Argument183，雇员害怕失业， 离考试还有四天

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TOPIC: ARGUMENT183 - Many employees of major United States corporations are fearful that they will lose their jobs in the near future, but this fear is largely unfounded. According to a recent study, a majority of companies expected to make new hires in the coming year, while fewer companies expected to lay off employees. In addition, although it is very disturbing to be laid off, the proliferation of programs and of workshops designed to improve job-finding skills has made being laid off far less painful than it once was.
WORDS: 366
TIME: 00:30:00
DATE: 2010-8-6 12:41:31

In this argument, the author believes that it is not necessary for the employees to fear about being laid off. To bolster his conclusion, the author cites a study which was conducted recently. The study suggests that most of companies actually expected to make new hires in the coming year and those the number of the companies expected to lay off workers is relative few. For another thing, the author assumes that it would not as painful as before for being laid off since the existing of proliferation of programs and workshops which was designed to improve workers' job-finding skills. However, I find the author's conclusion dubious on several grounds.

In this first place, the mere fact that a majority of companies expected to make new hires in the coming year and the fact that number of those expected to lay off workers is fewer do not necessarily mean the workers' fear is unfounded. Firstly, the author provides no information about the employees' professions and the companies involved in the study. Perhaps the workers who are afraid of being laid off are those physical laborers, whereas the companies which expected to hire more employees require only skilled workers or well-educated workers. In this way, those physical laborers' fear is founded anyway. Or perhaps, the study is just a regional survey which cannot reveal the real nationwide situation, but the employees of major United States corporations are obviously widespread. Therefore, the study’s reliability is under doubt.

Secondly, the author points out that the number of the programs and the workshops designed to improve job-finding skills has increased, and the author assumes that these programs and workshops would make being laid off not as painful as before. Yet, I find there is no sufficient evidence to substantiate this conclusion. Perhaps, the expense for enter these programs and workshops is extremely expensive and laid-off worker cannot afford this amount of money, therefore, being laid off makes them as painful as it once was. Or perhaps the training in this programs and workshop is not ideal and most of the laid off workers remain unemployed after participate these programs and workshops. They, having spent a large amount of money, become even more upset than before. Without ruling out all possible scenarios, the author’s assumption falls short on its persuasiveness.

Moreover, even assuming that the programs and the workshops have made being laid off far less painful than it once was, it is still hastily for the author to draw the conclusion that the employees' fear is unfounded. It is in accordance to common sense that being laid off is very disturbing, so, it is obviously for the workers to fear about it. In my view, there is no linkage between the feeling after being laid off and the fear.

To sum up, the author’s conclusion is based on a series of substantiated assumption which renders the conclusion unconvincing as it stands. To give a more convincing conclusion, the author should firstly testify the study’s reliability and provides more details about the information about the companies involved in the study. Then, the author should conduct survey about the true feeling of unemployed workers under the circumstance that there have more programs and workshops designed to help them. Finally, the author may need to prove the relation between unemployed people’s feeling and employees’ fear.