美国国家公共电台 NPR Job Market Resilient In October Despite GM Strike, Beating Expectations

 

DAVID GREENE, HOST:

The U.S. stock market is still humming, despite the ongoing¹ trade war and some temporary setbacks like the General Motors strike. Employers added 128,000 jobs in October, and that's more than forecasters were expecting. Job gains for both August and September were also revised upwards². President Trump³ celebrated⁴ the good news, tweeting, quote, "USA rocks." NPR's Scott Horsley joins me to talk about this. Hi there, Scott.

SCOTT HORSLEY, BYLINE⁵: Hi, David.

GREENE: OK, so this was a surprisingly strong report from the Labor⁶ Department. What is it - exactly is it saying here?

HORSLEY: It was a surprisingly strong report. Forecasters were bracing⁷ for a really weak jobs report - partly because of that GM strike but also because we've seen signals the overall economy has been shifting to a lower gear. In general, forecasters were expecting to see job gains of 75,000 to 100,000 in October. This beats that by a good margin⁸. And the job gains for August and September were also revised up by a total of 95,000. What this is telling us is that the U.S. job market is remarkably⁹ resilient despite headwinds like a slowing global economy and all the uncertainty¹⁰ that surrounds the president's trade war. Now, all the job gains in October and the vast majority of job gains in August and September were on the services side. There were big gains in things like hospitality and health care. Those are things you tend to consume locally, so they're less affected¹¹ by global headwinds.

GREENE: Did the good news extend to the manufacturing sector¹²? Because I know that's been a real weak spot.

HORSLEY: And it continues to be a weak spot. We're going to get some more information about manufacturing later this morning. But factories, along with farms, have taken the biggest hit so far because of the trade war. According to the Labor Department, there were 36,000 fewer manufacturing jobs in October than the month before. But some of that is a temporary slowdown because of that GM strike. Of course, that strike's settled now, and that means tens of thousands of auto¹³ workers are back on the job after 40 days on the picket¹⁴ lines. I talked to Randy Freeman. He's the president of UAW Local 652 in Lansing, Mich.

RANDY FREEMAN: They were starting to feel a little bit of a pinch, but they're glad to be back. They're glad to be working and having this behind them and going into the holiday season.

HORSLEY: And, of course, now the UAW has reached a tentative agreement with Ford¹⁵, as well, so that's good news for auto employment.

GREENE: How about the unemployment rate? I mean, that's something we always look to.

HORSLEY: Yeah. It's still really low, but it did inch up by a tenth of a percent to 3.6%. That's because the job market's been so strong, a lot of people who were on the sidelines are now coming back into the workforce¹⁶. So that's encouraging. We also saw a slight acceleration¹⁷ in wages. Over the last year, average hourly wages have increased by about 3%.

GREENE: All right - largely good news. At a moment like this, we always look to the stock market to see if investors¹⁸ are reacting, and I guess the market's open. Are we seeing anything?

HORSLEY: Yes. The markets like what they're seeing in this jobs report. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is up about 160 points at this moment, little over half a percent. You know, earlier this week, the Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a quarter percentage point. The market also liked that. But the Fed signaled that could be the last rate cut for a while unless the economy turns south. The overall pace of economic growth has been slowing, and there's a chance that the manufacturing problems could spill over into the job market. But Fed Chairman Jerome Powell says he and his colleagues aren't worried about that just yet. Right now the job market and consumer spending is holding up really well. And that's certainly underscored by this better-than-expected report from the Labor Department.

GREENE: All right. Talking through these new jobs numbers with NPR's Scott Horsley. Scott, we appreciate it. Thanks a lot.

HORSLEY: Good to be with you, David.

(SOUNDBITE OF TOR'S "APERTURE")

1 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

2 upwards   

adv.向上，在更高处...以上

参考例句：

• The trend of prices is still upwards.物价的趋向是仍在上涨。
• The smoke rose straight upwards.烟一直向上升。

3 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

4 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 bracing   

adj.令人振奋的

参考例句：

• The country is bracing itself for the threatened enemy invasion. 这个国家正准备奋起抵抗敌人的入侵威胁。
• The atmosphere in the new government was bracing. 新政府的气氛是令人振奋的。

8 margin   

n.页边空白；差额；余地，余裕；边，边缘

参考例句：

• We allowed a margin of 20 minutes in catching the train.我们有20分钟的余地赶火车。
• The village is situated at the margin of a forest.村子位于森林的边缘。

9 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

10 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。

11 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

12 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。

13 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

14 picket   

n.纠察队；警戒哨；v.设置纠察线；布置警卫

参考例句：

• They marched to the factory and formed a picket.他们向工厂前进,并组成了纠察队。
• Some of the union members did not want to picket.工会的一些会员不想担任罢工纠察员。

15 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

16 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

17 acceleration   

n.加速，加速度

参考例句：

• All spacemen must be able to bear acceleration.所有太空人都应能承受加速度。
• He has also called for an acceleration of political reforms.他同时呼吁加快政治改革的步伐。

18 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会