One puzzle of this somber economy is the existence of unfilled jobs in the m

游客2024-10-08  10

问题     One puzzle of this somber economy is the existence of unfilled jobs in the midst of mass unemployment. You might think that with almost 14 million Americans unemployed—and nearly half those for more than six months—that companies could fill almost any opening quickly. Not so. Somehow, there’s a mismatch between idle workers and open jobs. Economists call this " structural unemployment.
    Let’s acknowledge two realities. First, though structural joblessness is important, the main cause of high unemployment remains the deep slump. In the recession, jobs dropped 20 percent in construction, 15 percent in manufacturing and 7 percent in retailing. Only a stronger economy can remedy this unemployment. Second, a big economy like ours always has some vacancies. People quit or get fired. Hiring procedures grind slowly. Some highly specialized jobs are inherently hard to fill: say, a transportation engineer fluent in both Chinese and English.
    The job mismatch hobbles recovery and bodes ill. The harder it is for workers to find jobs, the longer they stay unemployed—and this, in turn, worsens their prospects. " Long-term unemployment sends a negative signal to employers: What’s wrong with this person?" says Holzer. Some jobs lost in the recession and the associated skills won’t return.
    Theories abound as to what’s gone wrong. For skilled blue-collar jobs, high schools have de-emphasized vocational training, community colleges often aren’t well-connected to local job markets and union apprenticeship programs have withered, says Anthony Carnevale, director of Georgetown’s Center on Education and the Workforce. Another theory is that Americans are less willing to move to take jobs. The McKinsey study reports that, in the 1950s, one in five Americans moved every year; now it’s one in 10. "Work is more mobile than workers, " says Camden.
    Companies traditionally provided much training, but that may also have changed. Loyalties have weakened. Companies are more willing to fire; workers are more willing to jump ship. Training may seem a poor investment because workers won’t stay long enough to earn a return. In the McKinsey survey, companies denied cutting training budgets. But Carnevale and others think the training has altered. Before, firms provided more basic training in business or technology skills; now, firms expect workers to come with these skills and focus training on firm-specific practices and systems.
    So it’s a Catch-22: You can’t get hired unless you have experience; but you can’t get experience unless you’re hired. With technology changing rapidly, workers need to know more, even as their skills-support systems weaken. There is no instant cure for today’s job mismatch, but it might ease if America’s largest companies were a little bolder. Surely many of them—enjoying strong profits—could make a small gamble that, by providing more training for workers, they might actually do themselves and the country some good. [br] The following facts contribute to the job mismatch EXCEPT

选项 A、ever-changing requirements for job skills.
B、employers’ distrust towards job applicants.
C、lack of practical curricula in high schools.
D、job hunters’ unwillingness to move.

答案 B

解析 细节题。关于职业错构的情况和原因,第三、四段有较详细的内容。而[B]曲解了第三段关于用人单位对长期失业人员有疑虑的内容,因此[B]为答案。第三段和第四段第二句话分别提到了职业技能的要求和中学课程设置不合理的问题,故排除[A]和[C];第四段后半部分则涉及了人们不愿因为职业迁移的内容,排除[D]。
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