PBS高端访谈:低薪工作带动了美国就业率的增长

 　　JUDY WOODRUFF: The latest government jobs report shows the American labor¹ market moving into its strongest hiring pace in years. Employers added 217,000 jobs last month, and the unemployment rate remained at 6.3 percent, its lowest level since September 2008.

　　May also marked an important moment: the highest total payroll² level in U.S. history, all in all, a seemingly solid report. But those looking closely say it's premature³ to celebrate much, especially when at least 10 million people are still looking for work.

　　NewsHour economics correspondent Paul Solman has the story, part of his ongoing⁴ reporting Making Sense of financial news

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Today's headline: May was the fourth straight month employers added more than 200,000 jobs, the last time that happened, more than 14 years ago. Yet the unemployment rate didn't budge⁵.

　　So we asked MIT labor economist⁶ Paul Osterman for his take.

　　PAUL OSTERMAN, MIT Sloan School of Management: Good news and bad news.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: You know, it seems like every month, I interview someone like you on the first Friday of the month, and they say, good news, bad news.

　　PAUL OSTERMAN: That's right. There's a reason for that, the good news, 200,000 jobs in a month added. That's great. The bad news, the level of pain out there has not changed. There's still about 20 million people who are either unemployed⁷, working part-time jobs, but would like full-time⁸ jobs, or not in the labor force, but would like to be in the labor force. That number is just stable, and it's a lot of pain.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: The unemployment rate stayed constant, but that's because we added 200,000 jobs, added 200,000 people to the labor force.

　　PAUL OSTERMAN: That's right. But think of the population and think of the number of people in the population who are working. That tells you how healthy the economy is, how good the job market is. That number plummeted⁹ in the recession, and has barely climbed back up. We're not at pre-recession levels.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Indeed the so-called employment-to-population ratio has been below 60 percent for five years now, down almost one-seventh from the ratio pre-recession, to a low last seen in the Reagan recession of the early '80s.

　　Now, the economy is adding jobs. In fact, May marked a milestone¹⁰: Five years after the end of the great recession, we have finally regained¹¹ the nearly nine million jobs that were lost.

　　But Osterman, who has researched the quality of the new jobs, says they represent no progress in wages for the economy as a whole.

　　PAUL OSTERMAN: Twenty to 25 percent of all adults who are working are in poverty level jobs, jobs that if they worked full-time, full year, wouldn't raise them above 125 percent of the poverty rate for a family of three.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: A recent report by the National Employment Law Project found that lower-wage jobs in sectors¹² like restaurants, retail¹³ and administrative¹⁴ services have accounted for the lion's share of the job gains since 2009.

　　Christine Owens runs the group.

　　CHRISTINE OWENS, Executive Director, National Employment Law Project: They accounted for 39 percent of job growth in the recovery. Four out of every 10 jobs that were added were in those three very-low-wage industries.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: According to this same study, all low-paying industries accounted for less than a quarter of job losses during the recession, but they have accounted for almost half of job gains since.

　　Put simply:

　　CHRISTINE OWENS: We have gained far more jobs in low-wage industries than we did in mid-wage and high-wage industries.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: In May, for example, some of the biggest job gains were in health care. Seems promising¹⁵. Yet many of those jobs are low-paying.

　　CHRISTINE OWENS: Jobs like home care. Home care is one of the fastest-growing jobs in our economy and it is the job that is expected to grow the most over the next 10 years. It pays poverty wages.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Paul Osterman elaborated.

　　PAUL OSTERMAN: Health care is a very bifurcated¹⁶, polarized industry. You have got the doctors and nurses at the top. You have got the home health care aides. You have got the CNAs, the certified¹⁷ nursing assistants, at the bottom. Those bottom jobs are going to grow immensely because of the retirement¹⁸ of the baby boom, because of the demand for home health care. And so a growth in health services, while expected, doesn't necessarily lead to better jobs at all.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: Consider the entire economy, says Osterman, and what the average job has been paying.

　　PAUL OSTERMAN: If you look at wage growth in the economy, over the last 12 months, it's been about 2.1 percent. That's barely ahead, barely ahead of inflation, so people are not getting ahead in terms of their earnings¹⁹ in this recovery.

　　PAUL SOLMAN: And if you look at where so many of the new jobs cluster, in non-supervisory work, today's employment report says that wage growth actually trailed inflation over the past year.

　　The bottom line for May, then: more workers and more jobs, but not necessarily the kind of jobs that signal anything like a robust²⁰ recovery.

　　JUDY WOODRUFF: Paul details more employment numbers online, including the under-reported stat of those not in the labor force, but say they want a job. See how high that has risen on Making Sense.

1 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。

2 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

3 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

4 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。

5 budge   

v.移动一点儿；改变立场

参考例句：

• We tried to lift the rock but it wouldn't budge.我们试图把大石头抬起来，但它连动都没动一下。
• She wouldn't budge on the issue.她在这个问题上不肯让步。

6 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

7 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

8 full-time   

adj.满工作日的或工作周的，全时间的

参考例句：

• A full-time job may be too much for her.全天工作她恐怕吃不消。
• I don't know how she copes with looking after her family and doing a full-time job.既要照顾家庭又要全天工作，我不知道她是如何对付的。

9 plummeted   

v.垂直落下，骤然跌落( plummet的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Share prices plummeted to an all-time low. 股票价格暴跌到历史最低点。
• A plane plummeted to earth. 一架飞机一头栽向地面。 来自《简明英汉词典》

10 milestone   

n.里程碑；划时代的事件

参考例句：

• The film proved to be a milestone in the history of cinema.事实证明这部影片是电影史上的一个里程碑。
• I think this is a very important milestone in the relations between our two countries.我认为这是我们两国关系中一个十分重要的里程碑。

11 regained   

复得( regain的过去式和过去分词 )； 赢回； 重回； 复至某地

参考例句：

• The majority of the people in the world have regained their liberty. 世界上大多数人已重获自由。
• She hesitated briefly but quickly regained her poise. 她犹豫片刻，但很快恢复了镇静。

12 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 retail   

v./n.零售；adv.以零售价格

参考例句：

• In this shop they retail tobacco and sweets.这家铺子零售香烟和糖果。
• These shoes retail at 10 yuan a pair.这些鞋子零卖10元一双。

14 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

15 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

16 bifurcated   

a.分为两部分

参考例句：

• Over the past 15 years the marketplace for art books has bifurcated. 过去15年里，卖艺术类书籍的市场逐渐分化。
• This bifurcated view was reflected in how U.S. officials described the trip. 这种一分为二的观点也反映在美国官员自己对访华之行的描述上。

17 certified   

a.经证明合格的；具有证明文件的

参考例句：

• Doctors certified him as insane. 医生证明他精神失常。
• The planes were certified airworthy. 飞机被证明适于航行。

18 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

19 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

20 robust   

adj.强壮的，强健的，粗野的，需要体力的，浓的

参考例句：

• She is too tall and robust.她个子太高，身体太壮。
• China wants to keep growth robust to reduce poverty and avoid job losses,AP commented.美联社评论道，中国希望保持经济强势增长，以减少贫困和失业状况。