美国国家公共电台 NPR U.S. Added 304,000 Jobs In January; Shutdown Boosted Unemployment To 4 Percent

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

The hundreds of thousands of government workers who were furloughed or working without pay did not have a negative effect on the job market. The Department of Labor¹ reports this morning that employers in this country added 304,000 jobs last month. NPR's Yuki Noguchi is in the studio for more.

Hi, Yuki.

YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE²: Good morning.

MARTIN: What do these numbers show?

NOGUCHI: Well, as you mentioned, hiring was, surprisingly, very strong - 304,000. That's way beyond what analysts³ were expecting. And a lot of the hiring was in restaurants and hotels, construction and health care. But the unemployment rate was 4 percent, which was a small hike from the 3.9 percent level in December.

MARTIN: So explain how it seems to indicate that the government shutdown, which affected⁴ 800,000 federal workers, that had virtually no effect on the job market.

NOGUCHI: Yeah, it's a little confusing. It didn't affect the numbers because of some technicalities of who the government considered unemployed⁵ in January. So there are two separate surveys. And they classified furloughed workers differently. One of them is the payroll⁶ survey, which measures hiring. And that one counted furloughed workers as employed, even if they were sitting at home and not collecting a paycheck. But since Congress agreed to pay these workers retroactively, they were employed. But in the other survey, which measures the jobless rate, a lot of these same workers were counted as unemployed.

MARTIN: So what kind of impact did that have on the jobless rate in January?

NOGUCHI: It did have an effect but a small one. You saw the unemployment rate go to 4 percent. That's an uptick of 1/10 of a percentage point. But that effect is likely temporary.

MARTIN: So does that mean the job market, basically, escaped largely unscathed because of the shutdown last month?

NOGUCHI: Not entirely⁷ - the Congressional Budget Office this week said the shutdown reduced federal spending and cut into economic growth. Now, that would definitely hit federal contractors⁸, who make up the biggest segment of those that do government work. They don't get paid back after the furlough ended. And some of them were laid off. That might help explain why we saw a spike⁹ earlier this week in initial claims for unemployment insurance. And the number of people working part time but looking for more work increased a lot last month. Probably, those are government workers and contractors looking to bridge that period with temporary work. But then, you know, Rachel, the overall context is that unemployment is still very low.

MARTIN: Right.

NOGUCHI: Private sector¹⁰ can't fill jobs. And so we'll have to wait to see more data. But the government shutdown caused, you know, some delays in other economic reports. So we'll have to wait to see what those say.

MARTIN: So January - clearly, a big month for hiring. How does that fit into the overall employment trajectory¹¹?

NOGUCHI: You're right. The longer term trend is what matters. And this latest data doesn't actually change the monthly average very much. January marks the 100th straight month of job growth. That's a very long run of growth. The unemployment rate is so low at this point that there are just fewer people who don't already have jobs. And that's great news for workers because that lack of available workforce¹² means that employers have to pay more. And last month, you saw average hourly earnings¹³ increase by an annual rate of 3.2 percent. That's considered pretty strong. So we may start to see hiring level off but wages continue to increase.

MARTIN: All right. NPR's Yuki Noguchi for us this morning with those new jobs numbers. Thanks so much, Yuki.

NOGUCHI: Thank you, Rachel.

1 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。

2 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。

3 analysts   

分析家，化验员( analyst的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• City analysts forecast huge profits this year. 伦敦金融分析家预测今年的利润非常丰厚。
• I was impressed by the high calibre of the researchers and analysts. 研究人员和分析人员的高素质给我留下了深刻印象。

4 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

5 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。

6 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

7 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

8 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

9 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

10 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。

11 trajectory   

n.弹道，轨道

参考例句：

• It is not difficult to sketch the subsequent trajectory.很容易描绘出它们最终的轨迹。
• The path followed by a projectile is called its trajectory.抛物体所循的路径称为它的轨道。

12 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。

13 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。