Full-Time Work for the Young - 청년취업 문제

  Shanee Greenidge of Boston has been searching for full-time work since she dropped out of high school in 2009 and took a string of part-time jobs to help her mother pay bills. Her situation is typical of millions of young Americans caught up in the aftermath of the country's deepest economic crisis since the Great Depression. Greenidge has held a number of part-time jobs in the past 2 years, but nothing has put her on a permanent career path. Even for part-time retail jobs, she is competing with people with college degrees or years of experience. "There's a lot of competition. It sometimes feel like I don't stand a chance," she said.

 

  The number of Americans working part-time because they can't find a full-time job more than doubleed from around 4 million in 2007 to more than 9 million in 2009. The number is edging lower, but as a January 2011, 8.4 million were still working part-time because of the weak economy. The U.S. unemployement rate has fallen to 9 percent, but if people who are not actively looking for work are counted, it stnad at 16.1 percent.

 

  Of course, the cost of being underemployed is huge both for individuals and the entire economy, but the difficulty young people have getting a firm foothold in the job market is especially worrying. "Disconnected youth are the ones that do the most harm to themselves and the community," an economics professor said. "You can find them on the street corners all around urban America and there are few prospects for them apart from part-time retial.

 

1. aftermath : (전쟁, 사고 등의) 여파, 후유증.  cf. A lot of rebuilding took place in the aftermath of the war.

2. put A on a B path : A를 B로 가는 길 위에 올려놓다.

3. stand a chance : (of doing soemthing) ~을 할 가능성이 있다.

4. edge : (명사) 끝, 가장자리. (동사) 조금씩 움직이다.  cf. She edged a little closer to me.

5. underemployed : 할 일이 충분하지 않은; 능력 이하의 일을 하는

6. a firm foothold : 확고한 발판, 기반을 확보하다.