Q10 - At the beginning of each month

[josh.glenn44]

My problem with this question is how to eliminate Answer Choice C. I can see D resolves the situation: Companies abruptly close and when they do nobody sticks around to file the report which would show the jobs lost.


The last sentence of the stimulus is stated broadly and makes it sound as if the info from the reports is used to help project data as a whole for unemployment.

"Despit accurate reporting by companies and correct tallying by the government, the number of jobs lost was significantly underestimated in the recent recession."


Answer Choice C: More people who lose their jobs start up their own businesses.


If I tell myself, 'Ok, that would make up for the numbers being wrong because the govt isn't recording this.', would I be going to far with the assumption that these numbers aren't recorded by the government??

Also, is it somehow possible to determine whether the stimulus is only talking about the companies mentioned and not the unemployment situation as a whole??

[boy5237]

This was a funky question...
But... here is my 2 cents.

I initially thought C was the answer as well... but now I realized that C isn't the totally convincing answer choice due to following reasons:
1) the argument actually says that "despite the accurate reporting..." meaning that there were no errors with the data whatsoever. However, C is contradicting to what the stimulus says: more people got jobs after they were fired... so they were not included in the data. Well, not only this is inconsistent with the argument but also it is an unwarranted assumption. Also, if people were employed, then they should have reported to the government regardless.
2) We have to literally understand the word "underestimate." When the argument said that the # of jobs was underestimated, it literally means that people lost more jobs than what the data says. However, C says people got themselves employed after getting fired: this would make the number of jobs lost overestimated not underestimated.

Therefore D is right but... this is a terrible question I think... After all, this is from prep 13 so....

[maryadkins]

Good discussion guys. The point here is that the people who started business had already lost their jobs; that was already reported to the gov't, and THAT is what was underestimated. It doesn't matter if they started business later--the question isn't about later. It's about why the numbers reported were accurate about who lost jobs, but they still didn't account for everyone who lost a job. Getting a job later is actually irrelevant.

[nja21]

Good discussion guys. The point here is that the people who started business had already lost their jobs; that was already reported to the gov't, and THAT is what was underestimated. It doesn't matter if they started business later--the question isn't about later. It's about why the numbers reported were accurate about who lost jobs, but they still didn't account for everyone who lost a job. Getting a job later is actually irrelevant.

Also, those who have lost their jobs and start a new business, for their new business they must report to the federal government.So if I lose my job at company X, they will report -1 and then I go and build my own Company Y, I will have to report to the federal Gov. +1 for my new business: It's like I never lost my ob at the first place. Hence this answer choice does not explain the underestimation.

[donghai819]

Hold on a second... For D, I see two reasons to make it correct:
1) the reports are filed at the beginning of each month, so if "a large number of failing companies abruptly ceased all operations" in, say, mid of the current month, the latest report wouldn't be filed in time.
2) as one previous post already suggested, if all operations are ceased, there wouldn't be anyone to report.

Does reason 1 actually help?

[maryadkins]

Yes, (1) and (2) work together in tandem! Good job.