The U.S. economy had a net gain of 244,000 jobs in April, the biggest increase in nearly a year, while the unemployment rate rose slightly to hit 9 percent.
Friday's report from the Labor Department showed most of the job gains were in private sector, including manufacturing.
Despite taking economists by surprise, the gains still maintain below the level needed to recover the 8 million jobs lost in the recession.
Economists say job growth needs to be of 250,000 or higher each month to significantly cut the unemployment rate since the work force is growing due to births and immigration.



美国经济4月份净增加了24万4千个工作机会，是将近一年内增幅最大的一次，但美国的失业率小幅上升到9%。

美国劳工部星期五公布的报告显示，大多数新增就业机会来自包括制造业在内的私营部门。
就业机会的增幅超出大多数经济学家的预期，但仍然低于恢复在经济衰退中失去的8百万个就业机会所需要的水平。

经济学家说，每月新增就业需要达到25万或以上的水平，才能显著降低失业率，因为劳工数量随着新生儿和移民人数的增长而在不断增加。

• economy [i´kɔnəmi] n.经济；机制；组织 (初中英语单词)
• slightly [´slaitli] ad.轻微地；细长的 (初中英语单词)
• maintain [mein´tein] vt.维持；保持；继续 (初中英语单词)
• unemployment [,ʌnim´plɔimənt] n.失业；失业人数 (高中英语单词)
• taking [´teikiŋ] a.迷人的 n.捕获物 (英语六级单词)