????本周晚些時候美國政府發布月度就業報告時，需要關注的一個重要數據不是失業率，而是就業率。畢竟，當前8.9%的美國失業率并不能告訴我們太多關于嚴峻就業形勢的新情況。

????當然，就業率并不會給我們帶來任何更樂觀的消息，但它可以告訴我們哪些人有工作。在這輪伴隨著高失業率的經濟復蘇中，一種最值得關注的趨勢是就業人群年齡結構的巨大變化。在經濟衰退前，美國最年輕的就業人群相比最年長的就業人群更易獲得工作。現如今情況已并非如此。

????今天，爺爺輩比孫子輩更易獲得工作，地處波士頓的美國東北大學(Northeastern University)勞動力市場研究中心的一項研究顯示。

????這凸顯了兩股令人不安的趨勢：一是老年人的經濟拮據現狀，很多退休者開始做起了通常由20歲以下年輕人承擔的工作。

????二是這說明對于那些希望鍛煉軟技能、補貼家用的20歲以下年輕人而言，就業市場已變得非常嚴峻。事實上，十多年來美國就業市場中令人擔憂的一股趨勢正在加劇：16-19歲青少年的就業率自2000年以來穩步下降，而60-64歲老年人的就業率持續上升。嬰兒潮一代出于各種原因（包括金融危機和經濟衰退后股價大跌），要么延長了在原有崗位上的工作年限，要么做起了通常由年輕人承擔的低技能工作。

????“現在許多老年人找的工作在十年前是屬于20歲以下年輕人的”，美國東北大學勞動力市場研究中心主任、經濟學教授安德魯?薩姆表示。他指出，現在零售店、快餐廳里的工作越來越多地由老年人承擔。除了當前的就業市場令雇主們更挑剔外，他們也更傾向于雇傭具有準時上班、服從安排等“軟技能”的老年人。

????就業人群年齡結構的逆轉初現于去年。2000年6月，20歲以下年輕人的就業率是65-69歲老年人的兩倍多，前者的就業率是51%，大大高于老年人的23%。到了2010年6月，老年人的就業率已略高于20歲以下年輕人，前者為28.8%，而后者為28.6%。

????美國就業市場確實在改善，雖然非常緩慢，但20歲以下年輕人似乎錯過了這場復蘇。2月份招工需求強勁將美國總體失業率推低至近兩年來最低，當月非農就業人數增加了192,000。上周美國勞工部（Labor Department）公布，27個州和哥倫比亞特區報告失業率下降，7個州失業率上升，16個州持平。失業率居于全美前列的加利福尼亞州2月份就業人數增加96,500，是全美就業人數增加最多的。

????即便是在就業人數增長的情況下，薩姆認為，20歲以下年輕人在與老年人的就業市場競爭中仍將敗下陣來。誠然，這可能并不是個大問題。20歲以下年輕人在美國1.39億就業人口（估算值）中占比相對較低，而且他們找不到工作也許根本就沒什么大不了的——他們可能更應該將時間花在學校里，而不是工作上。

????但對于許多人而言，送報紙以及在當地冰激凌店的第一份工作就像是成人禮。即便是前途無限的企業高管們在回憶起第一份工作時也是充滿感情的，比如谷歌(Google)搜索產品和用戶體驗副總裁瑪麗莎?梅耶爾，梅耶爾16歲時就曾在威斯康辛州沃索的County Market做過收銀員。

????“很多收銀員都有多年工作經驗，并且非常熱愛自己的工作，這讓我親眼目睹了敬業的重要性，”去年梅耶爾曾這樣告訴《財富》（Fortune）雜志。

????薩姆表示，在崗學習在美國內地城市尤為重要，然而這些地區目前20歲以下年輕人的就業率已降至最低點。在低收入地區，工作不僅僅是成人禮——還可能減少犯罪和暴力。

????因此，雖然這看起來是個小問題，但如果20歲以下年輕人錯過美國復蘇快車，未來可能引發更大的問題。

????When the U.S. government releases its monthly jobs report later this week, an important figure to note is not the unemployment rate but rather the employment rate. After all, the percentage of America's workforce without jobs, currently at 8.9%, isn't going to tell us much that we don't already know about the tough job climate.

????The employment rate won't promise better news either, but it offers a glimpse of who has jobs. One the most notable trends that's played out during this jobless recovery has been the dramatic shift in the age structure of employment. Before the recession, the nation's youngest workers were more likely to have collected a paycheck than the eldest workers. That's not necessarily the case these days.

????Today, grandpa is more likely to earn a paycheck than his grandson, according to research by the Center for Labor Market Studies at Northeastern University in Boston.

????The findings highlight two disturbing trends: First, they reveal just how financially strained seniors have become as many in retirement age fill jobs typically sought by teens.

????What's more, the findings underscore just how tough the market has become for teens looking to build soft skills and help with family finances. In fact, today's job market is exacerbating a trend that's been worrying for more than a decade: employment among 16 to 19-year-olds has been steadily declining since 2000 while employment among 60 to 64 year-old adults has consistently risen. Baby boomers have either stayed at their jobs longer, or taken lower-skills jobs ordinarily filled by younger workers, for various reasons that include the plunge in stock prices following the financial crisis and the recession.

????"A lot of the jobs older people have taken would have gone to teenagers a decade ago," says Andrew Sum, economics professor and director of the labor market studies center. Sum points to jobs in retail stores and fast-food restaurants that are increasingly being filled by older workers. Aside from the fact that the job market has made employers a lot choosier, they're also more inclined to hire older workers with "soft skills," such as showing up on time, taking orders and so forth.

????The age reversal emerged for the first time last year. In June 2000, teens were more than twice as likely to have a job as adults age 65 to 69, with teen employment at 51% versus senior employment at 23%. By June 2010, older adults were modestly more likely to be working than teens, with 28.8% of seniors employed versus 28.6% of teens.

????It's true that the job market is improving, albeit very slowly, but teens have been losing out on the recovery. Strong hiring in February pushed the overall unemployment rate down to the lowest level in nearly two years as employers added 192,000 jobs to non-farm payrolls. Last week, the Labor Department reported that 27 states and the District of Columbia reported a drop in the unemployment rate, while seven states reported rate increases and 16 had no change. California, among the states with the highest unemployment rate, added 96,500 jobs in February and had the biggest increase in employment.

????Even with the gains, Sum says teens will continue to lose as they compete with older workers amid the tight job market. To be sure, this could be viewed as a lesser concern. Teens make up a relatively small part of the estimated 139 million people employed in the U.S. and it's arguable whether the lack of employment is even that big of a deal -- perhaps young people are better off spending time on school than work.

????But for many people, that first job on a paper route or at the local ice cream parlor has served as sort of a rite of passage. Even rising corporate executives recall their first jobs fondly, including Marissa Mayer, Google's (GOOG) vice president of search products and user experience, who at 16 years old worked as a checkout clerk at the County Market in Wausau, WI.

????"Many of the cashiers had years of experience and were very committed to their jobs, so I saw firsthand the importance of a great work ethic," Mayer told Fortune last year.

????Sum says on-the-job learning is especially important in America's inner-cities, where teen employment is at its lowest. In lower-income areas, a job is more than a rite of passage -- it has the potential to reduce crime and violence.

????So even if the problem appears to be small, leaving teens out of America's recovery could have bigger consequences in the future.