Acrosstherichworld,well-educatedpeopleincreasinglyworkl...

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Across the rich world, well-educated people increasingly work longer than the less-skilled. Some 65% of American men aged 62-74 with a professional degree are in the workforce, compared with 32% of men with only a high-school certificate. This gap is part of a deepening divide between the well-educated well-off and the unskilled poor. Rapid technological advance has raised the incomes of the highly skilled while squeezing those of the unskilled. The consequences, for individuals and society, are profound (意義深遠的).

The world is facing an astonishing rise in the number of old people. The experience of the 20th century, when greater longevity translated into more years in retirement rather than more years at work, has persuaded many observers that this change will lead to slower economic growth, and create government budget problems. But the idea of a sharp division between the working young and the unemployed old misses a new trend, the growing gap between the skilled and the unskilled folk are working longer. The divide is most extreme in America, where well-educated baby-boomers (二戰後生育高峯期出生的美國人) are putting off retirement while many less-skilled younger people have dropped out of the workforce.

Policy is partly responsible. Many European governments have abandoned policies that used to encourage people to retire early. Rising life expectancy (預期壽命), combined with the replacement of generous defined-benefit pension plans with less generous defined- contribution ones, means that even the better-off must work longer to have a comfortable retirement. But the changing nature of work also plays a big role. Pay has risen sharply for the highly educated, and those people continue to get rich rewards into old age because these days the educated elderly are more productive than the previous generation. Technological change may well strengthen that shift: the skills that make up for computers, from management knowhow to creativity, do not necessarily decline with age.

24. What has helped deepen the divide between the well-off and the poor?

A. Longer life expectancies.

B. Profound changes in the workforce.

C. Rapid technological advance.

D. A growing number of the well educated.

25. Which is not the reason for the falling employment rate among younger unskilled people?

A. The changing nature of work requires people with computer skills.

B. Policies which supports people’s early retirement are removed.

C. The educated old work more efficiently than the generation before.

D. Skills are highly valued regardless of age.

26. Which of the following statement is true?

A. The unemployed old has become a common phenomenon in modern society.