VOA标准英语2013--美国增加了14.8万岗 位,失业率降至7.2%（在线收听）

US Adds 148K Jobs, Unemployment Falls to 7.2 Percent 美国增加了14.8万岗 位,失业率降至7.2%

U.S. businesses added a modest 148,000 jobs in September, far short of  the 180,000 analysts were expecting.  Still, job gains were enough to  lower the unemployment rate to 7.2 percent, the lowest in nearly five  years.  But, the first jobs report since the government shutdown  suggests the U.S. economy may be losing steam.

美国企业在9月增加148000个工作岗位,远低于分析师预计的180000。不过,就业增 长已降低失业率至7.2%,为近五年来最低的。但是,第一个就业报告由于政府关闭 表明美国经济可能会失去动力。

Concerns about the tepid U.S. recovery may be hurting the job market.

And the political strife in Washington that led to the first government  shutdown in 17 years didn’t help, says economist Gus Faucher at PNC  Financial Services.

"So they've been reluctant to hire, and also I think you have concerns  about the health care law that might be weighing on hiring as well,"  said Faucher.

Despite the smaller than expected job gains in September, fewer  Americans filed for unemployment benefits, helping to bring the nation ’s unemployment rate to its lowest level in nearly five years.

Stocks rose on Wall Street after the release of the government report.

Economist Michael Strain at the conservative American Enterprise  Institute says that’s because the modest job growth means the U.S.  central bank will be less likely to scale back its bond purchases.

“The likelihood of the Fed tapering in 2013 is pretty close to zero in  my opinion," said Strain.

The Fed has been buying $85 billion in government bonds and securities  every month to keep interest rates low and encourage consumers and  businesses to spend.  Strain doesn’t see the U.S. economy recovering  fast enough for the Federal Reserve to change course this year.

He acknowledges the Congressional bickering in Washington has hurt the  U.S. economy, but he says it has nothing to do with the job slowdown in  September.

“The survey week for the data was the middle of September which was  before the shutdown and the debt ceiling debate really heated up. So if  we’re going to see anything related to the shutdown or the debt  ceiling, it would probably be in October’s numbers," said Strain.

On the bright side, construction jobs rose by 20,000 suggesting the  housing market continues to rebound.   And government increased hiring  by roughly 22,000 jobs last month.

Analysts expect more volatility in the job numbers when October’s  employment report comes out -  just a little more than two weeks from  now.