Graduating high school seniors looking to enter the workforce and other high school students searching for summer jobs are facin

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问题     Graduating high school seniors looking to enter the workforce and other high school students searching for summer jobs are facing a tighter job market this year as the once red-hot U.S. economy continues to cool. Nationally, the jobless rate for 16- to 19-year-olds continues to rise. The unemployment rate for teenagers hit 14.2 percent in April, compared with 12.8 percent last year, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.
    "It’s very obvious that it’s going to be a little harder this summer, because businesses are much more reserved and cautious," said Mark J. Gambill, the vice president of marketing at Manpower Inc., the nation’s largest temporary employment agency. The New York City-based company recently surveyed 16,000 public and private employers. It found manufacturing, light industry, and high-tech firms were least likely to be seeking employees.
    Temporary jobs typically are the first to suffer in a slowing economy, but other sectors that employ teenagers heavily have fallen on leaner times as well. For instance, the amusement, recreation, and hotel industries shed a combined 43000 jobs in March and April, said John F. Stinson Jr., an economist at the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
    Ironically, the pinch comes as the nation’s overall jobless rate remains low. Statistics show that fewer teenagers have been jobless over the past few summers than at any time during the previous decade. "The jobless rates are still low by historical standards," Mr. Stinson said. Ten years ago, for example, the unemployment rate for 16- to 19-year-old workers was 21.1 percent in June and 15.7 percent in July. Last year, the rate was 14.4 percent and 12.4 percent, respectively, federal figures show.
    Experts say teenagers looking for summer work still can find jobs but not lots of pay. The continuing slump in the nation’s high-tech sector and lingering uncertainty over the general health of the economy have combined to limit teenagers’ job options to the type of work that American youths typically have thrived on—the retail and fast-food industries.
    For the past several years, experts say, large numbers of teenagers found work with high-paying technology companies. But those heady days of $50000 starting salaries for those with computer skills and only a high school diploma have ended.
    Nationally, some 2.8 million students are expected to graduate from public and private high schools this year, according to the U.S. Department of Education. Lacking some sort of post secondary education or training virtually ensures those graduates will garner low wages. Ron Bird, the chief economist at the Employment Policy Foundation, a Washington-based nonprofit think tank, said economic projections show that wage growth for those with only a high school diploma will be the slowest among all groups.
    "There is a fundamental shift evident in the U. S. economy, tied primarily to technology, that will reward more professional, management, and technical-type jobs as opposed to line operators," he said.
According to the text, the current unemployment rate for teenagers is______.

选项 A、lower than ever before
B、higher than in the previous decade
C、comparable to the nation’s overall unemployment rate
D、higher than it was last year

答案D

解析 属事实细节题。题目中的关键词unemployment rate for teenagers出现在第一段最后一句:……今年四月份青少年失业率为14.2%,而去年是12.8%。显然,选项D正确。选项A与原文意思相反;选项B与第四段内容相反:……最近几年青少年失业率比前十年都低(十年前的六月份为21.1%,七月份15.7%,而今年4月份是14.2%);选项C中提到的全国总失业率只在第四段第一句中简单一提(全国的总失业率一直很低),但没给出具体数字,故无法推断。
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