Argument143 [OB小组]_第14次作业_驳裁员失业

ldongxpUID: 2311083

TOPIC: ARGUMENT143 - The following appeared as a letter to the editor of a national newspaper.

"Your recent article on corporate downsizing* in the United States is misleading. The article gives the mistaken impression that many competent workers who lost jobs as a result of downsizing face serious economic hardship, often for years, before finding other suitable employment. But this impression is contradicted by a recent report on the United States economy, which found that since 1992 far more jobs have been created than have been eliminated. The report also demonstrates that many of those who lost their jobs have found new employment. Two-thirds of the newly created jobs have been in industries that tend to pay above-average wages, and the vast majority of these jobs are full-time."

*Downsizing is the process in which corporations deliberately reduce the number of their employees.
WORDS: 544          TIME: 00:30:00 + 12         DATE: 2007-7-26 16:01:59

In this argument, the author concludes that the editor's article gives a mistaken impression that many competent workers who lost jobs because of downsizing face serious economic hardship before finding other jobs. To support the conclusion, the author cites a report on the United States economy which discovered that more jobs have been created that have been eliminated since 1992 and many of those who lost jobs have found new jobs. The author also notes that two-thirds of the newly created jobs have been in industries which tend to pay wages above average level and most of them are full-time. However, this argument suffers from several critical flaws and is therefore unconvincing as it stands.

First of all, the fact that more jobs have been created that have been eliminated since 1992 does not necessarily indicate that the people who lost their jobs can easily find new jobs. The author overlooks other factors that affect the employment. For instance, perhaps the population has increased far more quickly the increase of jobs since 1992 in the United States and it would be more difficult to find new jobs for the worker who lost jobs because of downsizing. Or perhaps, the newly created jobs require the newest knowledge which most of the workers who lost jobs do not know and thus only the newly graduated university students can be competent to those jobs. Without ruling out these and other explanations for the employment, the author cannot make a sound conclusion based on that report.

Secondly, the fact many of those who lost jobs have found new jobs has little indication that fewer workers who lost jobs have find new jobs. The author fails to provide the information that how many percentage of the total population have find new jobs. Therefore, it is entirely possible that only 1% of all the workers who lost their jobs due to downsizing have find jobs and far more people do not find new jobs. Based on such a vague number, the author cannot make a convinced conclusion.

Thirdly, the author unfairly assumes that the new jobs would bring more wages to the workers since two-thirds of the newly created jobs have been in the industries that tend to pay above-average wages and most of these jobs are full-time. For the one thing, the fact that newly created jobs have been in the industries that tend pay above-average wages may not indicate higher actual wages. Perhaps the industries just tend to pay higher wages but due to the general economy going down, those industries would gain less profit and not pay higher but average wages. Even the industries would pay above-average wages to some staff; they may pay fewer wage to the new staff who take the newly created jobs. Without considering these and other possibilities, the author cannot make a convincing conclusion.

In sum, this argument is unpersuasive as it stands. To bolster this conclusion, the author must provide clear evidence that the worker who lost their job because of downsizing can easily find new jobs and that the newly created jobs indeed offer more money. To better assess the conclusion, more information about the newly created jobs and more detail about the workers who lost jobs are needed.