考研阅读精选：就业市场或许并没有看上去那么糟糕<br />
『美国的就业市场或许并没有看上去那么糟糕。』More Americans Calling it Quits: Another Sign the Job Market May be Better Than it Looks
越来越多的美国人正在辞职：就业市场或许并没有看上去那么糟糕
Nov 17, 2011 | From Time
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With 14 million people unable to find work and job prospects seemingly bleak, why are more employees calling it quits?
According to government data released last week, in the first ninemonths of the year, about 17.3 million people left their jobs by choice.That's up 9% from last year, when just under 16 million people calledit quits through September. And that rate appears to be increasing. InSeptember alone, just over 2 million told their boss they were taking ahike - the most since November 2008 - an 11% increase from a yearearlier.
Perhaps surprisingly, economists generally believe thatwhen more people begin quitting their jobs that's usually a sign thatthe job market is improving. "We have lots of evidence that shows thathigher quits is associated with a better labor market," says StevenDavis, a professor and labor economist at the University of Chicago. Thereason is that people tend to quit when they are confident they willget another job. But like much else during this recovery, rising quitscould be indicating something different this time around. Here's why:
Heather Boushey, an economist at the Center for American Progress,cautions reading too much into the rise in the number of people quittingthis time around. The proportion of the workforce opting to take a hikereached its lowest level in a decade in early 2010 as fear trumpedunhappiness on the job. Recent studies have shown that workerssatisfaction has dropped dramatically in the past two years. "If youhave been working under a boss that you hate since 2007, four yearscould be all you can handle," says Boushey. "There's a lot of pent-upfrustration." So the question is are people quitting because they have anew job, or are they at the point where they are just willing to taketheir chances. The data points to the former.
According to areport out from the Labor Department today, the number of peopleapplying for new unemployment benefits last week dropped to its lowestlevel in seven months. What's more, people's opinion of their jobprospects clearly seem to be improving. According to a recent survey byjob-search site Snagajob, 44% of respondents who quit in the past yeardid so believing they would find a better opportunity elsewhere, up from31% the year before.
Of course, none of this is probably enoughto correct the real problem in the labor market, which is the 9%unemployment rate. We will need new jobs for that. But movement in theworkforce is a good thing. It puts pressure on employers to raisesalaries so that they can retain workers. But the fact that employedpeople are finding it easier to find new jobs, while the time it takesan unemployed person to find work is the highest it has been in the postWW II period, is another sign of just how bifurcated the current jobmarket is, and why a high unemployment rate may persist, even after theeconomy improves. (508 words)
文章地址：
http://curiouscapitalist.blogs.time.com/2011/11/17/more-americans-calling-it-quits-another-sign-the-job-market-may-be-better-than-it-looks/
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