VOA常速英语2014--US Unemployment Dips to 6.6 Percent, but Hiring Continues to Slow 美国失业率降至6.6%,但新增就业人口持续偏低

US Unemployment Dips to 6.6 Percent, but Hiring Continues to Slow 美国失业率降至6.6%,但新增就业人口持续偏低

WASHINGTON — Unemployment in the U.S. has fallen to a five-year low. The Labor 1 Department says the economy added 113,000 jobs in January - well below expectations of 180,000 - but enough to push the nation’s unemployment rate down to 6.6 percent. Still, there are growing concerns the labor market has cooled - in more ways than one.

华盛顿消息— 美国劳工部表示，美国失业率降至五年来最低。1月份新增就业人口11.3万—远低于预期的18万—但是这足以使美国失业率降到6.6%。

It’s a mixed picture for the U.S. labor market. On the one hand, employers added more jobs than in the previous month. On the other, job creation remained frustratingly 2 weak, according to Bankrate.com bureau chief Mark Hamrick via Skype.

美国劳工市场非常复杂。Bnkrate.coma 3 当局主席经skype发表消息说，一方面就业人口与前几月相比有所增加，另一方面，就业人口增长相当缓慢。

“Most worrisome thing is that hiring has not been at the robust 4 level that was seen in previous recoveries,” he said.

他表示，最令人担心的是就业增长并不像之前经济恢复期间那样强健

Job growth in January was well below the average monthly gains for last year, when employers were hiring an average of nearly 200,000 workers each month.

一月份的就业增长远低于去年平均值。去年每月新增就业月20万。

But Hamrick said the demand for workers may have cooled in January for a number of reasons. “We know that severe weather has really been making an impact across much of the United States and so we’ve seen, for example, car sales down. We know that housing activity’s been affected 5, and surely the consumer has been hibernating 6 - in many cases because it's miserable 7 out there,” he said.

但是哈姆里克表示，一月份就业市场冷却有几大原因。“我们知道，极端天气对美国大部分地区都有所影响。比如，因为寒冷天气，消费者不敢出门，使汽车销量下降，房市也被波及。市场疲软很大程度是因为极端天气。”

Despite snowy conditions in many parts of the country, employment grew in the manufacturing and construction sectors 8. And the labor participation 9 rate improved slightly as more Americans started looking for work.  

尽管全国多地大降雪，但是制造业和建筑业的就业人口仍有所增加。随着更多的美国人开始寻找工作，劳动参与率也有小幅度提高。

But while the unemployment rate is now the lowest since 2008, some labor experts say more Americans are taking lower-paying jobs, and others are going back to school. Also, some people -- especially those who have been out of work six months or longer - are dropping out of the labor pool altogether, said economist 10 Ken 11 Simonson.

经济学家西蒙森表示，尽管失业率降至2008年经济危机以来最低，但一些劳动专家却认为有些人从事的是低薪水的工作，而有一些人重新回到了学校。而且，有些人—尤其是失业时间达到六个月的—并没有在劳动力储备统计之内

“So in three different ways, it may actually drive down the unemployment rate, but not all of those will produce immediate 12 benefits for the economy,” said Simonson.

西蒙森说，以上三种现象都会有助于降低失业率，但并不是这三种现象都能给美国经济带来即期效益。

On Wall Street, investors 13 appear to have shrugged 14 off the weaker-than-expected job numbers -- sending stock prices higher on expectations of more robust growth and warmer weather in the coming months.

在华尔街，投资者对低于预期的新增就业视而不见。基于未来数月经济强进增长及天气回暖的预期，股票价格大幅度上涨。