Obama Leaves Healthy US Economy to Trump

 

The American economy appears to be in good health as Donald Trump¹ prepares to become the 45th president of the United States.

Trump will be inaugurated on Friday, January 20.

Economic conditions were far different when Barack Obama was sworn-in as president in January 2009.

Obama took office during one of the worst recessions in American history. Unemployment levels reached 10 percent. The recession slowed that summer, but the economy did not fully² recover for many more months.

Trump, on the other hand, takes over an economy that has added jobs in each of the past 75 months. During that period, nearly 11 million jobs have been created.

Mark Hamrick reports on economic news and is Washington Bureau Chief for the website Bankrate.com. He says Obama is leaving office with a strong economy.

"Donald Trump can be, let's say confident, that he is being given an opportunity to do relatively³ well here, and I think Barack Obama can be relatively pleased about the job that he and his administration have done."

The building trade is one part of the economy that added jobs under Obama and may continue to create jobs in the future.

Trump’s campaign website says he plans to invest government money in building new roads, bridges and pipelines⁴ and repairing ones that need fixing.

Ken⁵ Simonson is chief economist⁶ for the Associated General Contractors⁸ of America. He says he hopes Trump’s administration follows through with that promise. There are many workers ready to start new projects, he adds.

U.S. oil producers may soon be able to sell their petroleum⁹ products overseas. That should help the economy, too.

Oil prices are rising, after falling in recent years. Three years ago, oil was selling for about $100 per barrel, according to Macrotrends.net. Now it sells for just over $50 per barrel.

Jack¹⁰ Girard is president of the American Petroleum Institute. He calls the likelihood of exporting American oil “a big deal.”

Wages paid to workers are important in judging the health of an economy. Hamrick of Bankrate.com says American wages are rising at their fastest rate since 2009.

“Hopefully we’ll see more of that in the future,” Hamrick said.

Many states also have plans to raise the minimum wage.

Yet, there are still some problems facing the new U.S. president and the economy.

In recent years, the country has added between 100,000 and 300,000 jobs each month. That rate of increase is likely to decrease. While 156,000 jobs were added in December, the unemployment rate stayed at 4.7 percent. That means 7.5 million people who were hoping to find work are still jobless.

There are also many people who have left the labor¹¹ force after not being able to find employment. The measurement of that number is called the labor participation¹² rate, and it remains¹³ historically low.

According to the U.S. Department of Labor, the labor participation rate was 66 percent in January 2006. By December 2016, it had dropped to 62.7 percent.

Words in This Story

inaugurate – v. an occasion or ceremony in which someone begins a new official job or position by making a formal promise to do the work properly, to be honest and loyal, etc.

confident – adj. certain that something will happen or that something is true

contractor⁷ – n. a builder or construction worker

petroleum – n. a kind of oil that comes from below the ground and that is the source of gasoline and other products

minimum wage – n. an amount of money that is the least amount of money per hour that workers must be paid according to the law

1 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。

2 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 pipelines   

管道( pipeline的名词复数 )； 输油管道； 在考虑（或规划、准备） 中； 在酿中

参考例句：

• The oil is carried to the oil refinery by pipelines. 石油通过输油管输送到炼油厂。
• The oil carried in pipelines. 石油用管道输送。

5 ken   

n.视野，知识领域

参考例句：

• Such things are beyond my ken.我可不懂这些事。
• Abstract words are beyond the ken of children.抽象的言辞超出小孩所理解的范围.

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 contractor   

n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌

参考例句：

• The Tokyo contractor was asked to kick $ 6000 back as commission.那个东京的承包商被要求退还6000美元作为佣金。
• The style of house the contractor builds depends partly on the lay of the land.承包商所建房屋的式样，有几分要看地势而定。

8 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 petroleum   

n.原油，石油

参考例句：

• The Government of Iran advanced the price of petroleum last week.上星期伊朗政府提高了石油价格。
• The purpose of oil refinery is to refine crude petroleum.炼油厂的主要工作是提炼原油。

10 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

11 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。

12 participation   

n.参与，参加，分享

参考例句：

• Some of the magic tricks called for audience participation.有些魔术要求有观众的参与。
• The scheme aims to encourage increased participation in sporting activities.这个方案旨在鼓励大众更多地参与体育活动。

13 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。