美國年輕人爲什麼不急於找工作

What it is to be young and unemployed in America has been widely reported, but July's report on the health of the jobs market offers a new snapshot of the scale of the problem.

對於美國無業青年狀況的報道經常見諸報端，但7月份關於就業市場健康狀況的報告，卻讓我們對這個問題的規模有了新的認識。

Some economists have argued youth unemployment isn't as bad as it's made out to be, since many enrolled in school or college are neither employed nor looking for a job and therefore aren't counted as part of the workforce. Of all other months, July provides one of the more accurate pictures of what young people face today -- it's a time when most are taking a break from school and looking for work.

有經濟學家認爲，年輕人失業狀況並沒有人們描寫的那麼糟糕，因爲許多在校生要麼是自謀職業，要麼就是還沒有開始求職，因此不能算入勞動力當中。今年7月份的一份報告讓我們更清晰地瞭解到如今年輕人所面臨的問題——大多數年輕人都臨時離開學校，開始求職。

During the Great Recession, the share of 16- to 24-year-olds who were neither enrolled in school nor working full-time fell. Unlike the rest of the population, the decline hasn't improved much: In July, 36% of young people worked full-time, 10% less than the same month in 2007 before the economic downturn. To be sure, July is a time when young people have taken on summer internships, and so the statistics reflect those with paid internships, as well as those with unpaid internship but have taken part-time jobs.

經濟大蕭條期間，16至24歲既未上學、也沒有全職工作的年輕人比例有所減少。與其他年齡段不同，這種減少的趨勢並未加強：7月，36%的年輕人擁有全職工作，相比經濟危機之前2007年同期減少了10%。當然，在七月份，年輕人紛紛開始暑期實習，因此統計數據中反映了從事帶薪實習的年輕人，和從事無薪實習但有兼職工作的年輕人。

"They're not in school, so what are they doing?" says Diana Carew, economist at Progressive Policy Institute, who studies youth unemployment. She points out that July's jobs report shows that the share of unemployed 16- to 24-year-olds not in school stood at 17.1%, compared with 11% six years ago. And while workers in general have been leaving the labor force, partly because they're aging into retirement, it's especially worrisome when young people drop out: In July, 8.4 million 16- to 24-year-olds stopped looking for work altogether, a rise from 6.8 million a year earlier.

進步政策研究所（Progressive Policy Institute）研究年輕人失業問題的經濟學家戴安娜?卡魯說：“他們沒有上學，那他們到底在幹什麼？”她指出，7月份的就業報告顯示，16至24歲未上學的無業者比例爲17.1%，而六年前僅有11%。而且，個別年齡段的工人因爲即將退休而不再被計入勞動力當中，而大量年輕人此時放棄求職的狀況尤爲令人不安：7月份，840萬名16至24歲的年輕人停止求職，而一年前的這一數字只有680萬。

However slowly the economy has been creating jobs, it's still surprising why so many young people, particularly those who aren't in school, are still having a tough time. The bulk of jobs created in July were in retail, restaurants, and bars. These certainly aren't the highest-paying gigs, but they demand fewer skills and would naturally attract those with less education. What's played out is what Carew calls "The Great Squeeze," where the dearth of middle-skilled jobs have forced many workers to settle for whatever they can get, taking lower-skilled jobs for less pay and therefore squeezing those with less education and experience out of the workforce.

不論經濟創造就業崗位的速度有多緩慢，這麼多年輕人，尤其是沒有上學的年輕人，生活依然如此艱難，這確實令人非常吃驚。7月份新增就業崗位主要集中在零售、酒店和酒吧。而這些自然不是薪酬最高的崗位，但它們所需要的技能更低，肯定能吸引那些受教育水平較低的年輕人。原因或許在於卡魯所謂的“大擠壓”，即由於缺乏要求中等技術水平的崗位，迫使許多工人接受薪酬更少、技術要求更低的工作，結果把教育水平和經驗更少的年輕人擠出了就業市場。

The trend has ripple effects. It's hard for most anyone to be out of work, but it's particularly harsh for young people trying to get their start; in many ways, they will likely suffer the most. Factoring in foregone experience and missed opportunities to develop skills, research shows that workers unemployed as young adults earn lower wages for many years following joblessness. It has been estimated that those who experience long-term unemployment during the worst of the recession will lose more than $20 billion in earnings over the next decade, which translates to $22,000 per person, according to an April report by the Center for American Progress.

這種趨勢產生了連鎖效應。任何人失業都會非常困難，但對於剛剛起步的年輕人，一旦失業，他們的狀況將格外艱難；無論從哪個方面來說，他們的狀況或許最爲嚴峻。調查顯示，由於年輕人之前的經歷，再加上錯過了發展技能的機會，因此失業的年輕人在失業之後的許多年裏，他們的收入也會相對較低。據美國進步中心（ Center for American Progress）四月份的一份報告估計，在經濟衰退最嚴重的時期經歷過長期失業的年輕人，未來十年的收入會減少超過200億美元，相當於人均22,000美元。

And all this has wide-ranging implications for the economy, as we've seen in everything from home to car sales. If anyone wonders why the economy isn't growing as fast as the pace of jobs growth, it might help to give America's young people a closer look.

而這種情況會對美國經濟造成深遠的影響，我們在從住房到汽車銷售的各行各業都看到過這一點。如果有人質疑經濟增長速度爲何跟不上就業增長速度，認真研究一下美國年輕人或許會有所幫助。