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  3. How many really suffer as a result of labor market problems? This is one of the most critical yet contentious social policy ques

How many really suffer as a result of labor market problems? This is one of the most critical yet contentious social policy ques

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问题     How many really suffer as a result of labor market problems? This is one of the most critical yet contentious social policy questions. In many ways,our so- cial statistics exaggerate the degree of hardship. Unemployment does not have the same dire consequences today as it did in the 1930’s when most of the unemployed were primary breadwinners, when income and earnings were usually much closer to the margin of subsistence, and when there were no countervailing social programs for those failing in the labor market. Increasing afflu- ence, the rise of families with more than one wage earner, the growing predominance of secondary earners among the unemployed, and improved social welfare protection have unquestionably mit- igated the consequences of joblessness. Earnings and income data also overstate the dimensions of hardship. Among the millions with hourly earnings at or below the minimum wage level, the over- whelming majority are from multiple-earner, relatively affluent families. Most of those counted by the poverty statistics are elderly or handicapped or have family responsibilities which keep them out of the labor force, so the poverty statistics are by no means an accurate indicator of labor market pathologies.
    Yet there are also many ways our social statistics underestimate the degree of labor-market-related hardship. The unemployment counts exclude the millions of fully employed workers whose wages are so low that their families re- main in poverty. Low wages and repeated or prolonged unemployment frequently interact to undermine the capacity for self-support. Since the number experiencing joblessness at some time during the year is several times the number unemployed in any month, those who suffer as a result of forced idleness can equal or exceed average annual unemployment, even though only a minority of the jobless in any month really suffer. For every person counted in the monthly unemployment tallies, there is another working part-time because of the inability to find full-time work, or else outside the labor force but wanting a job. Finally, income transfers in our country have always focused on the elderly, disabled, and dependent, neglecting the needs of the working poor, so that the dramatic expansion of cash and in-kind transfers does not necessarily mean that those failing in the labor market are adequately protected.
    As a result of such contradictory evidence, it is uncertain whether those suffering seriously as a result of thousands or the tens of millions, and, hence, whether high levels of joblessness can be tolerated or must be coun- tered by job creation and economic stimulus. There is only one area of agreement in this debate—that the existing poverty, employment, and earnings statistics are inadequate for one of their primary applications, measuring the consequences of labor market problems.
The author’s purpose in citing those who are repeatedly unemployed during a twelve-month period is most probably to show that
选项 A、there are several factors that cause the payment of low wages to some members of the labor force.
B、unemployment statistics can underestimate the hardship resulting from joblessness.
C、recurrent inadequacies in the labor market can exist and can cause hardships for individual workers.
D、a majority of those who are jobless at any one time to not suffer severe hardship.
E、there are fewer individuals who are without jobs at some time during a year than would be expected on the basis of monthly unemployment figures.
答案B
解析 提到那些终年失业的人是为了显示：作者在原文L43—51提到这类人，都是为了说明第二段的中心内容：统计数据时常低估失业带来的苦难。(此段首句L34～36的概括)A．有一些因素引起一些劳动者工资偏低。无。B．失业统计可能低估了失业带来的困难。正确。C．劳动市场问题造成个人的困难。情理中有，但文中无。D．大部分终年失业者不是很受苦。原文even though(L49—51)的内容，属让步、补充说明，不是主要写作目的。E．一年中部分时间失业的人要比我们用月失业人数所估算的少。无。
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