Mexico's demographics

[pbathia]

I have a question relating to a RC question from a MGMAT Cat.

The passage does NOT indicate which of the following concerning Mexico’s current demographics?
a) Due to the government’s family planning campaign, Mexico’s population is currently diminishing.
b) On average, Mexican women are having approximately one-third the number of children that they had in 1968.
c) Many Mexicans still migrate to the United States in search of work.
d) As a result of declining birth rates, Mexico’s population is aging.
e) A healthy middle class in Mexico has not yet fully developed.


While the correct answer is A, I do not understand why C is incorrect. The explanation suggests that the first sentence precludes it:

"For years, U.S. employers have counted on a steady flow of labor from Mexico willing to accept low-skilled, low paying jobs."

however, isn't this sentence in the past tense? "For years, employers have counted on..." Answer choice C says that Many still migrate to the US (present tense)...

[StaceyKoprince]

"have counted" is the present perfect tense. Present perfect denotes an action that began in the past but is still true or still going on right now, in the present.

[Guest]

the MGMAT instructor guy is right, here's an example to show it.

If I say "I've relied on home hardware for great products since I was a boy", nothing in that sentence says I still don't. If anything, it implies that I still do at the moment. Since the sentence in question is structured in the same way, we can infer from it that the Americans still do rely on Mexican labor.

[JonathanSchneider]

: )

[bhavyabhatia]

GOOD JOB

[Ben Ku]

Glad it helped.

[djs53]

It may be worth noting that Answer choice C has been removed from the online CAT exam.

[jnelson0612]

It may be worth noting that Answer choice C has been removed from the online CAT exam.

Thanks!

[nishok.n.m]

It may be worth noting that Answer choice C has been removed from the online CAT exam.

Thanks!

I still have this option in MGMAT CAT4.

My reasoning :
First para just says about a steady(constant) flow of Mexicans , it can be few Mexicans or any constant number. IMO,"Many Mexicans" means many Mexicans from Mexican population who are migrating to USA , if that was the case, then "Many Mexicans" was not suggested anywhere in the passage. I would have not picked this option if the option just had "Some Mexicans still migrate to the United States in search of work".

Indeed, I am not satisfied with the explanation justifying option A. As second para clearly says "As a result of a decades-long family planning campaign, population growth, which had reached a peak of 3.5% in 1965, declined to just 1% by 2005" and "The campaign, organized around the slogan that "the small family lives better," saw the Mexican government establish family-planning clinics and offer free contraception." , so the Mexican government's family planning campaign is also responsible for diminishing population, just as the declining birth rate . Hence I concluded that option A is also suggested by the passage.

Instructors please help me clarify this

[RonPurewal]

OK ladies and gentlemen, we're going to have to start following the forum rules here. Please post the complete reading passage, as required by those rules; otherwise, the discussion can't continue. (Without the passage, our moderators shouldn't even have answered the initial question.)

This shouldn't take long; our test software will allow you to copy and paste the text of the passage.

Thanks.

[nishok.n.m]

OK ladies and gentlemen, we're going to have to start following the forum rules here. Please post the complete reading passage, as required by those rules; otherwise, the discussion can't continue. (Without the passage, our moderators shouldn't even have answered the initial question.)

This shouldn't take long; our test software will allow you to copy and paste the text of the passage.

Thanks.

Sorry for not abiding the rules , as that was my first post. :)

Here is the passage:

For years, employers in the United States have counted on a steady flow of laborers from Mexico willing to accept low-skilled, low paying jobs. These workers, many of whom leave economically depressed villages in the Mexican interior, are often willing to work for wages well below both the U.S. minimum wage and the poverty line. A dramatic demographic shift currently taking place in Mexico, however, may alter the trend: the stream of workers migrating from Mexico to the United States might one day greatly diminish if not cease.

As a result of a decades-long family planning campaign, population growth, which had reached a peak of 3.5% in 1965, declined to just 1% by 2005. On average, Mexican women today are giving birth to fewer than half as many children as did their mothers. The campaign, organized around the slogan that "the small family lives better," saw the Mexican government establish family-planning clinics and offer free contraception. For nearly three decades, the government’s message concerning population has not wavered. In fact, the Mexican Senate recently voted to expand public school sex education programs to kindergarten.

For two primary reasons, Mexico’s new demographics could greatly impact the number of Mexicans seeking work in the U.S. First, smaller families directly limit the pool of potential migrants. Second, the slowing of Mexico’s population growth has fostered hope that Mexico will develop a healthy middle class. Though the former of these factors is all but assured, the growth of a healthy middle class is far from a foregone conclusion. The critical challenge for Mexico is what it does with the next 20 years. Developing a stable middle class will require investments in education, job training, and infrastructure, as well as a social-security system to protect its aging population. Businesses will need to create more semi-skilled and skilled jobs in construction, manufacturing, and technology, as well as the associated "white collar" jobs that too many Mexican manufacturers currently locate outside of the country’s borders. It remains to be seen whether government and industry will answer these challenges as vigorously as the family-planning campaign answered the problem of population growth.

[RonPurewal]

Indeed, I am not satisfied with the explanation justifying option A. As second para clearly says "As a result of a decades-long family planning campaign, population growth, which had reached a peak of 3.5% in 1965, declined to just 1% by 2005" and "The campaign, organized around the slogan that "the small family lives better," saw the Mexican government establish family-planning clinics and offer free contraception." , so the Mexican government's family planning campaign is also responsible for diminishing population, just as the declining birth rate . Hence I concluded that option A is also suggested by the passage.

Instructors please help me clarify this

You've quoted the exact words that justify that answer choice.

"The population growth declined to 1%" means that the population is still growing (albeit not quite as rapidly as it was before).
The population is still growing at a rate of 1% per year. The rate of growth is "diminishing", but the population itself is not.

[nishok.n.m]

Indeed, I am not satisfied with the explanation justifying option A. As second para clearly says "As a result of a decades-long family planning campaign, population growth, which had reached a peak of 3.5% in 1965, declined to just 1% by 2005" and "The campaign, organized around the slogan that "the small family lives better," saw the Mexican government establish family-planning clinics and offer free contraception." , so the Mexican government's family planning campaign is also responsible for diminishing population, just as the declining birth rate . Hence I concluded that option A is also suggested by the passage.

Instructors please help me clarify this

You've quoted the exact words that justify that answer choice.

"The population growth declined to 1%" means that the population is still growing (albeit not quite as rapidly as it was before).
The population is still growing at a rate of 1% per year. The rate of growth is "diminishing", but the population itself is not.

Got it . Thanks Ron :)
But what about my reasoning on option c:)Many Mexicans still migrate to the United States in search of work. In order to make option A the best choice, I have to eliminate option C. On what grounds can I do that?

[RonPurewal]

I have to eliminate option C. On what grounds can I do that?

Practically the entire first paragraph is evidence for statement C.

That paragraph says that workers "leave economically depressed villages in the Mexican interior" to come to the US. "Leave" is in the present tense, implying that the process is ongoing at present.

Later, the paragraph says that "the stream of workers migrating from Mexico to the United States might one day greatly diminish", implying that it hasn't diminished yet.

[nishok.n.m]

I have to eliminate option C. On what grounds can I do that?

Later, the paragraph says that "the stream of workers migrating from Mexico to the United States might one day greatly diminish", implying that it hasn't diminished yet.

I agree with the tense, but I am worried about the number of Mexicans.

The paragraph "the stream of workers migrating from Mexico to the United States might one day greatly diminish" just says about the steady flow , doesn't it.? or Am I implying something wrong?

My only doubt is, how can we strongly infer that "Many Mexicans" are still migrating?