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| Business Words in the News
Friday 27 December 2002
Vocabulary from the business news. Listen to and read the report then find explanations of difficult words below.
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Swiss poverty worry
Summary: Switzerland is one of the richest countries in the world but the divide between rich and poor in the country is getting bigger and unemployment is also rising. Experts say more job losses are likely in 2003. This report from Emma Jane Kirby:
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| | The News | |
| | | Historically one of the wealthiest nations in the world, Switzerland is now beginning to feel the pinch of the downturn in the global economy. Although at just under three percent its unemployment figures are envied by many of its European neighbours, for Switzerland the figure represents a worrying rise. In Geneva, Switzerland's second largest financial centre, the big banks have cut over one thousand two hundred jobs over the past year, helping to send the unemployment figuressoaring to over six percent. The local labour office has had to take on more staff to cope with numbers.
But with two percent of Swiss owning forty-two percent of the nation's wealth, the biggest problem the country's facing is the widening gap between rich and poor. Over five hundred and thirty-five thousand people are thought to be living below the poverty line, but despite a welfare system being available for the needy, according to charity groups, many people fear poverty in Switzerland carries a social stigma and they're simply too embarrassed to ask for help.
Emma Jane Kirby, BBC News, Geneva
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| | The Words
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| | | to feel the pinch
to experience financial difficulties
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| | | unemployment figures
statistics that show how many people do not have a job
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| | | envied
if something is envied, other people want it; here, other countries’ unemployment figures are much worse than those in Switzerland
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| | | soaring
rising very quickly
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| | | to cope with
to be able to deal with
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| | | the widening gap
the difference is getting bigger
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| | | the poverty line
if people live below the poverty line, it means they do not have enough money to meet their basic needs
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| | | a welfare system
a system that provides financial support for people who do not have a job or who are very poor
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| | | the needy
people who need financial help
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| | | a social stigma
a negative feeling by those in society towards a certain situation
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