在线英语听力室

许多受过高等教育的美国人感到与美国中产阶级脱节

时间:2019-05-06 23:58:56

搜索关注在线英语听力室公众号:tingroom,领取免费英语资料大礼包。

(单词翻译)

Many College-Educated Americans Feel Disconnected from US Middle Class

In the United States, a college education has long been one of the best ways to become a member of the middle class.

A college degree usually leads to higher pay, stronger job security, a greater chance of home ownership and comparatively secure family life. These qualities have long been seen as worth the sacrifices often required. Those sacrifices can include the money spent paying off student loans and the years waiting for a return on one’s investment in higher education.

Yet U.S. college graduates are not as likely as they once were to feel they belong to the middle class. That is a finding of the 2018 General Social Survey, or GSS.

The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research and GSS researchers jointly1 examined the study. They found that 35 percent of college graduates described themselves as working or lower class. That’s an increase from 1983 when only 20 percent felt that way.

Not surprisingly, Americans without a college degree have long felt even less connected to the middle class. Last year, six in 10 of them described themselves as working or lower class, about the same as the percentage who said so in 1983. The study did not define middle class. Those questioned gave answers based on their own opinions.

The U.S. economy has been expanding for nearly 10 years. And the nation’s unemployment rate is at 3.8 percent. Yet the financial concerns that affect many college graduates point to the widening divide between the wealthiest Americans and everyone else.

Dan Black is an economist2 at the University of Chicago. He suggests that over time, this general trend could lead to delayed family formation, lower levels of spending by graduates and, eventually, slower economic growth.

“Concerns like this will definitely have impacts for the economy,” Black told The Associated Press.

Widening economic inequality

Released in March, the 2018 GSS survey found that as the country recovered from the 2008-2009 recession, many Americans have benefited. Both college graduates and those without degrees are earning more money now. But across age groups, a college degree has become less of a guarantee of rising to a better position in society.

Last year, the Pew Research Center reported that in 2016, a middle class household was one earning between $45,200 and $135,600 a year. It also reported that about 52 percent of American adults lived in middle class households.

Higher education still offers a path upward. But that path has been narrowed by student debt, rising housing prices and widening economic inequality.

Differences in pay go well beyond the divide between the top one percent of earners and everyone else. Differences are widening even within many career fields, including financial advisers4, legal experts and medical doctors. The result is that what may seem like a middle class job description may provide a pay level more often linked with a lower middle class job.

Martha Gimbel is research director for the jobs website Indeed.com. Using information from the U.S. Bureau of Labor5 Statistics, Gimbel studied the divide between what the top 10 percent of a career field earned compared with the bottom 10 percent.

The top 10 percent of U.S. lawyers earned more than $208,000 last year. That amount of money makes the legal occupation look extremely well-paying. But the bottom 10 percent earned less than $58,200, which could make it difficult to repay law school debt.

“People might seek to become a lawyer, doctor or financial adviser3 because they see big salaries,” Gimbel said. “But there is a lot of range in what those workers make. They need to remember that they could be one of the unsuccessful lawyers or real estate brokers6.”

Americans are also more likely than they were before the 2008-2009 recession to say they feel overworked. Eighty percent of college graduates say they work more than 40 hours per week. That is 10 percent higher than those who did not finish college. Graduates are also 10 percent more likely than non-graduates to say they have more work to do than they can complete.

Among college graduates who feel disconnected from the middle class is Justin Provo of Chicago. At age 28, Provo says student debt has blocked his move to becoming middle class. He borrowed a total of $58,000 to attend Roosevelt University in Illinois. In 2017, he earned a degree in economics and philosophy.

Now working for a loan servicing company, Provo says his earnings-based loan repayment7 plan is not enough to fully8 cover the interest on his loans. So while he is making monthly payments on his student loans, his debt level keeps rising.

“I’m making some progress, but I don’t feel like I’m getting anywhere,” he said.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York reports that U.S. student debt now totals nearly $1.5 trillion. That is more than five times what it was in 2004. Researchers suggest that rising levels of student loan debt between 2005 and 2014 have prevented home ownership for about 400,000 young people. At the same time, some studies have shown that student debt has also delayed marriages and household formation.

Economists9 have noted10 that rising college debt has, in a way, become the cost of entrance into the job market. Nearly 80 percent of the 2 million overall job gains last year went to college graduates; just a third of U.S. adults hold a degree.

Soncia Coleman is a senior director at Young Invincibles. Her group works in support of the current generation of college-aged young people, often called millennials. Coleman said that millennials are facing difficulties like no generation before them. These difficulties are preventing them from reaching “what we all consider to be the American Dream,” she added.

“They need the education, but the cost to get it is astronomical11,” said Coleman.

I’m Pete Musto.

And I’m Dorothy Gundy.

Words in This Story

degree – n. an official document and title that is given to someone who has successfully completed a series of classes at a college or university

graduate(s) – n. a person who has earned a degree or diploma from a school, college, or university

trend – n. a way of behaving or proceeding12 that is developing and becoming more common

impact(s) – n. a powerful or major influence or effect

benefit(ed) – v. to be helped

beyond – prep. more than something

broker(s) – n. a person who helps other people to reach agreements, to make deals, or to buy and sell property, such as stocks or houses

astronomical – adj. extremely large


分享到:


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 jointly jp9zvS     
ad.联合地,共同地
参考例句:
  • Tenants are jointly and severally liable for payment of the rent. 租金由承租人共同且分别承担。
  • She owns the house jointly with her husband. 她和丈夫共同拥有这所房子。
2 economist AuhzVs     
n.经济学家,经济专家,节俭的人
参考例句:
  • He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
  • He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家,自以为什么都懂。
3 adviser HznziU     
n.劝告者,顾问
参考例句:
  • They employed me as an adviser.他们聘请我当顾问。
  • Our department has engaged a foreign teacher as phonetic adviser.我们系已经聘请了一位外籍老师作为语音顾问。
4 advisers d4866a794d72d2a666da4e4803fdbf2e     
顾问,劝告者( adviser的名词复数 ); (指导大学新生学科问题等的)指导教授
参考例句:
  • a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
  • She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。
5 labor P9Tzs     
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦
参考例句:
  • We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
  • He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后,他已经疲惫不堪了。
6 brokers 75d889d756f7fbea24ad402e01a65b20     
n.(股票、外币等)经纪人( broker的名词复数 );中间人;代理商;(订合同的)中人v.做掮客(或中人等)( broker的第三人称单数 );作为权力经纪人进行谈判;以中间人等身份安排…
参考例句:
  • The firm in question was Alsbery & Co., whiskey brokers. 那家公司叫阿尔斯伯里公司,经销威士忌。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
  • From time to time a telephone would ring in the brokers' offices. 那两排经纪人房间里不时响着叮令的电话。 来自子夜部分
7 repayment repayment     
n.偿还,偿还款;报酬
参考例句:
  • I am entitled to a repayment for the damaged goods.我有权利索取货物损坏赔偿金。
  • The tax authorities have been harrying her for repayment.税务局一直在催她补交税款。
8 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
参考例句:
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。
9 economists 2ba0a36f92d9c37ef31cc751bca1a748     
n.经济学家,经济专家( economist的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
  • Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》
10 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
11 astronomical keTyO     
adj.天文学的,(数字)极大的
参考例句:
  • He was an expert on ancient Chinese astronomical literature.他是研究中国古代天文学文献的专家。
  • Houses in the village are selling for astronomical prices.乡村的房价正在飙升。
12 proceeding Vktzvu     
n.行动,进行,(pl.)会议录,学报
参考例句:
  • This train is now proceeding from Paris to London.这次列车从巴黎开往伦敦。
  • The work is proceeding briskly.工作很有生气地进展着。

本文本内容来源于互联网抓取和网友提交,仅供参考,部分栏目没有内容,如果您有更合适的内容,欢迎 点击提交 分享给大家。