Many people talked of the 288,000 new jobs the Labor Department reported for June, along with the drop in the unemployment rate to 6.1 percent, as good news. And they were right. For now it appears the economy is creating jobs at a decent pace. We still have a long way to go to get back to full employment, but at least we are now finally moving forward at a faster pace.
However, there is another important part of the jobs picture that was largely overlooked. There was a big jump in the number of people who repot voluntarily working part-time. This figure is now 830,000(4.4 percent)above its year ago level.
Before explaining the connection to the Obamacare, it is worth making an important distinction. Many people who work part-time jobs actually want full-time jobs. They take part-time work because this is all they can get. An increase in involuntary part-time work is evidence of weakness in the labor market and it means that many people will be having a very hard time making ends meet.
There was an increase in involuntary part-time in June, but the general direction has been down. Involuntary part-time employment is still far higher than before the recession, but it is down by 640,000(7.9percent)from is year ago level.
We know the difference between voluntary and involuntary part-time employment because people tell us. The survey used by the Labor Department asks people is they worked less than 35 hours in the reference week. If the answer is “yes”, they are classified as worked less than 35hours in that week because they wanted to work less than full time or because they had no choice .They are only classified as voluntary part-time workers if they tell the survey taker they chose to work less than 35 hours a week.
The issue of voluntary part-time relates to Obamacare because one of the main purposes was to allow people to get insurance outside of employment. For many people , especially those with serious health conditions or family members with serious health conditions ,before Obamacare the only way to get insurance was through a job that provided health insurance.
However, Obamacare has allowed more than 12 million people to either get insurance through Medicaid or the exchanges. These are people who may previously have felt the need to get a full-time job that provided insurance in order to cover themselves and their families. With Obamacare there is no longer a link between employment and insurance.
1. Which part of the jobs picture are neglected?
[A] The prospect of a thriving job market.
[B] The increase of voluntary part-time market.
[C] The possibility of full employment.
[D] The acceleration of job creation.
2. Many people work part-time because they_____.
[A] prefer part-time jobs to full-time jobs.
[B] feel that is enough to make ends meet.
[C] cannot get their hands on full-time jobs.
[D] haven’t seen the weakness of the market.
3. Involuntary part-time employment is the US_____.
[A] is harder to acquire than one year ago.
[B] shows a general tendency of decline.
[C] satisfies the real need of the jobless.
[D] is lower than before the recession.
4. It can be learned that with Obamacare,_____.
[A] it is no longer easy for part-timers to get insurance
[B] employment is no longer a precondition to get insurance
[C] it is still challenging to get insurance for family members
[D] full-time employment is still essential for insurance
5. The text mainly discusses_______.
[A] employment in the US
[B] part-timer classification
[C] insurance though Medicaid
[D] Obamacare’s trouble
文章分析
本文主要探讨了奥巴马医保政策促进了美国的就业及其原因。文章首段指出当前就业形势良好;第二段话锋一转，表明忽略了一个现象：兼职工作人数大幅度增加。第三段承上启下，解释兼职工作者增加的原因，引出奥巴马医改政策。第四段指出自愿和非自愿兼职工作者人数变化趋势。第五段借助调查研究，详细介绍了自愿兼职和非自愿兼职工作的归类划分。第六段解释了奥巴马医改政策和此现象的关联点。尾段点明奥巴马医改政策改变了就业和保险的关系。
试题解析
1.【答案】B
【考点】细节题
【命题思路】这是一道细节题。主要考查考生准确理解题干，精准定位，并能正确划分和掌握定位信息的能力。
【直击答案】根据题干关键信息“job pictures，neglected”定位到第二段第一句“the jobs picture …was largely overlooked”，其中“neglected是overlooked”的同义替换。第二句具体指出被忽略的部分是“there was a big jump in the number of people who report voluntarily working part¬time”，即有大量的人自愿从事兼职工作。比对四个选项，确定正确答案为B项。其中“increase”是原文“jump”的同义替换，“voluntary part¬time jobs”是“voluntarily working part¬time”的同义转述。
【干扰排除】A、D两项均表明就业形势良好，并没有说这种现象被忽视，与题干不相关，故排除。文中第一段只是客观描述了我们依然要走很长的路才能达到全民就业，而并不是说这种问题被忽略，故C项排除。
2.【答案】C
【考点】细节题
【命题思路】这是一道细节题。主要考查考生准确理解题干，精准定位，并能正确划分和掌握定位信息的能力。
【直击答案】根据题干关键词“many people work part¬time”定位到第三段第二句“Many people who work part¬time jobs actually want full¬time jobs”。由此句可知，那些从事兼职工作的人实际想拥有全日制工作。接着第三句明确指出他们从事兼职工作的原因：“They take part¬time because this is all they can get”。言外之意是说，人们目前只能得到兼职工作，而无法获得全职工作。故正确答案为C项。
【干扰排除】A项、B项、D项在文中均没有出现，属于无中生有。
3.【答案】B
【考点】细节题
【命题思路】这是一道事实细节题。主要考查考生准确理解题干，精准定位，并有效排除干扰信息的能力。
【直击答案】根据题干关键词“involuntary part¬time employment”定位到第四段第一句“An increase in involuntary part¬time in June, but the general direction has been down. ”此句中语义重心在转折之后，即：大致的方向依然下降，对应B项“shows a general tendency of decline”。选项中的“general tendency”同义替换 general direction, 而 “decline”替换“down”。
【干扰排除】A项属于过度推理，该段最后一句只是客观描述了目前的数据与一年前的水平相比下降了7.9个百分点，并没有说很难达到一年前的水平，故排除。C、D两项在文中均没有出现，属于无中生有，故排除。
4.【答案】B
【考点】细节题
【命题思路】这是细节题。主要考查考生准确借助题干关键信息定位，并准确划分和把握定位信息的能力。
【直击答案】根据题干关键信息“Obamacare”以及出题顺序性原则，定位到第六段。第六段共两句话，第一句提到了Obamacare的目的，是让无业人士也可以拥有保险。第二句进一步展开说明，在Obamacare之前，人们想要获得保险必须先获得一份提供保险的工作;而Obamacare改变了这一局面。比对选项，对应B项 “employment is no longer a precondition to get insurance”是对以上信息的同义改写，确定为最佳答案。
【干扰排除】A项是反向干扰，文中最后一段表明奥巴马医改正是为了使兼职员工也有可能获得保险，故排除。C项无中生有，文中并未提及家庭成员获取保险的难度，故排除。D项属反向干扰，与文中提到的它们之间的关系已经不复存在不符合，故排除。
5.【答案】A
【考点】主旨题
【命题思路】 这是一道主旨题。主要考查考生对全文主题的把握，要求考生能用具有概括性的语言全面总结全文中心思想。
【直击答案】本题难度稍大，建议归纳各段要点，综合排除得出正确答案。文章首段指出目前的失业率呈现出下降的趋势;第二段提出在这种失业率下降的好现象中，我们忽略了那些自愿(voluntary)参加兼职工作的人。第三段就自愿兼职工作者和非自愿兼职工作者的区别展开描述。最后两段表明，那些自愿参加兼职工作的人是因为有了一项名为Obamacare的政策，该政策旨在使那些没有全职工作的人也有可能获得保险，从而提升就业率。可见，全文都是围绕美国的就业形势展开讨论。故A项正确。
【干扰排除】B项无中生有。C项中的“Medicaid” 仅出现在文章结尾，属于细节干扰。D项与作者立场相反，故排除。
