near future.

Answer choice (E): Even if the new technology that is being invested in is not yielding an increase in productivity, that is not enough to conclude that productivity in not increasing for other reasons. So even with this answer choice it is possible that the conclusion is incorrect (if productivity could still be increasing for other reasons, then real wages could still increase in the near future and the conclusion may not be true).

0Lucky0 · Answer

Well, If you negate Option A then the conclusion falls apart even worse than it does with option D so I don't believe that negation is such a good strategy. What are your thoughts?

0Lucky0 · Answer

This conditional question concludes that it is unlikely that real wages will increase significantly in the near future . 
This above highlighted is what you just said above. What are your thoughts about this?

Badsha5796 · Answer

Because of the term substantial mentioned in Opt D.
  it is mentioned as a "very little investment" by the companies in the passage.

VerbalBot · Answer

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Economist: Real wages in this country will increase significantly only

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Economist: Real wages in this country will increase significantly only

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