This year an unprecedented number of professorial positions were produced. Will next year continue the trend? A new professorship is created when an older professor leaves the workforce or when an academic department expands. Within universities, academic departments have been expanding at well below average rates. Concomitantly, statistics indicate that professors teaching currently will be no more likely to leave the workforce next year than they were this year, and surely the new professors who have begun teaching recently are unlikely to leave the workforce for some time. Clearly, we can surmise that the number of new professorial positions produced next year will be lower than this year’s unprecedented level.
In the argument given, the two portions in boldface play which of the following roles?
【选项】
The first is a failed line of argument, the second is a conclusion that could be drawn appropriately if that argument did not fail.
选项是否正确？