美国国家公共电台 NPR--Young people in India, even those with multiple degrees, are unemployed

Young people in India, even those with multiple degrees, are unemployed¹

Transcript²

India's educated young people are demanding suitable jobs, but they don't exist. Plus, wages are declining. This came to a head with riots in some of the poorest districts of northern India.

A MARTINEZ, HOST:

Teachers have long had to deal with challenges. The pandemic seemed to push them to new heights, though. In the U.S., according to the Bureau of Labor³ Statistics, there are 567,000 fewer educators in public schools today than there were before the pandemic. And a recent new study revealed more than half of all teachers in this country want to quit. In India, though, the opposite is true. Some are waiting years to get a chance to teach. In fact, some of the most educated young people there are unemployed. Raksha Kumar reports from Uttar Pradesh.

SHIKHA PAL⁴: (Speaking Hindi).

RAKSHA KUMAR, BYLINE⁵: Last year, Shikha Pal did something surprising. She shows me a video...

PAL: (Speaking Hindi).

KUMAR: ...Of herself climbing to the top of a giant 60-foot municipal water tank in her hometown of Lucknow. She camped out there for seven months...

PAL: (Speaking Hindi).

KUMAR: ...Surviving on biscuits. She had to climb down and walk a mile and a half every time she needed to use the toilet. She did this, she says...

PAL: I'm doing a long protest, approx seven-month protest.

KUMAR: A protest about unemployment. Seven years ago, Shikha quit her job at a local bank. She wanted a higher salary and benefits, so she got a teaching certification. But for five years, she still hasn't gotten a placement in a public school.

SANDEEP PANDEY: No, it shows the desperation of the youth.

KUMAR: Labor activist⁶ Sandeep Pandey says Shikha is not alone. Thousands of qualified⁷ teachers are waiting for jobs in her one city alone.

PANDEY: She was the only one on the top of the tank. The rest of them were protesting on the ground, and the government was just not listening to them.

KUMAR: Unemployment is hard to measure in India because most people work informally in agriculture or manual labor. But as the country gets richer, there are more college graduates with higher expectations. Reetika Khera is an economist⁸.

REETIKA KHERA: At one end of the spectrum⁹, people have job security, and they also have world-class benefits. They even have pensions when they retire. But this is available only to less than 10% of people in the workforce¹⁰.

KUMAR: If you're in a second-tier city and you don't speak English, even if you have those multiple master's degrees, jobs with those kind of benefits just don't exist, Khera says. That's why 1 in 5 college graduates in India is unemployed. Some of them are angry.

(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

UNIDENTIFIED REPORTER: A heavy contingent¹¹ of police fail to control the protesters who squatted¹² on railway tracks, vandalized property...

KUMAR: Riots broke out in January in northern India after 12 million people applied¹³ for just 35,000 job openings at the state railway company. Most of the protesters had college degrees. They set fire to train carriages. I traveled to where it happened, calling ahead to a student club to tell them I was coming.

I'm walking into a rather broken-down door. A bunch of students with multiple degrees and no jobs are sitting inside the room waiting to talk to me.

SUMIT GAUTAM: (Speaking Hindi).

KUMAR: Sumit Gautam rattles¹⁴ off a long list of degrees - three bachelor's degrees and a law degree but no job.

GAUTAM: (Speaking Hindi).

KUMAR: Why did I study so hard if the only job I can get is selling snacks on the street, he asks. The Indian government says it's creating more jobs for educated graduates, but it's not happening fast enough for people like Shikha, who spent seven months atop that water tank. Nowadays, Shikha makes tea for her mother in the apartment they share. She is still unemployed, still waiting for a teaching job to open.

PAL: (Speaking Hindi).

KUMAR: But, she says, she's determined¹⁵ to find meaningful employment that matches her qualifications.

For NPR News, I'm Raksha Kumar in Lucknow, India.

(SOUNDBITE OF ROBOHANDS' "STRANGE TIMES")

1 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 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。

4 pal   

n.朋友，伙伴，同志；vi.结为友

参考例句：

• He is a pal of mine.他是我的一个朋友。
• Listen,pal,I don't want you talking to my sister any more.听着，小子，我不让你再和我妹妹说话了。

5 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

6 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

7 qualified   

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。

8 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。

9 spectrum   

n.谱，光谱，频谱；范围，幅度，系列

参考例句：

• This is a kind of atomic spectrum.这是一种原子光谱。
• We have known much of the constitution of the solar spectrum.关于太阳光谱的构成，我们已了解不少。

10 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。

11 contingent   

adj.视条件而定的；n.一组，代表团，分遣队

参考例句：

• The contingent marched in the direction of the Western Hills.队伍朝西山的方向前进。
• Whether or not we arrive on time is contingent on the weather.我们是否按时到达要视天气情况而定。

12 squatted   

v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 )；非法擅自占用（土地或房屋）；为获得其所有权；而占用某片公共用地。

参考例句：

• He squatted down beside the footprints and examined them closely. 他蹲在脚印旁仔细地观察。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• He squatted in the grass discussing with someone. 他蹲在草地上与一个人谈话。 来自《简明英汉词典》

13 applied   

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。

14 rattles   

（使）发出格格的响声， （使）作嘎嘎声( rattle的第三人称单数 )； 喋喋不休地说话； 迅速而嘎嘎作响地移动，堕下或走动； 使紧张，使恐惧

参考例句：

• It rattles the windowpane and sends the dog scratching to get under the bed. 它把窗玻璃震得格格作响，把狗吓得往床底下钻。
• How thin it is, and how dainty and frail; and how it rattles. 你看它够多么薄，多么精致，多么不结实；还老那么哗楞哗楞地响。

15 determined   

adj.坚定的；有决心的

参考例句：

• I have determined on going to Tibet after graduation.我已决定毕业后去西藏。
• He determined to view the rooms behind the office.他决定查看一下办公室后面的房间。