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  3. Summer’s unofficial end closed out a dark season for working teenagers. The unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-olds ticked

Summer’s unofficial end closed out a dark season for working teenagers. The unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-olds ticked

admin2012-07-05  34
问题     Summer’s unofficial end closed out a dark season for working teenagers.
    The unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-olds ticked up to 25.4% in August from 25% the previous month, the Labor Department said last week. For black teens, unemployment leaped to 46.5% from 39.2% in July. The nation’s jobless rate was unchanged at 9.1% .
    Equally worrisome: the jobless rate for teens of all races has hovered (徘徊) around 25% all summer each of the past three years, marking the worst such stretch on records back to 1948. Summer teenage unemployment averaged 13% in 2000 and 15.8% as recently as 2007.
    The prolonged recession has serious implications for America’s future adult workers. Summer jobs are critical for teaching youths "soft skills," such as how to deal with customers and managers, says Michael Saltsman, research fellow at the Employment Policies Institute.
    A 1995 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found high school seniors who worked 20 hours a week can expect to earn 21% more in annual salary and 11% higher hourly wages six to nine years later.
    Yet just 29.6% of all teens worked this summer, tying last year’s all time low. In 2000, more than half of teens worked.
    In a report last year, the Bureau of Labor Statistics cites several reasons for the long-term trend, including many teens in summer school and more high school graduates enrolling in college.
    Also, jobs traditionally held by teens, such as grocery cashiers and retail sales associates have been replaced by technology, Saltsman says. The recession accelerated the trend, with many teens losing out to laid-off workers with more experience in the hunt for low-level jobs.
    To help working youths, Saltsman says the federal government should give employers more flexibility to pay them as much as $ 3 below the minimum wage of $ 7. 25 an hour. Now, such a " training wage" can only be paid for 90 days.
    Saltsman cites a study by Miami and Trinity universities showing the increase in the rninimum hourly wage to $ 7. 25 from $ 5.15 from 2007 to 2009 reduced teenage employment nationwide by 2.5% , or 114,000 workers.
    Dean Baker, co-director for the Center for Economic and Policy Research, says Washington should revive job programs for low-income youths as part of an economic stimulus (刺激).
What can be inferred from the passage about the working teenagers?
选项 A、They have lost confidence in finding a proper job.
B、They have to face a prolonged economic difficulty.
C、Their working ability is not approved by society.
D、They could learn skills that are useful in the future.
答案D
解析 推理判断题。根据原文“暑期工作对于培养年轻人的“软技能”是十分重要的”，可推出青少年在暑期工作中可以学到一些有用的技能，D)含义与之吻合，故为答案。失业率高并不意味着青少年工作者对找到合适的工作失去信心，故排除A)；原文提到经济萧条，但没有暗示其会持续很久，故排除B)；青少年工作人数的减少是由很多原因造成的，原文并没有指出工作能力是其中的一个原因，故排除C)。
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