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  3. Read the following extract from an article about some job problems, and the questions followed. For each question 15—20, mark on

Read the following extract from an article about some job problems, and the questions followed. For each question 15—20, mark on

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问题 Read the following extract from an article about some job problems, and the questions followed.
For each question 15—20, mark one letter(A, B, C, or D)on your Answer Sheet for the answer you choose.
Last years economy should have won the Oscar for best picture. The macroeconomic situation was good, but the microeconomic numbers were not. Yes, 3 million new jobs were there, but not enough of them were permanent, good jobs paying enough to support a family.
Yes, unemployment went down, but over 1 million workers were so discouraged they left the labor force. More than 6 million who wanted full-time work were only partially employed; and another large group was either overqualified or sheltered behind the euphemism of self-employment.
White-collar workers found out they were no longer immune. For the first time, they were let go in numbers virtually equal to those for blue-collar workers. Many resorted to temporary work—with lower pay, fewer benefits and less status.
Then there is a matter of remuneration. Whatever happened to wage gains four years into a recovery? The Labour Department recently reported that real wages fell 2.3 percent in the 12-month period ending this March. Since 1973, wages adjusted for inflation have declined by about a quarter for high school dropouts, by a sixth for high school graduates and by about 7 percent for those with some college education.
What is going on here? In previous business cycles, companies with rising productivity raised wages to keep labor. Is the historical link between productivity improvements and income growth severed? Of all the reasons given for the wage squeeze-international competition, technology, deregulation, the decline of unions and defense cuts- technology is probably the most critical. It has favored the educated and skilled. The earning squeeze on middle-class and working-class and the scarcity of "good, high-paying" jobs will be the big political issue of the 1990s.
Americans have so far responded to their falling fortunes by working harder. Two-worker families rose by more than 20 percent in the 1980s. Seven million workers hold at least two jobs, the highest proportion in half a century.
America is simply not growing fast enough to tighten the labor market and push up real wages. The danger of the information age is that while in the short run it may be cheaper to replace workers with technology, in the long run it is potentially self-destructive because there will not be enough purchasing power to grow economy. To avoid this dismal prospect, we must get on the virtuous cycle of higher growth and avoid the vicious cycle of retrenchment. Otherwise, an angry, disillusioned and frustrated population whose rage today is focused on big government, excess taxes, immigration, welfare and affirmative action- may someday be brought together by its sense of diminished hopes. Then we will all be in for a very difficult time.
How many people were partially employed last year?
选项 A、Over 2 million.
B、3 million.
C、Over 6 million.
D、8 million.
答案C
解析
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