American workers have had no news tbis good for years.In June employers 8dded 288,000 jobs,bringing the total for the year t0 1.4 million,the best six-month stretch since 2006.Unemployment has sunk t0 6.1%,the lowest rate in almost six years.It could hiL levels long regarded as"full employment"within a year.Help-wanted signs are exploding,with vacancies up by 20qo since January.Such a prosperous labour market is usually the token of a booming economy.NoL now.In the first quarter gross domestic product feU by 2.9%at an annual rate,Lhe worst showing since the recession.This was a result in part of bad weather.Yet the second quarter will only be strong enough to make up the ground lost in the first.Economists had thought 2014 would be the best year since the recession;with growth in the first half of around zero,it is shaping up to be the worst.
美国劳动者已经数年没有听到这样的好消息了。6月，雇主增加了28.8万个工作岗位，使全年工作岗位数量增加到140万，这个数量是自2006年以来在一个半年内增长得最多的一次。失业率下降到6．1%，几乎是6年来最低。美国有望在一年内达到长期被关注的“全面就业”。招聘启事数量激增，自1月以来职位空缺数增加了20qo。这样兴旺的劳动力市场往往象征着经济繁荣。然而如今却不是。第一季度国内生产总值以2.9%的年率下降，这是自经济萧条以来最糟糕的表现。这有一部分是因为恶劣的天气所导致。而第二季度只足以弥补第一季度的损失。经济学家本以为2014年会成为经济萧条以来经济表现最佳的一年；而随着上半年经济增长接近为零，这一年正在成为经济最不景气的一年。
