PrepTest 114, Section 1, Question 12
Economist: Technology now changes so rapidly that workers(39 more words not shown)
Which one of the following(8 more words not shown)
- AWorkers did not(16 more words not shown)
- BLarge job retraining(15 more words not shown)
- CNo single type(10 more words not shown)
- DLarge governmental job(12 more words not shown)
- ETechnological workers are(20 more words not shown)
Reading the argument
Why couldn't a large government program meet a particular company's needs?
I can see the need for relevant training. A dental office and a grocery store might need workers trained on very different equipment. A program that ignored those needs could be of little use to either employer. But the economist hasn't told us that a large government program must ignore them. It could offer different courses or otherwise provide what those companies need.
What we’re looking for
The given requirement is that efficient retraining must let individual companies meet their short-term needs. The conclusion rules out large government programs. For the necessary assumption, I'd look for the missing claim that those programs don't meet that requirement. Their size and government sponsorship don't establish that by themselves.
Working the answers
- A
Workers could have needed retraining even when technology changed more slowly. The argument concerns which programs can efficiently meet today's needs. It doesn't depend on retraining having been unnecessary in the past.
- B
This compares large programs with smaller ones under a future slowdown in technological change. The economist hasn't made that comparison or based the conclusion on that future situation. A program could be less efficient than another and still be a viable option for efficient retraining. B doesn't supply the needed claim that the large government programs fail the current requirement.
- C
We don't need to know whether one type of program is the most efficient. The conclusion rules out a particular kind of program as a viable option; it doesn't rank all available types. There could be a best type, or several equally good types, without settling whether large government programs meet companies' short-term needs.
- DCorrect
The argument needs this failure to meet companies' needs. Efficient retraining must meet that condition, and D says large government programs don't. That gives the economist a basis for ruling them out.
If those programs did meet individual companies' needs, the stated requirement would no longer justify excluding them. Meeting it wouldn't automatically prove the programs efficient, but the economist would need some other reason to reject them. D supplies the assumption this particular reasoning depends on.
- E
More workers moving for suitable jobs doesn't tell us what the retraining programs can deliver. Those workers could be more mobile while a government program did or did not meet companies' needs. E leaves the missing connection untouched.
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