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How many people really suffer as a result of labor market problems? This is one of the most critical yet contentious social policy questions. In many ways, our social statistics exaggerate the degree of hardship. Unemployment does not have the same miserable consequences today as it did in the 1930’s, when most of the unemployed were primary breadwinners, when income and earnings were usually much closer to the margin of subsistence, and there were no compensating social programs for those failing in the labor market. Increasing affluence, the rise of families with more than one wage earner, the growing predominance of secondary earners among the unemployed, and improved social welfare protection have unquestionably relieved the consequences of joblessness. Earnings and income data also overstate the dimensions of hardship. Among the millions with hourly earnings at or below the minimum wage level, the overwhelming majority are from multiple-earner, relatively affluent families. Most of those counted by the poverty statistics are elderly or handicapped or have family responsibilities which keep them out of the labor force, so the poverty statistics are by no means an accurate indicator of labor market problems.
Yet there are also many ways in which our social statistics underestimate the degree of labor-market-related hardship. The unemployed counts exclude the millions of fully employed workers whose wages are so low that their families remain in poverty. Low wages and repeated or prolonged unemployment frequently interact to undermine the capacity for self-support. Since the number experiencing joblessness at some time during the year is several times the number unemployed in any month, those who suffer as a result of forced idleness can equal or exceed average annual unemployment, even though a minority of the jobless in any month really suffer. For every person counted in the monthly unemployment tallies, there is another working part-time because of the inability to find full-time work, or else outside the labor force but wanting a job. Finally, income transfers in our country have always focused on the elderly, disabled, and dependent, neglecting the needs of the working poor, so that the dramatic expansion of cash and in-kind transfers does not necessarily mean that those failing in the labor market are adequately protected.
As a result of such contradictory evidence, it is uncertain whether those suffering seriously as a result of labor market problems number in the hundreds of thousands or the tens of millions and hence whether high level of joblessness can be tolerated or must be countered by job creation and economic stimulus. There is only one area of agreement in this debate – that the existing poverty, employment, and earnings statistics are inadequate for one of their primary applications, measuring the consequences of labor market problems. (457 words)
Notes: subsistence（维持）生存；affluence 富裕；handicap 阻碍，使不利；handicapped残截人；forced idleness被迫闲呆；tallies统计；in-kind以货代款的。
1. In the first paragraph, the author contrasts the 1930’s with the present in order to show that _________.
A. more people were unemployed in the 1930’s B. unemployment now has less severe effects
C. social programs are more needed now D. poverty has increased since the 1930’s
2. The author’s purpose in citing those who are repeatedly unemployed during a year is probably to show that ________.
A. there are several factors that cause the payment of low wages to some workers
B. unemployment statistics can underestimate the hardship resulting from joblessness
C. recurrent inadequacies in the labor market can cause hardships for individual workers
D. a majority of those who are jobless at any one time do not suffer severe hardship
3. According to paragraph 2, the conclusion about the number of people who suffer as a result of forced idleness depends primarily on the fact that _________.
A. there are some people who do remain unemployed for long
B. the capacity for self-support depends on receiving high wages
C. at different times during a year, different people are unemployed
D. many of those who are affected by unemployment are dependents
4. The author stated that the alleviating effect of social programs involving income transfers on the income level of low-income people is often NOT felt by _________.
A. those who are employed but live in poverty B. dependent children in single-earner families
C. workers who are old or become disabled D. full-time workers who become unemployed
5. Which of the following is the principal topic of the text?
A. What causes the labor market problems that result in suffering.
B. Why income measures are imprecise in measuring degrees of poverty.
C. Where the areas of agreement are among the poverty, employment, and earning figures.
D. How social statistics give an unclear picture of the degree of hardship caused by labour market problems.
