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  3. As one of a rare group of economists who believe that "manufacturing matters" for the health of the American economy, I was hear

As one of a rare group of economists who believe that "manufacturing matters" for the health of the American economy, I was hear

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问题     As one of a rare group of economists who believe that "manufacturing matters" for the health of the American economy, I was heartened to hear President Obama emphasize manufacturing in his State of the Union address. During the last two years, the manufacturing sector has led the economic recovery, expanding by about 10 percent and adding more than 300,000 jobs. Though there are economists who do not share my view, I believe that a strong manufacturing sector matters for several reasons.
    First, economists agree that the United States must rebalance growth away from consumption and imports financed by foreign borrowing toward exports. Manufactured goods account for about 86 percent of merchandise exports from the United States and about 60 percent of exports of goods and services combined. American manufacturing exports are becoming more attractive as a result of rising wages abroad, the decline in the dollar’ s value, increasing supply-chain coordination and transportation costs, and strong productivity growth in American manufacturing.
Germany and Japan, two high-wage countries, have maintained substantial shares of manufacturing in their economies, and are major exporters of manufactured goods to emerging market economies. Like manufacturing in these countries, manufacturing in the United States can win larger shares of global export markets with the right policies in place.
    Second, on average manufacturing jobs are high-productivity, high value-added jobs with good pay and benefits. In 2009, the average manufacturing worker earned $74,447 in annual pay and benefits compared with $63,122 for the average non-manufacturing worker. In that year, only about 9 percent of the work force was employed in manufacturing, down from about 13 percent in 2000. The fall in manufacturing employment during the 2000s was a major factor behind growing wage inequality and the polarization of job opportunities between the top and bottom of the wage and skill distribution, with a hollowing out of middle-income jobs.
    Third, manufacturing matters because of its substantial role in innovation. American leadership in science and technology remains highly dependent on R. & D. investment by manufacturing companies, and the social returns to such investment are substantial, far exceeding the returns to the companies that fund it.
    American multinational companies that account for about 84 percent of all private-sector business R. & D. in the United States still place about 84 percent of their R. & D. activities in the United States, often in clusters around research universities. But this share is gradually declining as American companies shift some of their R. & D. to Asia in response to rapidly growing markets, ample supplies of technical workers and engineers and generous subsidies. Congress’ s failure to extend and broaden the R. & D. tax credit, as President Obama has urged, is also encouraging companies in the United States to look to other countries offering far more generous R. & D. tax incentives.
It can be inferred from the passage that manufacturing jobs play an important part in______.
选项 A、closing the wealth gap between the top and bottom earners
B、eliminating income polarization to achieve common prosperity
C、creating more opportunities for the middle class to make more money
D、stabilizing the structure of income distribution with more middle-income jobs
答案D
解析 第四段最后一句话指出2000年之后的几年中制造业从业人数大幅缩减是导致薪酬差距增大、工资和技能水平悬殊的工作机会呈两极分化态势，导致中等收入岗位出现空洞的主要原因。这句话比较难理解。因为第四段前半部分都在论述的观点就是，制造业从业者的工资水平高于美国其他行业工人的平均工资水平，因此，2000年之后的几年，制造业从业人数的降低使得美国获取中等收入的人数降低，从而导致了薪酬的两极分化。[A]错误，制造业创造了更多的中产阶级岗位，它不能缩小顶层收入和底层收入之间的差距，但是能够使得收入分配更加合理，中等收入阶层扩大，使得整个收入分配呈现两头小，中间大的橄榄状。[B]错误，制造业能够缓解财富分配方面两极分化的趋势，但是让人们共同富裕难免有些夸大其词。[C]错误，制造业提供了更多的中等收入就业岗位，而不是为中产阶级提供更多的挣钱机会。只有[D]正确。
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