The government passes a new law requiring all companies to offer employees unpaid time off to care for their children. This would harm the economic competitiveness of the nation's businesses as companies must be free to set their own employment policies without mandated parental-leave regulations. Which of the following, if true, would weaken the argument?

Question

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

The fact that a parental-leave law will serve to strengthen the family as a social institution in this country and the fact that a majority of citizens say they favor passage of a parental-leave law are outside the scope of the conclusion as they show the significance of family as a social institution. The main subject of the passage is "economic competitiveness of the nation's businesses," not the "family as a social institution." Also, the citizens' opinions are not relevant to the message in the passage. The fact that many businesses in this country already offer employees some form of parental leave neither offers detracting evidence nor reveals any faulty assumptions. The fact that some of the countries with the most economically competitive businesses have strong parental-leave regulations shows that many other countries managed to stay competitive despite strong parental-leave laws. Hence, this weakens the argument. The fact that the proposed parental-leave does not apply to small-scale industries is irrelevant to the argument.

The Government Passes a New Law Requiring All Companies to Offer