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  3. (1)You know tilings are bad when the nation loses 11,000 jobs in November an

(1)You know tilings are bad when the nation loses 11,000 jobs in November an

游客2024-11-09  3
问题     (1)You know tilings are bad when the nation loses 11,000 jobs in November and Americans are overjoyed. Sure, unemployment has come down a meager 0.2 percent to put us at 10 percent, but that’s still me worst level in decades. And more important, there’s no real end in sight. Even if jobs start to come back sooner man expected—which may happen as more stimulus money starts to kick in—U.S. unemployment is likely to remain high for years to come, as much as 7 or 8 percent even into next year. "The average American will not be better off in five years—unemployment will remain high and wage growth will continue to be flat," says George Soros, who forecast an "age of wealth destruction" four months before the crisis hit.
    (2)But in this recovery, flat is the new up. Any near-term uptick in jobs will probably be small, because there’s still plenty to be milked from existing workers. November’s numbers show mat the average workweek is only 33 hours, giving bosses plenty of room to crack the whip before hiring new employees. And one big reason for me November surprise was that the Obama administration has spent billions making sure job losses weren’t worse. Even if me administration diverts bank-bailout money to support small businesses, as has been suggested, it will be impossible to replicate the stimulus surge of this year. Growing debts simply don’t allow Washington to spend much more.
    (3)One of the key differences between this recession and past ones is that credit has remained so tight for so long. Even though interest rates remain as low as they were in the easiest years of easy money, the cash simply isn’t flowing. This is particularly devastating for the small businesses that create two thirds of America’s new jobs; they depend largely on bank loans, which have tailed off 17 percent since last year. Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz, who attended Obama’s recent jobs conference in Washington, notes that small-business owners also tend to raise capital via home refinancing and credit cards. Now that the mortgage market has collapsed, and credit limits are being slashed and rates raised to 30 percent, neither of those options are viable. "There’s simply no magic bullet for jump-starting job creation right now," says Stiglitz.
    (4)Meanwhile, globalization continues to take a toll, even on white-collar jobs. Emerging markets like China and Brazil have come out of the financial crisis richer and stronger; their better-educated, more-productive workers are increasingly able to perform jobs higher up the food chain. A recent McKinsey Global Institute report found that 71 percent of U.S. workers hold jobs for which there is decreasing demand, increasing supply, or both. Even million-dollar-a-year McKinsey consultants should be worried; how much longer will it be before $200,000-a-year partners at India’s Infosys eat their lunch?
    (5)The cultural and political implications are sobering. Studies show that high unemployment has disastrous consequences for civic engagement. Depressed, laid-off people retreat from their churches, schools, and ballot boxes, an effect that is viral. "Having ever been unemployed makes you permanently less connected to your community," says Harvard professor Robert Putnam, author of Bowling Alone, the bestseller on social disengagement in America nearly a decade ago. Consider that unemployment among black men ages 16 to 19 stands at a devastating 57 percent, up from 34 percent in November two years ago. Couple this with the fact that the crisis may exacerbate the gap between rich and poor, which has been widening since the 1980s, and you have a situation ripe for ugly, populist politics.
    (6)Any long-term fixes will mean focusing on primary-and-secondary-school education, to ensure a globally competitive workforce, and on affordable health care for all to help buffer wage inequality. Neither is simple or cheap. But they are crucial if Americans want to maintain their standard of living. A new Fidelity survey found that one in four workers aged 22 to 33, part of this new recession generation, now say they want to stay with the same employer for life, up from last year’s 14 percent. It’s a touching commitment. The question is how many employers are really looking to get hitched. [br] The sentence "... giving bosses plenty of room to crack the whip before hiring new employees." in the second paragraph implies that_____.
选项 A、employers are unwilling to hire more workers
B、employers treat their employees cruelly
C、employees are not working very hard
D、employees are being exploited by employers
答案 A
解析 根据题干定位到第2段。第3句指出工人平均每周只工作33小时，说明老板还可以再充分利用现有的工人而不需要雇佣新员工，A符合这一意思，为正确答案。
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