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.
对于劳动部门所报告的六月份新增28.8万个工作岗位和失业率下降至6.1个百分点,很多人都说这是个利好消息。
And they were right.
他们说得对。
For now it appears the economy is creating jobs at a decent pace.
因为这表明经济正以适当的速度创造就业。
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.
尽管恢复充分就业的道路还很长,但至少我们正在以更快的速度前进。
However, there is another important part of the jobs picture that was largely overlooked.
然而,就业形势中的另一个重要部分很大程度上被忽视了。
There was a big jump in the number of people who report voluntarily working part-time.
称自己自愿兼职的人的数量猛增了。
This figure is now 830,000(4.4 percent) above its year ago level.
现在这个数字比一年前的水平高出83万(4.4个百分点)。
Before explaining the connection to the Obamacare, it is worth making an important distinction.
在解释自愿兼职者的数量猛增与奥巴马医改计划的关系之前,还有一个值得去区分的地方。
Many people who work part-time jobs actually want full-time jobs.
很多从事兼职工作的人其实想从事全职工作。
They take part-time work because this is all they can get.
他们从事兼职工作的原因是他们只能找到这样的工作。
An increase in involuntary part-time work is evidence of weakness in the labor market
非自愿兼职工作数的增加说明劳动力市场疲软,
and it means that many people will be having a very hard time making ends meet.
这就意味着很多人将很难维持开销。
There was an increase in involuntary part-time in June, but the general direction has been down.
虽然六月份的非自愿兼职人数在增加,但总体呈下降趋势。
Involuntary part-time employment is still far higher than before the recession, but it is down by 640,000(7.9 percent)from is year ago level.
尽管非自愿兼职就业数依然比经济衰退之前要高得多,但和一年前的水平比,该数字已经下降64万(7.9个百分点)。
We know the difference between voluntary and involuntary part-time employment because people tell us.
从受访者口中我们知道了自愿与非自愿兼职工作之间的区别。
The survey used by the Labor Department asks people is they worked less than 35 hours in the reference week.
劳动部门所引用的调查问受访者他们在问卷所提及的那周工作是否少于35个小时。
If the answer is "yes," they are classified as working part-time.
如果受访者的答案是“是”,他们就被归为兼职工作者,
The survey then asks whether they worked less than 35 hours in that week because they wanted to work less than full time or because they had no choice.
该调查然后问他们在那周工作少于35小时是因为自己不想做全职还是因为他们别无选择。
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.
如果受访者告诉调查者是他们选择一周工作少于35小时的话,那么他们就被归为自愿兼职工作者。
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.
自愿兼职工作这一问题与奥巴马医改计划相关联是因为该计划的主要目的之一就是让人们不就业也能得到医疗保险。
For many people, especially those with serious health conditions or family members with serious health conditions,
对于大多数人来说,尤其是那些有严重健康问题的人或其家庭成员有严重健康问题的人,
before Obamacare the only way to get insurance was through a job that provided health insurance.
在奥巴马医改计划实施之前,得到医疗保险的唯一途径是找到提供健康保险的工作。
However, Obamacare has allowed more than 12 million people to either get insurance through Medicaid or the exchanges.
而奥巴马医改计划已让1200多万人通过“Medicaid”或“医保交易所”得到了医疗保险。
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.
这些人先前觉得为了让自己和家人得到医疗保险,就要找到提供该保险的全职工作。
With Obamacare there is no longer a link between employment and insurance.
由于有了奥巴马医疗计划,就业和保险之间的联系就不再那么绝对了。