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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. And they were right. For now it appears the economy is creating jobs at a decent pace. 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.

However, there is another important part of the jobs picture that was largely overlooked. There was a big jump in the number of people who report voluntarily working part-time. This figure is now 830,000 (4.4 percent) above its year ago level.

Before explaining the connection to the Obamacare, it is worth making an important distinction. Many people who work part-time jobs actually want full-time jobs. They take part-time work because this is all they can get. An increase in involuntary part-time work is evidence of weakness in the labor market and it means that many people will be having a very hard time making ends meet.

There was an increase in involuntary part-time in June, but the general direction has been down. Involuntary part-time employment is still far higher than before the recession, but it is down by 640,000 (7.9 percent) from its year ago level.

We know the difference between voluntary and involuntary part-time employment because people tell us. The survey used by the Labor Department asks people if they worked less than 35 hours in the reference week, If the answer is “ yes,” they are classified as working part-time. 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. 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.

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. For many people, especially those with serious health conditions or family members with serious health conditions, before Obamacare the only way to get insurance was through a job that provided health insurance.

However, Obamacare has allowed more than 12 million people to either get insurance through Medicaid or the exchanges. 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. With Obamacare there is no longer a link between employment and insurance.

【总体分析】：

来源：The Huffington Post《赫芬顿邮报》2014.07.07。文章借劳工部数据分析了美国当前就业图景，指出奥巴马医改带来了向好变化“自愿兼职者激增、非自愿兼职者锐减”。脉络：引出现象（第一、二段）——区分现象对立面、反向暗示现象利好（第三至五段）——明确利好现象的政策源头（第六、七段）。

  1. Which part of the jobs picture was neglected?

    就业图景中的哪一部分被人们忽略了？

    解析

    【锁定答案】由题干关键词 jobs picture、neglected定位至第二段①句。该句概述人们忽略了就业图景中的一个重要部分，②③句进而明确忽略部分的具体内容：自愿兼职人数激增，【B】正确。

    【排除干扰】【A】将文首句公众关注部分“就业岗位增加、失业率下降”图景窜改为公众忽略面。【C】【D】将作者对公众关注部分的阐释“我们正以较快速度走向‘充分就业’（首段④句）”和“经济似乎正以不错的速度创造着就业机会（首段③句）”窜改为公众忽略面。

    【提炼思路】首先由题干关键词定位原文（第二段）；然后抓取文中逻辑词，并列限定词及近/反义词，明确段/句间逻辑关系，锁定答案范围（第二段首句转折逻辑词However、并列限定词 another 以及与首段间 many people talked of VS was largely overlooked形成的对比，体现论述主体由“公众关注面”向“公众忽视面”的转移；命题人以“公众忽视面”设题，需注意选项围绕“公众关注面”设置的干扰）。

  2. Many people work part-time because they ________.

    很多人之所以从事兼职工作是因为他们 ________。

    解析

    【锁定答案】第三段区分“自愿兼职”现象的对立面：非自愿兼职。段中②③④句直指“非自愿兼职者”的心理：想要全职工作，却因劳动力市场疲软而别无选择，【C】正确。

    【排除干扰】【A】【B】【D】分别与②句“想要全职工作”、④句“入不敷出”、④句“劳动力市场疲软”相左。

    【提炼思路】本题考査“因果关系+概括推理”，而文中第三段及末两段均提及兼职者人数增多的原因（前者论及非自愿兼职者增多是因为别无选择，后者论及自愿兼职者增多是因为奥巴马医改），故解题时需通过选项内容将其定位至第三段（【A】prefer、【C】get their hands on full-time jobs 分别对应第三段②③句 actually want，this is all they can get，【B】make ends meet，【D】weakness of the market为③句原词复现）；再借由主体间逻辑关联（actually want VS all they can get 明确“心中所愿——全职工作，无奈选择——兼职工作”）锁定唯一能体现此类兼职者“情非所愿”心理的【C】。

  3. Involuntary part-time employment in the US ________.

    美国的非自愿兼职工作 ________。

    解析

    【锁定答案】第四段指出，非自愿兼职工作六月虽有所增加、但总体呈下降趋势；非自愿兼职就业虽较经济衰退前高出很多，但较一年前大幅下降，故【A】正确。

    【排除干扰】【B】将②句“非自愿兼职就业率比一年前大幅下降”暗示之意“兼职工作者心态转变”曲解为“谋求兼职工作难度加大”。【C】与此类兼职工作的“非自愿性”以及第三段④句“非自愿兼职工作者收入微薄、勉强度日”相冲突。【D】与②句“非自愿兼职者依然比衰退前多出许多”完全相反。

    【提炼思路】本题就第四段对比处（but）考查事实细节，解答时需注意转折后内容才是语义重点（the general direction has been down、it is down by...均体现了“非自愿兼职工作的长期趋势——下降”）。

  4. It can be learned that with Obamacare, ________.

    从文章可知，有了“奥巴马医改”，________。

    解析

    【锁定答案】文末两段先指出奥巴马医改主要目的之一“使人们在非就业的情况下也能得到医保”，随后以“今昔情形对比”明确奥巴马医改成效“人们可通过医疗补助计划或保险交易市场获得保险，保险不再与就业挂钩”，【D】正确。

    【排除干扰】【A】与第六段首句奥巴马医改目的之一“给予未就业者医保”及第七段首句奥巴马医改内容“增加'就业’外医保获取途径”相悖。【B】与文末句“奥巴马医改使得保险不再与就业挂钩”相悖。【C】与第七段①②句“为家人获取医保更容易”相悖。

    【提炼思路】本题于今昔对比处设置推理概括题，解题需：一、抓取文中时间逻辑词、转折逻辑词、否定词等，辨别“今”、“昔”，（before Obamacare、previously引出“昔--唯有找到提供医保的全职工作才能获得医保”，However...Obamacare、With Obamacare...there is no longer 引出“今--未就业者可通过医疗补助计划/保险交易市场获得医保”）；二，依据意群主旨句验证答案（第六段首句为作者观点句：“自愿兼职者激增、非自愿兼职者锐减”缘于“奥巴马医改允许未就业者获取医保”）。

  5. The text mainly discusses ________.

    本文主要讨论________。

    解析

    【锁定答案】首五段解读劳工部六月的就业报告，说明美国当前就业图景：就业岗位增加，失业率降低；自愿兼职人数增加，非自愿兼职人数总体呈下降趋势。末两段明确“‘自愿兼职人数激增’缘于奥巴马医改”。可见，文章整体围绕“美国就业形势变化及其政策源头”展开，【A】正确。

    【排除干扰】【B】源自第三至五段所引概念“自愿兼职工作 VS非自愿兼职工作”，但由第三段首句（意群主旨句）可知，作者引人两类兼职工作的目的是说明奥巴马医改与就业形势的关联，而非对兼职工作进行分类。【C】源自末段首句关键词“医助计划”，但这仅是医保获取的新途径之一，无力概括全篇。【D】偏离文意“奥巴马医改取得成效”。

    【提炼思路】主旨题解题思路可采取“各段段意串联法”（见“锁定答案”），亦可结合“观点复现法”（如第三段首句及第六段首句所示“自愿兼职者人数增长趋势及政策源头‘奥巴马医改’”）及“新观点/新变化聚焦法”（如首段末两句 For now ...、now finally ...聚焦“就业岗位增加、失业率降低”、末段末两句 previously ...、no longer ...聚焦“奥巴马医改与就业的关联：医改使得保险与全职工作脱钩，进而使得自愿兼职者人数上升”）。

【全文翻译】：

许多人将劳工部六月所公布的消息“就业岗位新增 28.8万，且失业率降至6.1%”视为福音，大加谈论。他们是对的。因为目前看来，经济似乎正在以相当不错的速度创造着就业机会。虽然重回充分就业的状态还有很长的路要走，但至少我们现在终于能以较快的速度前行了。

然而，人们在很大程度上忽略了就业图景的另一重要部分。申报自愿从事兼职工作的人数出现大幅上升。该数字目前比一年前水平增加了83万（增长率为4.4%）。

在解释这（自愿兼职人数激增）与“奥巴马医改”的关联之前，有必要澄清一个重要区别。很多做着兼职工作的人实际上想要的是全职工作。他们之所以接受兼职工作是因为别无选择。非自愿兼职工作增加是劳动力市场疲软的表现，且意味着很多人会是极其艰难地勉强维持生计。

六月份非自愿兼职有所增加，但总体呈下降趋势。非自愿兼职就业者虽仍比经济衰退之前高出许多，但比一年前水平降低了64万（7.9%）。

我们之所以能区分自愿与非自愿兼职，是因为人们告诉了我们。劳工部采用的调查会询问人们参考周内的工作时间是否少于 35 小时。如果回答“是”，他们则被归类为从事兼职工作。该调查会进一步询问，他们那周的工作时间少于 35 小时是因为自己希望工作时间少于全职还是因为别无选择。只有在他们告诉调查者他们“选择”一周工作少于 35 小时的情况下，才会被归类为自愿兼职工作者。

自愿兼职工作问题的确和奥巴马医改相关，因为其主要目的之一便是使人们在非就业的情况下也能得到保险。对于很多人，尤其是那些本人或家人有严重健康问题的人来说，在奥巴马医改之前，他们得到保险的唯一途径便是找到一份提供医疗保险的工作。

然而，奥巴马医改使得 1200多万人通过医疗补助计划或保险交易市场获得了医保。这些人就是那些“可能先前感到迫切需要找到一份提供保险的全职工作，以能为自己和家人投保”的人。有了奥巴马医改，保险不再与就业挂钩。