VOA常速英语2014--尽管失业率下降美国就业仍不景气（在线收听）

Americans Still Struggling Despite Falling Unemployment 尽管失业率下降美国就业仍不景气

WHITE HOUSE— 

The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 5.9 percent last month -- the lowest since the 2008 recession. The White House is touting this figure along with 55 consecutive months of job creation in the private sector. Despite the job gains, though, recent polls find that confidence in the economy is actually dropping among Americans.

Located in one of the wealthiest counties in the United States, the Manna Center in Maryland is a lifeline for the working poor -- providing boxes of food so families do not have to choose between paying an electricity bill and buying groceries.

位于最富裕国家美国马里兰州的Manna中心是穷忙族的生命线，这里给他们提供成箱的食物，这样这些家庭就不必在付电费和购买杂货之间进行选择。

Development Director Mark Foraker said that unlike the country’s falling unemployment rate, the number of needy households in Montgomery County actually has gone up since the 2008 recession.

发展总监马克·弗拉克说与该国下降的失业率不同，自2008年衰退以来蒙哥马利郡缺吃少穿的家庭数量增加了。

“In the fiscal year 2008, we were serving an average of 2,070 families a month. Currently our numbers that we are serving are 3,760 families each month.”

“在2008财年，我们平均每月给2070户人家提供食物，目前我们每月给3760家提供食物。”

The numbers are a stark contrast to the economic progress cited by President Barack Obama, who noted in an October 2 speech at Northwestern University that 10 million new private sector jobs have been created in the last four and a half years.

这一数字与巴拉克·奥巴马总统提到的经济发展形成鲜明对比，奥巴马10月2日在西北大学的讲话中称过去四、五年间美国创造了1000万个企业新岗位。

“All told, the United States has put more people back to work than Europe, Japan, and every other advanced economy combined. I want you to think about that. We have put more people back to work, here in America, than Europe, Japan, and every other advanced economy combined,” said Obama.

“总的来说，与欧洲、日本和所有其他发达经济体的总和相比，美国让更多人回到工作岗位上。我想让你们想这点，我们美国让更多人回到工作岗位上，这个数字比欧洲、日本和所有其他发达经济的总和还要多。”

But in that same speech, Obama acknowledged that despite the increasing number of Americans returning to the workforce, it will take much longer to reverse what he calls a profound erosion of middle-class jobs and incomes.

在就在同一天的讲话中，奥巴马承认尽管美国有更多人回到就业岗位，仍需要更多时间来扭转所谓的中产阶级就业和收入损失。

George Washington University Economics Professor Tara Sinclair said the U.S. labor market and economy still look starkly different than before the recession.

乔治华盛顿大学经济学家Tara Sinclair说，美国劳动力市场和经济仍与衰退前有着明显的不同。

“Wages aren’t rising very quickly, and there are a whole lot of people who have stepped out of the labor force completely. So if you look at the employment to population ratio, we are still way below where we were before the recession or for many years before that. We look like the 1970’s.”

“工作并没有涨的很快，还有很多人退出就业市场。所以如果你看下就业与人口比例，你会发现这一比例仍低于衰退前水平，或很多年之前的情况，目前的情况像20世纪70年代。”

And with more people settling for low-paying jobs even as costs increase, officials here at the Manna Center don’t anticipate the need going down anytime soon.

目前有更多人只能做着低收入的工作，尽管成本上升，Manna中心官方仍预料对食物援助的需求不会很快降低。