Last year a record number of new manufacturing jobs were created  Will this year bring another record  Well, any new manufacturing job is created either within an existing company or by the start-up of a new company  <b> Within existing firms, new jobs have been created this year at well below last year's record pace </b>  At the same time, there is considerable evidence that the number of new companies starting up will be no higher this year than it was last year and <b> there is no reason to think that the new companies starting up this year will create more jobs per company than did last year's start-ups </b>
So clearly, the number of new jobs created this year will fall short of last year's record
The first is a claim that the argument challenges; the second is a judgment advanced in support of the main conclusion of the argument.