Some economists have argued youth unemployment isn't as bad as it's made out to be, since many enrolled in school or college are neither employed nor looking for a job and therefore aren't counted as part of the workforce. Of all other months, July provides one of the more accurate pictures of what young people face today -- it's a time when most are taking a break from school and looking for work.
　　今年7月份的一份報告讓我們更清晰地瞭解到如今年輕人所面臨的問題——大多數年輕人都臨時離開學校，開始求職。

　　During the Great Recession, the share of 16- to 24-year-olds who were neither enrolled in school nor working full-time fell. Unlike the rest of the population, the decline hasn't improved much: In July, 36% of young people worked full-time, 10% less than the same month in 2007 before the economic downturn. To be sure, July is a time when young people have taken on summer internships, and so the statistics reflect those with paid internships, as well as those with unpaid internship but have taken part-time jobs.
　　經濟大蕭條期間，16至24歲既未上學、也沒有全職工作的年輕人比例有所減少。與其他年齡段不同，這種減少的趨勢並未加強：7月，36%的年輕人擁有全職工作，相比經濟危機之前2007年同期減少了10%。

　　"They're not in school, so what are they doing?" says Diana Carew, economist at Progressive Policy Institute, who studies youth unemployment. She points out that July's jobs report shows that the share of unemployed 16- to 24-year-olds not in school stood at 17.1%, compared with 11% six years ago. And while workers in general have been leaving the labor force, partly because they're aging into retirement, it's especially worrisome when young people drop out: In July, 8.4 million 16- to 24-year-olds stopped looking for work altogether, a rise from 6.8 million a year earlier.
　　而且，個別年齡段的工人因為即將退休而不再被計入勞動力當中，而大量年輕人此時放棄求職的狀況尤為令人不安：7月份，840萬名16至24歲的年輕人停止求職，而一年前的這一數字只有680萬。

　　However slowly the economy has been creating jobs, it's still surprising why so many young people, particularly those who aren't in school, are still having a tough time. The bulk of jobs created in July were in retail, restaurants, and bars. These certainly aren't the highest-paying gigs, but they demand fewer skills and would naturally attract those with less education. What's played out is what Carew calls "The Great Squeeze," where the dearth of middle-skilled jobs have forced many workers to settle for whatever they can get, taking lower-skilled jobs for less pay and therefore squeezing those with less education and experience out of the workforce.
　　原因或許在於 Carew 所謂的“大擠壓”，即由於缺乏要求中等技術水準的崗位，迫使許多工人接受薪酬更少、技術要求更低的工作，結果把教育水準和經驗更少的年輕人擠出了就業市場。

　　The trend has ripple effects. It's hard for most anyone to be out of work, but it's particularly harsh for young people trying to get their start; in many ways, they will likely suffer the most. Factoring in foregone experience and missed opportunities to develop skills, research shows that workers unemployed as young adults earn lower wages for many years following joblessness. It has been estimated that those who experience long-term unemployment during the worst of the recession will lose more than $20 billion in earnings over the next decade, which translates to $22,000 per person, according to an April report by the Center for American Progress.
　　調查顯示，由於年輕人之前的經歷，再加上錯過了發展技能的機會，因此失業的年輕人在失業之後的許多年裡，他們的收入也會相對較低。

　　And all this has wide-ranging implications for the economy, as we've seen in everything from home to car sales. If anyone wonders why the economy isn't growing as fast as the pace of jobs growth, it might help to give America's young people a closer look.
　　而這種情況會對美國經濟造成深遠的影響，我們在從住房到汽車銷售的各行各業都看到過這一點。如果有人質疑經濟增長速度為何跟不上就業增長速度，認真研究一下美國年輕人或許會有所幫助。