US Adds More Jobs Than Expected

     President Barack Obama says the U.S. economy is recovering, after the nation added more jobs than expected in April.

    The government jobs report released Friday shows a net gain of 244,000 jobs in the United States last month, better than economists¹ had predicted(预期).

    President Obama told factory workers in Indianapolis, Indiana the U.S. private sector² has gained jobs every month for more than a year.

    "That means over the last 14 months -- in just a little bit over a year -- we have added more than two million jobs in the private sector,"  the president said.

    The unemployment rate edged higher, from 8.8 percent in March to 9.0 percent in April, largely because people who had given up looking for work were resuming their job search.

    The president said the economy is moving in the right direction, despite what he called strong headwinds such as rising gasoline prices.

    "We have got high gas prices that have been eating away at your paychecks（薪水）, and that is a headwind that we have got to confront," he said. "You have got the earthquake in Japan that has had an effect on manufacturing here."Mr. Obama said there will always be ups and downs as the country comes out of a recession, but he said he remains³ encouraged about America’s economic future.

    "But the fact is that we are still making progress.  And that proves how resilient the American economy is, and how resilient the American worker is, and that we can take a hit and we can keep on going forward. That is exactly what we are doing," he said.

    Not counting job cuts by local, state and federal governments, the U.S. economy generated 268,000 new jobs in April, the most since February 2006.

    It was the third straight month that more than 200,000 jobs were created.  And the job gains in February and March were revised upward.

    However, 13.7 million Americans were still out of work last month, almost double the number in 2007, before the recession started.

    Overall, though, the jobs figures indicate that businesses are confident in the economy and willing to hire, despite slow growth early in the year and the steep rise in energy costs.(本文由在线英语听力室整理编辑)

1 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

2 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

3 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。