PrepTest 151

Correct. Argument or Facts:
Argument

Valid or Flawed:
Flawed

Question Type:
Strengthen

Stimulus Summary:
If minimum wage is low, companies hire people instead of buying machines, and productivity growth slows. Productivity growth is necessary for higher average standards of living. Higher minimum wage leads to higher productivity. So, a raise to the minimum wage will improve overall economic health (productivity will balance out loss in job growth).

Answer Anticipation:
This argument draws a conclusion about overall economic health, but it never defines what factors are important or determinative to overall economic health. It does, however, list a few that are important factors—productivity (which is related to avg. standard of living) and employment levels. The balance between these two is important for the author's conclusion—productivity, to her, trumps the rise in unemployment (or, at least, lower levels of new hiring). Any answer that bolsters that balance strengthens the argument.

Answer Explanation:
Right off the bat, this answer helps the author's argument. She balances the positives (increased productivity) with the negatives (decreased hiring), and determines that the positives outweigh the negatives. If this answer is true, then the negative will also eventually go away, or at least abate, making the balance even more likely to be in favor of increasing minimum wage.

Key Takeaway:
When an argument balances the pros and cons of a course of action, correct answers will frequently deal with the relative value of the pros and cons. Look for any answer that would play into the determination of whether the pros outweigh the cons.

Incorrect. An argument could be made that a country with increasing unemployment shouldn't take an action that will lower hiring, such as the author suggests here.

Incorrect. This answer doesn't give information about how unemployment and average standard of living are related, just that they are. Maybe having a certain level of unemployment is important to having the highest standard of living (reflecting people who are between jobs by choice). Answers that are open to interpretation like this are rarely correct in Strengthen or Weaken questions.

Incorrect. The argument mentions the purchase of productivity-enhancing technology, not the development of new technology. This answer is out of scope.

Incorrect. The author wants to raise the minimum wage, thus leading to the adoption of productivity-enhancing technology. If anything, this technology becoming outdated quickly would suggest it might not be the best idea to do anything to lead to its adoption.