VOA标准英语2010年-Fewer Americans Filing for Jobless Ben

A resource room specialist at Workforce¹ Plus employment office assists client Martin Washington (L) as he uses the computer to look for jobs and send out applications, 22, Jan 2010, in Tallahassee, Florida

Upbeat economic data sent U.S. stocks higher Thursday.  Positive indicators² in America's labor³ market and housing sector⁴ appear to be fueling hopes that a fragile economic recovery will accelerate.

Last month saw the U.S. unemployment rate fall from 10 percent to 9.7 percent. Now, the Labor Department is reporting a substantial drop in the number of newly-laid off Americans filing for jobless benefits. First-time claims for unemployment insurance totaled 440,000 last week, down 43,000 from the previous week. In addition, the four-week average of jobless claims and the total number of people receiving benefits are also down.

Chicago-based Mesirow Financial chief economist⁵ Diane Swonk says the latest jobless snapshot provides a better indication of America's employment trend than previous numbers that were influenced by the busy holiday shopping season.

"It is an improvement over what we have seen, and also it is more of a true figure," said Swonk.

The Obama administration is projecting a gradual reduction in America's stubbornly-high unemployment rate, with monthly job creation averaging 95,000 this year. The chairperson of the president's Council of Economic Advisors⁶, Cristina Romer, spoke⁷ on Bloomberg Television:

"We are predicting positive job growth for 2010, and I know for people who have been living through the last year, that is an incredible change in the trajectory," he said.

More than 8 million Americans have lost their jobs since the United States slipped into recession in late 2007.

Meanwhile, U.S. housing market generated a double-dose of good news: better home sales and fewer foreclosures.

Walter Maloney is a spokesman for the National Association of Realtors, which tracks home prices across the nation.

"Thirty-two states saw double-digit gains [in home prices] during the quarter. All but three states had double-digit gains from a year ago," Maloney said.

But if home prices are rebounding⁸, they are doing so from a low base. The median price for a single-family American home in 2006 stood at $221,000, compared to $173,000 in the last quarter of 2009.

At the same time, a private group says home foreclosure filings fell 10 percent in January compared to December. Even so, foreclosure numbers remain higher than those reported a year ago. It was a rash of foreclosures in 2007 and 2008 that helped spark America's financial crisis and pushed a weakened economy into recession.

 

1 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 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

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 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

5 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。

6 advisors   

n.顾问，劝告者( advisor的名词复数 )；（指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• The governors felt that they were being strung along by their advisors. 地方长官感到他们一直在受顾问们的愚弄。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• We will consult together with advisors about her education. 我们将一起和专家商议她的教育事宜。 来自互联网

7 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

8 rebounding   

蹦跳运动

参考例句：

• The strength of negative temperature concrete is tested with supersonic-rebounding method. 本文将超声回弹综合法用于负温混凝土强度检测。
• The fundamental of basketball includes shooting, passing and catching, rebounding, etc. 篮球运动中最基本的东西包括投篮，传接球，篮板球等。