讀報筆記 – 財經新聞詞彙

前一篇引自5月6日 The New York Times International Weekly 的報導，除了比較級的句型，還有不少財經報導常用的詞彙可學習。

動詞部分以紅色標示，時間介係詞字組以紫色標示，其他類介係詞字組以藍色標示。

U.S. Wages Fall From Top Spot

By David Leonhardt and Kevin Quealy

        The American middle class, long the most affluent in the world, ¹has lost that distinction.

        While the wealthiest Americans ²are outpacing many of their global peers, a New York Times analysis shows that across the lower- and middle-income tiers, citizens of other advanced countries have received considerably larger raises over the last three decades.

        After-tax middle-class incomes in Canada – substantially behind in 2000 – now appear to be higher than in the United States. The poor in much of Europe earn more than poor Americans.

        Most American families ³are paying a steep price for high and rising income inequality, surveys show.

        Although economic growth in the United States continues to be as strong as in many other countries, a small percentage of American households ⁴is fully benefiting from it. Median income in Canada ⁵pulled into a tie with median United States income in 2010 and has most likely ⁶surpassed it since then. Median incomes in Western European countries still ⁷trail those in America, but the gap in several – including Britain, the Netherlands and Sweden – is much smaller than a decade ago. In European countries hit hardest by financial crisis, such as Greece and Portugal, incomes ⁸have of course fallen sharply.

        The struggles of the poor in the United States are even starker than those of the middle class. A family at the 20^th percentile of the income distribution in this country makes much less money than a similar family in Canada, Sweden, Norway, Finland or the Netherlands. Thirty-five years ago, the reverse was true.

        Measures of per capita gross domestic product continue to show that the United States ⁹has maintained its lead as the world’s richest large country. But with a big share of income gains in this country flowing to a relatively small slice of high-earning households, most Americans ¹⁰are not keeping pace with their counterparts around the world.

        “The idea that the median American has so much more income than the middle class in all other parts of the world is not true these days,” said Lawrence Katz, A Harvard University economist. “In 1960, we were massively richer than anyone else. In 1980, we were richer. In the 1990s, we were still richer.” That is no longer true, he added.

        Median per capita income was $18,700 in the United States in 2010 (which translates to about $75,000 for a family of four after taxes), up 20 percent since 1980 but virtually unchanged since 2000, after adjusting for inflation. The same measure, by comparison, ¹¹rose about 20 percent in Britain between 2000 and 2010 and 14 percent in the Netherlands. Median income also rose 20 percent in Canada between 2000 and 2010, to the equivalent of $18, 700.

        Pay in several European countries has risen faster since 2010 than it has in the United States.

        Three broad factors appear to be driving much of the weak income performance in the United States. First, educational attainment in the United States has risen far more slowly than in much of the industrialized world over the last three decades, making it harder for the American economy to ¹²maintain its share of highly skilled, well-paying jobs.

        Americans between the ages of 55 and 65 have literacy, numeracy and technology skills that are above average relative to 55- to 65-year-olds in rest of the industrialized world, according to a recent study by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, an international group. Younger Americans, though, ¹³are not keeping pace: Those between 16 and 24 ¹⁴rank near the bottom among rich countries, well behind their counterparts in Canada, Australia, Japan and Scandinavia and close to those in Italy and Spain.

        A second factor is that companies in the United States economy distribute smaller share of their bounty to the middle class and poor than similar companies elsewhere. Top executives make substantially more money in the United States than in other wealthy countries. The minimum wage is lower. Labor unions are weaker.

        Opinion surveys and interviews suggest that the public mood in Canada and Northern Europe is less sour than in the United States today.

        “The crisis ¹⁵had no effect on our lives,” Jonas Frojelin, 37, a Swedish firefighter said, referring to the global financial crises that began in 2007. He lives with his wife, Malin, a nurse, in a seaside town a half-hour drive from Gothenburg, Sweden’s second-largest city.

        They each have five weeks of vacation and comprehensive health benefits. They ¹⁶benefited from almost three years of paid leave, between them, after their children, now 3 and 6 years old, were born.

        Even with a large welfare state in Sweden, per capita G.D.P. there ¹⁷has grown more quickly than in the United States over almost any extended recent period – a decade, 20 years, 30 years.

        Elsewhere in Europe, economic growth has been slower in the last few years than in the United States, as the Continent has struggled to escape the financial crisis. But incomes for most families in Sweden and several other Northern European countries ¹⁸have still outpaced those in the United States, where much of the fruit of recent economic growth ¹⁹have flowed into corporate profits or top incomes.

        One large European country where income ²⁰has stagnated over the past 15 years is Germany, according to the data. Policy makers in Germany have taken a series of steps to ²¹hold down the cost of exports, including restraining wage growth.

        Even in Germany, though, the poor ²²have fared better than in the United States, where per capita income ²³has declined between 2000 and 2010 at the 40^th percentile, as well as at the 30^th, 20^th, 10^th and 5^th.

        In American the stagnation of income ²⁴has left many Americans dissatisfied with the state of the country. Only about 30 percent of people believe the country is headed in the right direction, polls show.

        “Things are pretty flat,” said Kathy Washburn, 59, Of Mount Vernon, Iowa, who earns $33,000 a year at a hardware store where she has worked for 23 years. “You have mostly lower level and high and not a lot in between. People need to start in between to work their way up.” (1,019 words)

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動詞選用得好，不但文字簡潔有力，整個畫面都生動鮮活了起來。所以在天天都要使用的 have、be、get、make 之外，試試別的字吧！

I. 正面、向上、超越、得到

2. The wealthiest Americans are outpacing many of their global peers.

4. A small percentage of American households is fully benefiting from it.

6. Median income in Canada…has most likely surpassed it since then.

11. The same measure…rose about 20 percent in Britain.

16. They benefited from almost three years of paid leave, between them.

17. Per capita G.D.P. there has grown more quickly than in the United States.

18. But incomes for most families in Sweden and several other Northern European countries have still outpaced those in the United States.

22. Even in Germany, though, the poor have fared better than in the United States.

II. 負面、向下、落後、失去

1. The American middle class…has lost that distinction.

3. Most American families are paying a steep price for high and rising income inequality.

7. Median incomes in Western European countries still trail those in America.

8. In European countries hit hardest by financial crisis…incomes have of course fallen sharply.

10. Most Americans are not keeping pace with their counterparts around the world.

13. Younger Americans…are not keeping pace.

14. Those between 16 and 24 rank near the bottom among rich countries.

20. Income has stagnated over the past 15 years.

21. Policy makers in Germany have taken a series of steps to hold down the cost of exports, including restraining wage growth.

23. Per capita income has declined between 2000 and 2010.

24. The stagnation of income has left many Americans dissatisfied with the state of the country.

III. 維持原狀

5. Median income in Canada pulled into a tie with median United States income in 2010.

9. The United States has maintained its lead as the world’s richest large country.

12. making it harder…to maintain its share of highly skilled, well-paying jobs

15. The crisis had no effect on our lives.

IV. 其他

19. Much of the fruit of recent economic growth have (應該是 has) flowed into corporate profits or top incomes.