|
Michelle Wright: The number of new folks who were entering the workforce, who were putting money into 401K plans rose nearly 36% last year.
Carrie Lee: This is partly because more companies are automatically enrolling workers, on average over 67% of eligible workers do participate in the plans. The balances still remain pretty low, the average contribution level about 8% of annual salary, the median balance just over $27,000. A lot of people don't contribute enough to get the full company match either. They're basically giving away free money. CNN's Carrie Lee.
---------------
Michelle Wright: The government is launching a new initiative designed to alleviate traffic congestion which is quite costly to the country, says Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta.
Normal Mineta: Cargo sitting on the dock at some overwhelmed seaport or airplanes that are circling overcrowded airports. Congestion is costing America an estimated $200 billion a year.
Michelle Wright: Mineta says the government will choose 3 to 5 areas to work on that have the greatest potential to relieve traffic congestion based on current and projected growth patterns.
---------------
Michelle Wright: When you log on to Yahoo.com today, you'll get a brand new look, as they vie to strengthen their advertising appeal.
---------------
Michelle Wright: Wholesale prices jumped 9/10 of a percent last month and Economic Insights President Fred Dickson says, those price hikes for energy and food prices are a big deal to customers.
Fred Dickson: Certainly, if you spend the money on gasoline, you spend the money on food as people have to, those are necessities, it means you're gonna spend less elsewhere.
Michelle Wright: The jump is the biggest it's been in 7 months.
---------------
Michelle Wright: And there's been a clear slowdown in the housing sectors, says National Association of Home Builder's Chief economist Dave Seiders.
Dave Seiders: Our builder surveys, er, our builder survey measures builder attitudes that have been eroding really since middle last year and we just issued our housing market index for May. And it's er, it's getting down there.
Michelle Wright: According to the Commerce Department housing starts fell 7.4% last month.
Michelle Wright: With CNN Radio in the marketplace, I'm Michelle Wright.
---------------
WORDS AND EXPRESSIONS
overwhelmed: adj. 拥堵不堪的
get a brand new look: 面貌一新，焕然一新
vie: vi. 竞争
The 401k plan:
A type of retirement plan available in the United States. Named after a section of the 1978 Internal Revenue Code, a 401(k) is an employer-sponsored qualified retirement savings plan. It allows you to save for your retirement while deferring any immediate income taxes on the money you save or their respective earnings until withdrawn. Comparable types of salary-deferral retirement plans include 403( B ) plans covering workers in educational institutions, churches, public hospitals, and non-profit organizations and 401(a) and 457 plans which cover employees of state and local governments and certain tax-exempt entities
|