Whether you love it or hate it, work is a major part of most people’s lives everywhere in the world. Americans are no exception. Americans might complain about “blue Monday,” when they have to go back to work after the weekend, but most of them put a lot of importance on their job, not only in terms of money but also in terms of identity. In fact, when Americans are introduced to a new person, they almost always ask each other, “What do you do?” They are really asking, “What is your job or profession?” Today, however, we won’t look at work in terms of what work means socially or psychologically. Rather, um, we’re going to take a look at work in the United States today in three different ways. First, we’ll take a historical look at work in America. Uh, we’ll do that by looking at how things changed for the American worker from the year 1900 to the year of the latest statistics, 2010. That is, from the beginning of the twentieth century to recent times. Then we’ll look at how U.S. workers are doing today. And after that, we’ll take a look at some possible reasons for the current economic situation. And finally, we’ll look at what people are saying about what the government should and should not do in order to improve the country’s economy.
As we look at the changes over the last century or so, we’re going to use a lot of statistics to describe these changes. First, let’s consider how the type of work people were involved in changed. At the beginning of the twentieth century, in 1900, about 38 percent of the workforce was involved in agriculture; that is, they worked on a farm. By the end of the century, only 3 percent still worked on farms, and by 2010, only about 1 percent worked in agriculture. There was also a large decrease in the number of people working in industry, that is, in making, or manufacturing, things in factories. The number of workers in industry is down from over 30 percent in 1900 to just over 22 percent in 2010.
While the number of people in agriculture and manufacturing industries went down, the number of people in the services went up. As you may know, services, rather than goods or products, provide other less concrete things that people need. A few examples include education, health care, transportation, tourism, banking, advertising, and legal services. Cafes, restaurants, and fast-food outlets like McDonald’s are part of the service sector, as are retail sales jobs, driving taxis, and pumping gas. The services workforce jumped from 31 percent of the workforce in 1900 to 77 percent in 2010.
Let’s recap the numbers: in 1900, 38 percent in agriculture; 31 percent in industry; and 31 percent in services. In 2010, about 1 percent in agriculture; 22 percent in industry; and 77 percent in services.
To put things into perspective, let’s compare the United States today to China, where the picture is very different. From your experience, would you expect China to have more workers in agriculture or in industry? Well, it may or may not surprise you, but in China, agriculture takes up only 10 percent of the workforce, industry a huge 47 percent, and services 43 percent. Figures for the entire world are somewhere between China’s and the United States’ figures: 6 percent, 31 percent, and 63 percent for agriculture, industry, and services, respectively. Let’s get back to the changes in the U.S. workforce in the last century or so.
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There are just two more points I wanted to bring up. First, child labor was not unusual at the beginning of the twentieth century. In 1900, there were 1,750,000 children aged 10 to 15 working full-time in the labor force. This was 6 percent of the labor force. Over the years, child labor laws became much stricter and by 1999, it was illegal for anyone under 16 to work full-time in any of the 50 states. Second, while the number of children in the workforce went down, the number of women went up dramatically. In 1900, only 19 percent of women were employed; in 2010, almost 73 percent of women were holding down jobs.
OK, now let’s take a look at how the U.S. workforce is doing today. First, let me say that for much of the twentieth century, U.S. workers saw rising wages, increased benefits like Social Security and health insurance, and better working conditions. However, things are not so rosy for today’s workers. First, let’s look at wages. The U.S. workforce is still considered extremely productive among the industrialized nations of the world, but while its productivity has continued to increase since the 1970s, wages for the working class have not increased. Also the number of the unemployed has been high for some of the past few years.
Let me give you some statistics that may help you understand the impact of stagnant wages and high unemployment. Shortly after World War II, a child born in poverty, that is, to a poor family, had a 50 percent chance of being in the middle class as an adult. But by 1980, a person born in poverty had a 40 percent chance. In 2012, economists told us that his or her chance of entering the middle class was only 33 percent.
Finally, let’s take a look at some of the possible reasons for the current situation. First of all, agriculture in the United States has become much more mechanized and more efficient, so fewer people are needed to grow crops and raise animals. Most people agree that outsourcing, that is, sending some U.S. manufacturing and service work overseas to countries like China and India that have lower wages, is one reason. At the same time, these countries manufacture products that they can export to the United States and other countries more cheaply than U.S. companies can manufacture them. Also we should keep in mind that some advances in technology have eliminated a lot of the jobs that required workers in the past. I’m thinking of robots in the auto industry and bank ATM machines, for example. In addition to outsourcing and advances in technology, unions, which protect workers’ rights, have become weaker in the past decades. The result is lower wages and even loss of jobs for people from factory workers to teachers. Some economists point out that the American consumer has benefited from outsourcing and technology in that many products are much cheaper. That is cold comfort to millions of workers who have lost their jobs, of course. Let’s look at some more reasons.
Other possible causes for the economic problems may be government policies and legislation, among them tax cuts and lack of regulation of businesses, especially large corporations and financial institutions such as banks, mortgage companies, and investment firms. Tax cuts mean the government has less money to provide programs to help people in difficulty or to invest in education and research. Lack of regulation of financial institutions has led to their making very risky investments, risky investments that have led to loss of jobs, lost pensions, and loss of homes. It’s important to note, however, that many people believe that high taxes and too
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much regulation pull down the economy.
These issues are very difficult ones, and discussions about how to fix the economy can get very heated. Liberals and conservatives blame each other, and the political process seems more polarized than ever before. However, let’s not forget that the United States has survived many economic downturns in the past and “cautious optimism” about the U.S. economy seems to be the watchword of the day in newspapers and magazine articles about the economy at this time. Even the prestigious World Economic Forum, which met in Davos, Switzerland, in late January of 2012, expressed optimism and caution, in other words, “cautious optimism.”
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新世纪大学英语(第二版)学术英语视听说教程 第2册 Unit3_听力原文
