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Graduating high school seniors looking to enter the workforce and other high school students searching for summer jobs are facin

admin2015-02-12  36
问题     Graduating high school seniors looking to enter the workforce and other high school students searching for summer jobs are facing a tighter job market this year as the once red-hot U.S. economy continues to cool. Nationally, the jobless rate for 16- to 19-year-olds continues to rise. The unemployment rate for teenagers hit 14.2 percent in April, compared with 12.8 percent last year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
    "It’s very obvious that it’s going to be a little harder this summer, because businesses are much more reserved and cautious," said Mark J. Gambill, the vice president of marketing at Manpower Inc., the nation’s largest temporary employment agency. The New York City-based company recently surveyed 16,000 public and private employers. It found manufacturing, light industry, and high-tech firms were least likely to be seeking employees.
    Temporary jobs typically are the first to suffer in a slowing economy, but other sectors that employ teenagers heavily have fallen on leaner times as well. For instance, the amusement, recreation, and hotel industries shed a combined 43000 jobs in March and April, said John F. Stinson Jr., an economist at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    Ironically, the pinch comes as the nation’s overall jobless rate remains low. Statistics show that fewer teenagers have been jobless over the past few summers than at any time during the previous decade. "The jobless rates are still low by historical standards," Mr. Stinson said. Ten years ago, for example, the unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-old workers was 21.1 percent in June and 15.7 percent in July. Last year, the rate was 14.4 percent and 12.4 percent, respectively, federal figures show.
    Experts say teenagers looking for summer work still can find jobs but not lots of pay. The continuing slump in the nation’s high-tech sector and lingering uncertainty over the general health of the economy have combined to limit teenagers’ job options to the type of work that American youths typically have thrived on—the retail and fast-food industries.
    For the past several years, experts say, large numbers of teenagers found work with high-paying technology companies. But those heady days of $50000 starting salaries for those with computer skills and only a high school diploma have ended.
    Nationally, some 2.8 million students are expected to graduate from public and private high schools this year, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Lacking some sort of post secondary education or training virtually ensures those graduates will garner low wages. Ron Bird, the chief economist at the Employment Policy Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit think tank, said economic projections show that wage growth for those with only a high school diploma will be the slowest among all groups.
    "There is a fundamental shift evident in the U. S. economy, tied primarily to technology, that will reward more professional, management, and technical-type jobs as opposed to line operators," he said.
This text is mainly about______.
选项 A、the cooling of the U.S. economy
B、job competition between high school students and high school graduates
C、summer jobs prospects for teenagers
D、employment prospects for high school students and graduates
答案D
解析 属主旨思想题。本文第一段第一句就点明主题：想要找工作的应届中学毕业生和那些打算在暑假打零工的中学生今年面对的就业形势比较紧张。接下来的几段具体分析了这一形势，并分别引用了不同专家和经济学家的意见以数据说明今年的就业前景。由此可知，选项D正确。选项A(经济不景气)只是导致今年就业前景不乐观的原因，并不是文章讨论的中心。此外，作者在文中把高中应届毕业生和在校中学生作为今年夏天找工作的一个群体来看待，并没有突出他们之间的竞争，因此选项B错误。选项C是文章第四、五段的重点内容，不能概括全文，故也可排除。
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