Strengthen with Necessary Premise Questions - - Question 49

The economies of some industrialized countries face the prospect of large labor shortages in the decades ahead. Meanw...

Julie-V July 22, 2019

Answer Explanation

Hi LSAT Max, Can you explain how we can get to choice (C) as the correct answer and why (A) would be incorrect? Thanks in advance!

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Ravi July 23, 2019

@Julie-V,

Happy to help. Let's take a look at (A) and (C).

This is a strengthen with a necessary premise question. We're looking
for the answer choice that's required for the argument. We can use the
negation test, as the negation of the correct answer choice will make
the argument fall apart.

(A) says, "older workers have acquired skills that are extremely
valuable and that their younger colleagues lack"

(A)'s negation is, "Older workers have not acquired any skills that
are extremely valuable and that their younger colleagues lack."

The problem with (A) is that older workers don't need to do anything
that their younger colleagues don't do. They simply need to be extra
bodies; they don't have to be anything unique or special, so we can
get rid of (A), as its negation doesn't wreck the argument.

(C) says, "a large number of workers in some industrialized countries
would continue working beyond the age of sixty-five if workers in
those countries were allowed to do so"

(C)'s negation is, "something less than a large number of workers
would continue working beyond the age of sixty-five even if they were
allowed to do so"

(C) is great. We must assume that if older workers were not forced to
retire, they'd continue working beyond the age of 65. Otherwise, they
would not help to solve the labor shortage if they simply decided to
retire at 65. Thus, (C)'s negation wrecks the argument, showing that
(C) in its original form is required for the argument.

Does this make sense? Let us know if you have any other questions!