VOA慢速英语 2007 0518a

This is the VOA Special English Economics Report.

Employers in the United States expect to hire almost twenty percent more college graduates this year than last year. So says the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

 
 
The group says employers are most interested in students with business, engineering and computer-related training. There is also great demand for business graduates with a master's of business administration or other advanced degree. Employers say they plan to increase hiring of M.B.A. graduates by eighteen percent.

Increases in starting pay are also a sign of the demand for business and technical majors. The average pay offer to newly hired marketing¹ graduates is reported up by more than ten percent over last year. The increase is almost eight percent for graduates in business administration.

The job market for college graduates has grown stronger and stronger since demand reached a low point in two thousand two. The unemployment rate for all workers is four and a half percent. But people with a bachelor's degree have a jobless rate under two percent.

Just over half of employers said they expect to offer jobs to more college graduates this year than last. But the signs of job growth do not look so good for liberal arts graduates. Not only that, starting pay for graduates with a liberal arts degree is up just one percent.

Before we go -- we told you last month that the carmaker Chrysler was for sale. This week DaimlerChrysler of Germany announced a deal for its struggling American division. Cerberus Capital Management, a private equity² company in New York, will buy an eighty percent share. The deal is valued at almost seven and one-half billion dollars.

Daimler will have to pay about six hundred fifty million dollars to complete the deal. And it will continue to hold twenty percent of Chrysler. But it will no longer be responsible for Chrysler's retirement³ and health care plans. Their cost is estimated at around eighteen billion dollars.

Labor⁴ unions are being told there are no plans for major job cuts beyond the thirteen thousand that Chrysler announced in February.

Chrysler lost one and one-half billion dollars last year. Recently, though, because of accounting⁵ changes, the loss was restated as six hundred eighty million dollars. The new owners say they are looking for a long-term plan to make Chrysler profitable again.

And that's the VOA Special English Economics Report, written by Mario Ritter. I'm Steve Ember.

1 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

2 equity   

n.公正，公平，（无固定利息的）股票

参考例句：

• They shared the work of the house with equity.他们公平地分担家务。
• To capture his equity,Murphy must either sell or refinance.要获得资产净值，墨菲必须出售或者重新融资。

3 retirement   

n.退休，退职

参考例句：

• She wanted to enjoy her retirement without being beset by financial worries.她想享受退休生活而不必为金钱担忧。
• I have to put everything away for my retirement.我必须把一切都积蓄起来以便退休后用。

4 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。

5 accounting   

n.会计，会计学，借贷对照表

参考例句：

• A job fell vacant in the accounting department.财会部出现了一个空缺。
• There's an accounting error in this entry.这笔账目里有差错。