研究称美国10%的Airbnb主人是教师

Study: Nearly 10 Percent of US Airbnb Hosts Are Teachers

People across the world use Airbnb to offer their homes to travelers usually for a nightly fee. The home-sharing service provides some people a way to make extra money while they work other jobs.

The company announced recently that one of its most popular professions among American Airbnb hosts is teaching.

The information came from an Airbnb study to find out what industries its American hosts work in.

The study found that almost 10 percent of U.S. Airbnb hosts in 2017 identified themselves as teachers or in the field of education. The home-sharing service estimated it has about 45,000 active teacher hosts in America. In addition, the study says there are an estimated 75,000 other hosts living in households with a teacher.

American teacher hosts earned more than $160 million dollars from Airbnb in 2017, the company said. That includes about $54 million earned during the summer alone. The average amount earned by teacher hosts individually was $6,500 in 2017.

The study did not provide data from hosts about why they choose to become part of Airbnb. But the company noted¹ that many teachers in America face difficult economic situations. Airbnb says additional earnings² from hosting can help.

The U.S. Department of Education reported this year that 94 percent of public school teachers said they had spent their own money on some classroom supplies in the 2015-2016 school year.

It also reported that average pay for public school teachers in 2015–2016 was lower than in the 1990-1991 school year when the inflation³ rate is considered.

Some states had even higher rates of teacher hosts than Airbnb’s estimated national average.

The Midwestern state of Wisconsin had the highest estimated number of Airbnb teacher hosts at 26 percent. Utah was next highest at 25 percent, followed by Ohio with 20 percent. Several other states had teacher hosts of between 14 to 17 percent.

The top city for teacher Airbnb hosts was Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the company said. An estimated 17 percent of Airbnb hosts there were teachers. Combined, they earned about $1.6 million in 2017 - $470,000 of it during the summer. The yearly average of nights hosted by teachers in the city was 69.

San Diego, California, was the next most popular city for Airbnb teacher hosts at 15 percent. The hosts earned an estimated total of $2.7 million in 2017.

Airbnb spokesman⁴ Christopher Nulty told The Atlantic magazine that the home-sharing industry is not a total solution for the current problems facing many teachers. But he said he thinks Airbnb can be an “important tool” to help teachers make extra money and give them “the respect and dignity” they have earned.

The report on the number of teacher hosts comes as Airbnb continues to face opposition⁵ by activists⁶ and officials in some areas. U.S. critics of the company say the service is driving up rental⁷ market prices in several cities. Elected officials in some areas have proposed or approved rules to limit the influence of the service. Hotel companies have also protested that the business presents unfair competition.

I’m Bryan Lynn.

Words in This Story

host – n. person who receives other people as guests

afford – v. have enough money to buy something or enough time to do something

respect – n. feeling deep admiration⁸ for someone because of their knowledge, skill, or achievements

dignity – n. the state or quality of being worthy of honor or respect

rental – an arrangement to rent something as opposed to buying it

1 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。

2 earnings   

n.工资收人；利润，利益，所得

参考例句：

• That old man lives on the earnings of his daughter.那个老人靠他女儿的收入维持生活。
• Last year there was a 20% decrease in his earnings.去年他的收入减少了20%。

3 inflation   

n.胀大，夸张，通货膨胀

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• The inflation of the airbed took several minutes.给空气床垫充气花了几分钟时间。

4 spokesman   

n.发言人，代言人

参考例句：

• The government spokesman gave a quick briefing to the reporters.政府发言人向记者们作了情况简介。
• They drew lots to decide who should be their spokesman.他们抽签决定谁是他们的发言人。

5 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

6 activists   

n.（政治活动的）积极分子，活动家( activist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His research work was attacked by animal rights activists . 他的研究受到了动物权益维护者的抨击。
• Party activists with lower middle class pedigrees are numerous. 党的激进分子中有很多出身于中产阶级下层。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

8 admiration   

n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕

参考例句：

• He was lost in admiration of the beauty of the scene.他对风景之美赞不绝口。
• We have a great admiration for the gold medalists.我们对金牌获得者极为敬佩。