2021年经济学人 劳动力短缺--急需建造工人(1)

Finance & economics

财经板块

Labour shortages: Help wanted

劳动力短缺：急聘员工

Houses are in high demand. So too are the people who build them.

房屋需求量很大。建造房屋的工人需求量也同样很大。

DON HORTON, founder¹ of America’s largest housebuilder, never thought he would have to turn away business in Texas.

美国最大的房屋建筑商的创始人唐·霍顿(DON HORTON)从未想过，有一天他会被迫放弃在德克萨斯州的业务。

Until recently he could not build homes in the state fast enough.

直到最近，他在该州的建房速度明显跟不上了。

Now his firm is restricting sales as industry-wide shortages of labour and building materials such as timber, slow construction and inflate² costs.

现在，由于整个行业劳动力和建筑材料(如木材)短缺、施工缓慢、成本上涨，他的公司正在限制房屋销量。

The combination of these constraints³ and surging demand for housing has led to staggering rises in house prices.

销量收紧，加上住房需求激增，就导致房价大幅上涨。

According to figures published on August 31st, the Case-Shiller national house-price index was 18.6% higher in June than a year earlier—the third record-breaking rise in as many months.

根据8月31日公布的数据，6月份Case-Shiller全国房价指数比去年同期上涨了18.6%，这是多个月以来第三次打破纪录的上涨。

But although the shortages of materials are expected to ease next year, skilled labour will be harder to find.

虽然明年材料短缺有望缓解，但技术工人更会一人难求。

As covid-19 spread and countries locked down, the construction workforce⁴ took a big hit.

随着新冠肺炎的传播和各国的封锁，建筑工人受到了很大的冲击。

In America it shrank by nearly 15% in 2020, wiping out four years of job gains.

在美国，2020年建筑工人数量下降了近15%，抵消了四年来的增量。

But it has yet to recover fully⁵, even as demand for housing has been turbo-charged by low interest rates and enthusiasm for bigger homes.

但它还没有完全恢复，即使低利率和对更大住房的追求导致住房需求大大增加。

Around 88% of American contractors⁶ say they are struggling to find workers, leaving nearly 300,000 roles vacant.

大约88%的美国承包商说他们很难找到工人，留下近30万个职位空缺。

Having decelerated in 2020, wage growth is now picking up.

2020年工资增长减速后，目前增速正在恢复。

Britain has the most vacancies⁷ in two decades, with two-thirds of construction firms finding it difficult to hire bricklayers and carpenters.

英国出现了20年来最多的职位空缺，三分之二的建筑公司很难雇佣到砖瓦工和木匠。

Half of all French construction firms report facing difficulties with recruitment, making it the country’s worst-affected sector⁸, and a fifth of German building and civil-engineering companies say they lack skilled workers.

法国一半的建筑公司报告称面临招聘困难，这使其成为该国受影响最严重的行业，五分之一的德国建筑和土木工程公司称他们缺乏熟练工人。

The industry’s hiring struggles in part mirror the wider labour shortages affecting much of the rich world.

建筑行业的招聘困境在一定程度上反映了影响许多发达国家的更为广泛的劳动力短缺问题。

As in other sectors⁹, a fear of the virus and an ability to fall back on benefits and savings¹⁰ might explain why the unemployed¹¹ have been slow to return to work.

与其他行业一样，对病毒的恐惧以及依靠福利和储蓄能力，或许是失业者不急于重返工作岗位的原因。

Travel restrictions¹² across national and provincial¹³ borders to curb¹⁴ the pandemic have hit the construction sector, which relies heavily on migrants, especially hard.

为遏制疫情而实施的跨国、跨省边境的旅行限制，对严重依赖移民的建筑业造成了打击。

(That has been starkest¹⁵ in China and India, where migrants account for four-fifths and one-third of construction workers, respectively.)

(这在中国和印度尤为明显，这两国的移民分别占建筑工人的五分之四和三分之一。)

1 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

2 inflate   

vt.使膨胀，使骄傲，抬高（物价）

参考例句：

• The buyers bid against each other and often inflate the prices they pay.买主们竞相投标，往往人为地提高价钱。
• Stuart jumped into the sea and inflated the liferaft.斯图尔特跳到海里给救生艇充气。

3 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

4 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

5 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

6 contractors   

n.（建筑、监造中的）承包人( contractor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• We got estimates from three different contractors before accepting the lowest. 我们得到3个承包商的报价后，接受了最低的报价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Contractors winning construction jobs had to kick back 2 per cent of the contract price to the mafia. 赢得建筑工作的承包商得抽出合同价格的百分之二的回扣给黑手党。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 vacancies   

n.空房间( vacancy的名词复数 )；空虚；空白；空缺

参考例句：

• job vacancies 职位空缺
• The sign outside the motel said \"No Vacancies\". 汽车旅馆外的招牌显示“客满”。 来自《简明英汉词典》

8 sector   

n.部门，部分；防御地段，防区；扇形

参考例句：

• The export sector will aid the economic recovery. 出口产业将促进经济复苏。
• The enemy have attacked the British sector.敌人已进攻英国防区。

9 sectors   

n.部门( sector的名词复数 )；领域；防御地区；扇形

参考例句：

• Berlin was divided into four sectors after the war. 战后柏林分成了4 个区。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Industry and agriculture are the two important sectors of the national economy. 工业和农业是国民经济的两个重要部门。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

10 savings   

n.存款，储蓄

参考例句：

• I can't afford the vacation,for it would eat up my savings.我度不起假，那样会把我的积蓄用光的。
• By this time he had used up all his savings.到这时，他的存款已全部用完。

11 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。

12 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

13 provincial   

adj.省的，地方的；n．外省人，乡下人

参考例句：

• City dwellers think country folk have provincial attitudes.城里人以为乡下人思想迂腐。
• Two leading cadres came down from the provincial capital yesterday.昨天从省里下来了两位领导干部。

14 curb   

n.场外证券市场，场外交易；vt.制止，抑制

参考例句：

• I could not curb my anger.我按捺不住我的愤怒。
• You must curb your daughter when you are in church.你在教堂时必须管住你的女儿。

15 starkest   

（指区别）明显的( stark的最高级 )； 完全的； 了无修饰的； 僵硬的

参考例句：

• Among the starkest-and the most worrying-have been measures of world trade. 而最典型也是最让人担心的是世界贸易的方式。
• Climate change and the depleted ozone layer are among the starkest examples. 气候变化和臭氧层耗减就是其中最明显的例子。