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VOA慢速英语--世界各地的大学毕业生都在努力找工作

时间:2020-08-18 12:29:04

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Recent College Graduates Worldwide Struggle to Enter Workforce1

British clothing design school graduate Phoebe St. Leger's dream of working for a major fashion company has been delayed for now.

Like many other students around the world who completed their higher education in 2020, the coronavirus health crisis2 is creating problems for her future career path.

The coronavirus forced the cancellation3 of St. Leger's final-year fashion show, which is usually part of her university's graduation ceremonies. This removed the chance for her to show her knitwear clothing collection to people in the industry, some of whom might have liked her work enough to offer her a job.

Instead, the 23-year-old returned to her family home in Winchester, southern England, and presented her classwork online. She has applied4 for about 40 jobs, but has not yet received any offers.

"All the jobs have all dried up - everywhere," St. Leger told the Associated Press. She knows graduates from past years who have been dismissed from their jobs or are temporarily out of work, so now she is prepared to seek a job outside of her industry. One possibility would be in food service.

"It's still hard to be hopeful when you're not seeing anyone doing well at the moment," she said.

Young people everywhere armed with new degrees and professional qualifications are struggling to enter the workforce as the health crisis pushes the world's economy into recession5. COVID-19 has limited the hopes of graduates getting their first jobs, an important step in building new careers. Many employers have had to reduce efforts to employ recent graduates or even withdraw job offers.

The latest unemployment numbers for the United States demonstrate this difficult situation. Government data shows that while 1.8 million jobs were added in July, this marked a sharp slowdown in employment growth from the month before. This means the world's biggest economy has regained6 just 42 percent of jobs lost to the coronavirus.

U.S. careers website Glassdoor says the number of jobs advertised as "entry level" or "new grad" was down 68 percent in May from a year ago. In Britain, the Institute of Student Employers contacted 179 businesses and found they planned to cut student employment by 23 percent this year.

The wave of delayed employment will spread through the economy, says Brian Kropp. He is the chief of human resources research at industry advisory7 company Gartner.

Many graduates will have student loan debts they will not be able to start paying off until they find a job, he said.

"If you can't get an entry level job today, that means that you don't move out of your parent's house, you don't develop real work experience, you don't buy your first home until later, and you don't get married until later," Kropp said.

One important long-term effect for young graduates who take longer to find good first jobs is lower pay throughout their careers, experts say. Someone who takes a year or more to find their first job is likely to fall behind when it comes to promotions8 and must also compete with younger people who enter the job market later.

The problem, like the health crisis, is worldwide.

Job advertisement search engine Adzuna reports that in 10 countries, unfilled positions seeking graduates for July are down from the year before. Britain, India and the Netherlands have seen the biggest decreases, with advertisements down by more than half from a year ago. But other countries - including Austria, Australia, Brazil, and France - are also seeing major decreases.

Maria Jose Casco, a newly qualified9 doctor, has not found work after graduating in Ecuador in April. The 24-year-old graduate said she's been searching for health-related jobs as well as work in other industries.

Even though the health crisis created a need for more health services, she found that employers are not offering full-time10 jobs.

"They're looking for temporary staff they can easily fire," Casco said. She and her husband are living off savings11 and his $480 monthly earnings12 and, like others, are considering moving to a different country.

The coronavirus crisis is adding to existing problems for young people in countries facing continuing economic difficulties.

Emmanuel Reyai graduated from Zimbabwe's Midlands State University two years ago. But the 24-year-old is no closer to his goal of getting a job related to his degree in local governance. His search is limited by both the African country's economic collapse13 and the spread of the coronavirus.

"I have applied more than 40 times - nothing," he said.

For some, however, there are happy endings.

In China, 23-year-old Li Xin graduated this summer with a statistics14 degree but had been looking for a job since January. Some classmates found banking15 jobs thanks to their connections. Others without ties ended up in industries unrelated to their degrees. Several are doing tutoring jobs, and Li found one herself but it lasted just a week.

She felt hopeless but also recognized that everyone has it hard.

"I'd sit in the subway, seeing the people come and go around me, and I'd suddenly feel that it wasn't easy for anyone," Li said.

Eventually, she found a job in data research in her hometown near Beijing that started this month. But more than half of her class, have yet to be so lucky.

I'm Pete Musto.

Words in This Story

graduate – n. a person who has earned a degree or diploma from a school, college, or university

fashion – n. the business of creating and selling clothes in new styles

applied for – p.v. to ask formally for something, such as a job, admission to a school, or a loan, usually in writing

degree(s) – n. an official document and title that is given to someone who has successfully completed a series of classes at a college or university

qualification(s) – n. an official record or document, such as a degree, certificate, or diploma, which shows that you have completed a course of study or training and are qualified to do something

promotion(s) – n. the act of moving someone to a higher or more important position or rank in an organization

fire – v. to dismiss someone from a job

statistic(s) – n. a type of mathematics that deals with the study of information, such as information about how often something is done, or how common something is

tutoring – n. the act of teaching a single student


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1 workforce 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。
2 crisis pzJxT     
n.危机,危急关头,决定性时刻,关键阶段
参考例句:
  • He had proved that he could be relied on in a crisis.他已表明,在紧要关头他是可以信赖的。
  • The topic today centers about the crisis in the Middle East.今天课题的中心是中东危机。
3 cancellation BxNzQO     
n.删除,取消
参考例句:
  • Heavy seas can cause cancellation of ferry services.海上风浪太大,可能须要取消渡轮服务。
  • Her cancellation of her trip to Paris upset our plan.她取消了巴黎之行打乱了我们的计划。
4 applied Tz2zXA     
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用
参考例句:
  • She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
  • This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。
5 recession GAozC     
n.(工商业的)衷退(期),萧条(期)
参考例句:
  • Manufacturing fell sharply under the impact of the recession.受到经济萧条的影响,制造业急剧衰退。
  • A rise in interest rates plunged Britain deeper into recession.利率的提高导致英国经济更加萧条。
6 regained 51ada49e953b830c8bd8fddd6bcd03aa     
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。
7 advisory lKvyj     
adj.劝告的,忠告的,顾问的,提供咨询
参考例句:
  • I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
  • He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。
8 promotions ea6aeb050f871384f25fba9c869cfe21     
促进( promotion的名词复数 ); 提升; 推广; 宣传
参考例句:
  • All services or promotions must have an appeal and wide application. 所有服务或促销工作都必须具有吸引力和广泛的适用性。
  • He promptly directed the highest promotions and decorations for General MacArthur. 他授予麦克阿瑟将军以最高的官阶和勋奖。
9 qualified DCPyj     
adj.合格的,有资格的,胜任的,有限制的
参考例句:
  • He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
  • We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。
10 full-time SsBz42     
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。
11 savings ZjbzGu     
n.存款,储蓄
参考例句:
  • I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假,那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
  • By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时,他的存款已全部用完。
12 earnings rrWxJ     
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%。
13 collapse aWvyE     
vi.累倒;昏倒;倒塌;塌陷
参考例句:
  • The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
  • The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。
14 statistics iGyzb     
n.统计,统计数字,统计学
参考例句:
  • We have statistics for the last year.我们有去年的统计资料。
  • Statistics is taught in many colleges.许多大学都教授统计学。
15 banking aySz20     
n.银行业,银行学,金融业
参考例句:
  • John is launching his son on a career in banking.约翰打算让儿子在银行界谋一个新职位。
  • He possesses an extensive knowledge of banking.他具有广博的银行业务知识。

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