CNN 2010-01-12

Let's get back to those unemployment numbers for just a moment. Employers cut more jobs than many people expected last month, but the unemployment rate does remain the same.

 

Christine Romans is joining us now from New York for more details.

 

The unemployment rate, 10 percent, though, Christine.

 

It is 10 percent. You're right, Heidi. And that is a number that's uncomfortable for many people, for both you and I, people on Main Street, and people who are in power, who are looking at a 10 percent unemployment rate and saying that's just not sustainable. Eighty-five thousand jobs lost, 10 percent unemployment rate still for the year of 2009. 4.2 million jobs were lost in this economy. And when you look at the recession¹, overall, 7.2 million jobs were lost.

 

Those are pretty dismal² numbers. But take a look at this chart. Job losses really slowed down in 2009. The beginning of the year was horrific, all the way through the summer. And then employers were slashing³ fewer jobs. In fact, a little bit of a surprise, if you will, in these numbers. November, the economy CREATed 4,000 jobs. That was a bit of surprise. So we did finally reverse⁴ almost two years of job losses in November. Four thousand jobs is not a lot in the context⁵ of an economy with so many workers, and six million people, frankly⁶, have, you know, are discouraged or dropped out of the workforce⁷, or even millions more are working part time because they cannot get a full- time job.

 

So you could still see the unemployment rate continue to rise this year, Heidi, in the beginning part of the year as this flood of people who are out of the labor⁸ market start tiptoeing back in, because they want to, you know, they want to try their luck again here in the beginning of the year.

 

We did create some jobs in temporary and professional services.

 

Yeah.

 

We know that some companies like to test the waters and hire temporary workers first. What we haven't seen, though, is those temporary work, jobs translating into full time jobs. We're still waiting for that to happen.

 

Yes. Yes. Got it. We've done a couple of stories on that here. And that people who came up with the idea to run companies that offer...

 

Right.

 

 ... temporary agencies.

Right.

Those are the smart guys right now.

 

Everybody seems to be feeling the pain of unemployment pretty equally across the board?

 

No, you know, it's a pretty dynamic labor market. There are a lot of differences when you look within these numbers. Adult men have an unemployment rate that is frankly higher than the general public. Indeed, if we're going to look at these numbers you can see that adult men in November, they had a 10.5 percent unemployment rate. They're still higher than the average.

 

Blacks have an unemployment rate that rose slightly. It had been at 15.6 percent in November. It rose to 16 percent. The unemployment rate for Hispanics also rose, you know, knocking on the door, 13 percent. And teens, record unemployment for teens, Heidi, now, 27 percent unemployment for teens.

 

So some of these groups have been feeling the recession far longer and far deeper than others.

 

Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. All right, well, we will continue to talk about these numbers...

 

Sure.

 

... throughout the morning. Christine, thank you.

 

You're welcome.

 

What happens when the homeless people won't come inside during brutal⁹ cold spells like this? In St. Louis, one minister goes out to check on them himself.

 

Martin Savidge reports now on a man who's "Making His Mark."
 

1 recession   

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。

2 dismal   

adj.阴沉的，凄凉的，令人忧郁的，差劲的

参考例句：

• That is a rather dismal melody.那是一支相当忧郁的歌曲。
• My prospects of returning to a suitable job are dismal.我重新找到一个合适的工作岗位的希望很渺茫。

3 slashing   

adj.尖锐的；苛刻的；鲜明的；乱砍的v.挥砍( slash的现在分词 )；鞭打；割破；削减

参考例句：

• Slashing is the first process in which liquid treatment is involved. 浆纱是液处理的第一过程。 来自辞典例句
• He stopped slashing his horse. 他住了手，不去鞭打他的马了。 来自辞典例句

4 reverse   

v.推翻，颠倒，反向；n.反面，逆境；adj.反向的

参考例句：

• His answer was just the reverse of what I expected.他的回答正好与我期望的相反。
• Please reverse the positions of two pictures.请把两张图片的位置倒转过来。

5 context   

n.背景，环境，上下文，语境

参考例句：

• You can always tell the meaning of a word from its context.你常可以从上下文中猜出词义来。
• This sentence does not seem to connect with the context.这个句子似乎与上下文脱节。

6 frankly   

adv.坦白地，直率地；坦率地说

参考例句：

• To speak frankly, I don't like the idea at all.老实说，我一点也不赞成这个主意。
• Frankly speaking, I'm not opposed to reform.坦率地说，我不反对改革。

7 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。

8 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。

9 brutal   

adj.残忍的，野蛮的，不讲理的

参考例句：

• She has to face the brutal reality.她不得不去面对冷酷的现实。
• They're brutal people behind their civilised veneer.他们表面上温文有礼，骨子里却是野蛮残忍。