填空题 Spring Letdown: Hiring Slows In April, Raising New Challenges For Economy
Hiring unexpectedly slowed last month as businesses struggled to keep pace with booming demand from newly vaccinated customers. U.S. employers __1__ just 266,000 jobs in April, according to a monthly snapshot from the Labor Department. It was the weakest month of job growth since January. “We knew this would not be a 100-day battle,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told reporters at the White House. “Today’s jobs report underscores the long-haul climb back to
recovery.” The unemployment rate rose to 6.1%, from 6% in March, partly because hundreds of thousands of people joined the workforce. The labor market is still far from fully recovered. Even with last month’s gains, there are still 8.2 million fewer workers on payrolls than there were before the pandemic. Job gains for March were also __2__, from 916,000 to 770,000. Some employers say they’re having difficulty __3_ jobs, even though millions of people are still out of work. “A fast-food restaurant in town here has a sign looking for
people to staff the drive-thru and they’re offering a $500 signing bonus,” said Wells Fargo economist Tim Quinlan. Nearly a third of the U.S. population is now fully vaccinated. But many people are still __4_ to COVID-19, and some are wary of returning to work, especially in settings where they could be exposed to the virus. Others are busy caring for sick relatives or looking after children whose schools have not yet reopened. Yellen noted that of the 4.2 million women who left the workforce during the pandemic, 2 million have yet to return. She argued the U.S. needs to do more to help people balance work and family life. “Our policy-making has not accounted for the fact that people’s work lives and their personal lives are __5_ linked, and if one suffers, so does the other,” Yellen said.
1. A. decreased B. lessened C. added D. spiked
2. A. climbed down B. revised down C. laid down D. turned down
3. A. filled B. being filled C. filling D. to fill
4. A. ambiguous B. subsequent C. proactive D. vulnerable
5. A. inextricably B. exclusively C. extremely D. exceedingly