Technology May Ease Skills Gap, Unemployment

 Around 350,000 newly unemployed¹ people signed up for financial assistance last week in the United States, which is one reason that the jobless rate remains² stuck at a relatively³ high 8.2 percent.   Some employers say they would hire more people if they could find workers with key high-tech⁴ skills.  Some experts say better communication and technology could reduce this "skills gap."  The head of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Angel Gurria, says even some well-educated people are having trouble finding work around the world. "There are unemployed graduates on the streets, while employers search in vain for people with the skills they need.  There is an obvious mismatch here.  And it is a paradox⁵ and a great tragedy," noted⁶ Gurria.

OECD officials say more than 44 million people are out of work in the 34 mostly wealthy nations that make up the group.  In the United States alone, there are nearly 13 million unemployed people, at the same time there are more than 3.6 million unfilled jobs here.

Experts say even at a time of high unemployment, some positions are unfilled because job applicants⁷ lack high-technology skills.

A company called Monster Worldwide is using some new technology it says can help solve that problem. Company official Earl Rennison says computer programs called  "semantic search" are able to scan vast amounts of data, including millions of resumes, to help match skilled people with vacant jobs.

Computer searches have been available for years, but he says they just matched certain key words, which Rennison says could give poor results if the word has multiple meanings.

"Someone's name may be Ford⁸, John Ford, or they may work for the Ford Motor Company, or go to, or have attended, the Ford School of Public Policy," Rennison noted.   "So being able to differentiate⁹ these multiple different senses of a word is important for a semantic engine to understand."Rennison says semantic search is designed to pick the right match from the words and phrases around a key word.  Rennison says this analysis of context helps it get the right match even if a job posting and resume use different words to express the same concept. He says better searches will yield better matches, and fill more jobs.

The head of a rival recruitment company called Beyond.com says another problem is that the people who are experts at finding just the right workers, the recruitment staff, were the first ones fired during the recession.

Rich Milgram says it will take time for companies to rebuild their battered¹⁰ workforces¹¹, even if they have hired new recruiters.

"[The new recruiters] don't understand the business that well because they are new, they don't have a rapport¹² with the hiring managers," Milgram explained.

He says companies that need top-notch workers need to do a good job of writing job advertisements that are accurate and understandable, while job seekers need to make it clear to hiring managers how they can contribute to the firm.

Milgram says the many employers he talks to regularly think the economy has recovered somewhat, and many firms are on the verge¹³ of rehiring people lost during the recession.

1 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。

2 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

3 relatively   

adv.比较...地，相对地

参考例句：

• The rabbit is a relatively recent introduction in Australia.兔子是相对较新引入澳大利亚的物种。
• The operation was relatively painless.手术相对来说不痛。

4 high-tech   

adj.高科技的

参考例句：

• The economy is in the upswing which makes high-tech services in more demand too.经济在蓬勃发展，这就使对高科技服务的需求量也在加大。
• The quest of a cure for disease with high-tech has never ceased. 人们希望运用高科技治疗疾病的追求从未停止过。

5 paradox   

n.似乎矛盾却正确的说法；自相矛盾的人(物)

参考例句：

• The story contains many levels of paradox.这个故事存在多重悖论。
• The paradox is that Japan does need serious education reform.矛盾的地方是日本确实需要教育改革。

6 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

7 applicants   

申请人，求职人( applicant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• There were over 500 applicants for the job. 有500多人申请这份工作。
• He was impressed by the high calibre of applicants for the job. 求职人员出色的能力给他留下了深刻印象。

8 Ford   

n.浅滩，水浅可涉处；v.涉水，涉过

参考例句：

• They were guarding the bridge,so we forded the river.他们驻守在那座桥上，所以我们只能涉水过河。
• If you decide to ford a stream,be extremely careful.如果已决定要涉过小溪，必须极度小心。

9 differentiate   

vi.(between)区分；vt.区别；使不同

参考例句：

• You can differentiate between the houses by the shape of their chimneys.你可以凭借烟囱形状的不同来区分这两幢房子。
• He never learned to differentiate between good and evil.他从未学会分辨善恶。

10 battered   

adj.磨损的；v.连续猛击；磨损

参考例句：

• He drove up in a battered old car.他开着一辆又老又破的旧车。
• The world was brutally battered but it survived.这个世界遭受了惨重的创伤,但它还是生存下来了。

11 workforces   

全体员工( workforce的名词复数 )； （国家或行业等）劳动力； 劳动大军； 劳动人口

参考例句：

• The Web has allowed companies to become more distributed and workforces to become more flexible. 网站已允许各公司更加分散，工作队伍也变得更加灵活。
• They are large centres of business in their own with skilled workforces and business-friendly environments. 从自身条件来说，它们都是大型商业中心，拥有大批技能型劳动力和友好的商业运作环境。

12 rapport   

n.和睦，意见一致

参考例句：

• She has an excellent rapport with her staff.她跟她职员的关系非常融洽。
• We developed a high degree of trust and a considerable personal rapport.我们发展了高度的互相信任和不错的私人融洽关系。

13 verge   

n.边，边缘；v.接近，濒临

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• She was on the verge of bursting into tears.她快要哭出来了。