One year ago, seattle increased its minimum wage to $10.35 per hour, much higher than the current federal minimum wage of $7.35 per hour. since the increase was passed, 5,000 jobs have been lost in the seattle metropolitan area. most of the jobs that were lost were low wage positions in the fast food industry. this examples shows that the federal minimum wage should not be raised, because it will cause low wage jobs to be lost across the board.

which of the following is not a reason to question the author’s conclusion?

a. the borders of the seattle metropolitan area can be defined in different ways, and the number of jobs lost varies depending on the definition
b. when surveyed, the owners of fast food restaurants stated that a nationwide trend towards healthier eating was causing an industry-wide decline in sales in the fast food industry
c. two years ago, one national fast food chain decided to gradually decrease its subsidies for franchise owners in the seattle area
d. jobs in the fast food industry are not considered to be representative of low wage jobs in general
e. as a result of the higher minimum wage, some fast food restaurants in seattle became unprofitable and had to shut down