VOA慢速英语--1500万美国人自主工作

AS IT IS 2016-09-11 Fifteen Million Americans Work for Themselves 1500万美国人自主工作

About 15 million people in the United States work for themselves.

That finding comes from the Pew Research Center, a not-for-profit research group. The center prepared a report on the kind of work Americans do and the wages they receive.

Pew found that the 15 million people who work for themselves are not always working alone -- even if they do not report to someone else. They often employ people to help them do their work, the report said.

In 2015, Pew reported that millennials, people from 18 to 34 years old, became the largest age group in the U.S. workforce¹. Millennials replaced Generation Xers, aged² 35 to 50 -- as the largest age group.

Pew also reported that women earn 83 percent as much as men. But younger women come closer to pay equity³. Women aged 25 to 34 earn 91 percent as much as men, the report said.

Also releasing employment information this month was Project Time Off, a group based in Washington, D.C. The group argues that people should take time off from work both for employees' well-being⁴ and more success in the workplace.

An employee who takes time off is not only more rested, but more productive, Project Time Off said.

But the group reported that in 2015 more than half of American workers did not use up all their vacation time. These Americans left 658 million vacation days unused, it said.

Millennials, aged 18 to 34, are the least likely generation of workers to take a paid holiday, the group said. And they generally earn fewer vacation days than older workers.

Another report found that nearly 9 percent of American businesses with paid workers are less than two years old. That information comes from the U.S. Census⁵ Bureau.

A much smaller percentage, about 3 percent, has been in business for 16 years or longer, the Census Bureau said.

The report suggests it is easier to open up a business than to keep it going for many years.

The Pew Research Center’s report provided lots of other information about American workers. Among its findings:

The difference in wages between young workers with college degrees and those with less education is the biggest in years. Pew said college graduates, aged 24 to 34 and working full time, now earn about $20,000 more a year than young adults without a college degree.

Fewer teenagers are working in the summer now compared to the 1990s. In 2014, 32.3 percent of U.S. teenagers had paid jobs in the summer, compared to rates over 40 percent in the 1990s.

But older adults are working more. In May, 18.8 percent of Americans aged over 65 were working. In 2000, the percentage was 12.8 percent.

Words in this Story

millennials - n. young people who finished high school in 2000 or later

equity - n. meaning that people are treated and paid the same way, regardless of gender⁶ or race

vacation – n. the days for which an employer agrees to pay workers while they are not working; a period that a person spends away from work

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 aged   

adj.年老的，陈年的

参考例句：

• He had put on weight and aged a little.他胖了，也老点了。
• He is aged,but his memory is still good.他已年老，然而记忆力还好。

3 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。

4 well-being   

n.安康，安乐，幸福

参考例句：

• He always has the well-being of the masses at heart.他总是把群众的疾苦挂在心上。
• My concern for their well-being was misunderstood as interference.我关心他们的幸福，却被误解为多管闲事。

5 census   

n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查

参考例句：

• A census of population is taken every ten years.人口普查每10年进行一次。
• The census is taken one time every four years in our country.我国每四年一次人口普查。

6 gender   

n.（生理上的）性，（名词、代词等的）性

参考例句：

• French differs from English in having gender for all nouns.法语不同于英语，所有的名词都有性。
• Women are sometimes denied opportunities solely because of their gender.妇女有时仅仅因为性别而无法获得种种机会。