经济学人:美国的工作与种族 薪资差距(1)

 　　United States

　　美国

　　Working and Race: Colouring in

　　工作与种族：上色

　　A trio of labour economists² suggest that effort at work is correlated with race.

　　由三名劳动经济学家组成的团队声称工作效率与人种有关。

　　GIVEN the long history of making racial slurs³ about the efforts of some workers, any study casting black and Hispanic men as lazier than whites and Asians is sure to court controversy⁴.

　　长期以来，与员工工作效率有关的种族歧视争议屡见不鲜，宣称黑人和拉丁裔人比白人和亚洲人更懒散的研究结果一定会引发口水战。

　　A provocative⁵ new working paper by economists Daniel Hamermesh, Katie Genadek and Michael Burda sticks a tentative toe into these murky⁶ waters.

　　而由经济学家Daniel Hamermesh、Katie Genadek和Michael Burda提交的一份新论文则在这潭浑水中掀起了又一轮风波。

　　They suggest that America’s well-documented racial wage gap is overstated by 10% because minorities, especially men, spend larger portions of their workdays not actually working.

　　他们声称，在美国，有证据支持的种族薪资差距数据被夸大了10%，其原因是少数族裔员工，尤其是其中的男性员工在工作时间内存在更多的偷懒现象。

　　After rejecting a number of plausible⁷ explanations for why this might be, the authors finally attribute the discrepancy⁸ to unexplained “cultural differences”.

　　在排除了一系列看似可能的原因后，论文作者最终将这种差距归结为原因不明的“文化差异”。

　　Acutely aware of the sensitivity of these findings, the professors delayed publication until after the presidential election.

　　三名教授们深知这一研究结果过于敏感，所以他们选择在美国总统大选结束之后才对外公布。

　　“I knew full well that Trump⁹ and his minions¹⁰ would use it as a propaganda piece,” says Mr Hamermesh, a colourful and respected labour economist¹.

　　Hamermesh先生是一位备受尊敬的劳动经济学家，同时他自己也属于有色人种。他表示：“我非常清楚特朗普和他的手下会借此进行宣传。”

　　The paper may yet be seized on by those who are keen to root out “political correctness” and are perennially¹¹ unhappy with current anti-discrimination laws.

　　这篇论文可能会被一些试图推翻“政治正确性”以及对目前的反歧视法令始终持反对态度的人士所利用。

　　The study’s method is straightforward¹².

　　研究采用的方法简单直接非白种人的男性员工每天在工作时间内的偷懒时间要长出1.1%，相当于每天多出5分钟。

　　The data come from nearly 36,000 “daily diaries”, self-reporting on how Americans spent their working hours, collected from 2003 to 2012.

　　数据来自2003-2012年的近36000份“日常日记”，日记的作者们描述了美国人如何支配日常工作时间。

　　Relying on the assumption that workers are equally honest in admitting sloth¹³, the authors calculate the fraction of time spent not working while on the job—spent relaxing or eating, say—and find that it varies by race to a small but statistically¹⁴ significant degree.

　　在假定员工们都同样诚实地承认偷懒的前提下，研究人员计算了员工在工作时间内未工作（休息或吃零食）的时间占比，其结果是，不同人种的偷懒时间存在差异，其数值不大却具有统计学意义。

　　The gap remains¹⁵, albeit¹⁶ in weaker form, even with the addition of extensive controls for geography, industry and union status, among others.

　　即使加入地理位置、行业和工会状况等各种控制条件的制约，差距会变小但却依然存在。

　　Non-white male workers spend an additional 1.1% of the day not working while on the job, or an extra five minutes per day.

　　有色人种的男性员工每天在班上用于非工作内容的时间要多1.1%，或者说每天多五分钟。

　　United States

　　美国

　　Working and Race: Colouring in

　　工作与种族：上色

　　A trio of labour economists suggest that effort at work is correlated with race.

　　由三名劳动经济学家组成的团队声称工作效率与人种有关。

　　GIVEN the long history of making racial slurs about the efforts of some workers, any study casting black and Hispanic men as lazier than whites and Asians is sure to court controversy.

　　长期以来，与员工工作效率有关的种族歧视争议屡见不鲜，宣称黑人和拉丁裔人比白人和亚洲人更懒散的研究结果一定会引发口水战。

　　美国的薪资和种族1.jpeg

　　A provocative new working paper by economists Daniel Hamermesh, Katie Genadek and Michael Burda sticks a tentative toe into these murky waters.

　　而由经济学家Daniel Hamermesh、Katie Genadek和Michael Burda提交的一份新论文则在这潭浑水中掀起了又一轮风波。

　　They suggest that America’s well-documented racial wage gap is overstated by 10% because minorities, especially men, spend larger portions of their workdays not actually working.

　　他们声称，在美国，有证据支持的种族薪资差距数据被夸大了10%，其原因是少数族裔员工，尤其是其中的男性员工在工作时间内存在更多的偷懒现象。

　　After rejecting a number of plausible explanations for why this might be, the authors finally attribute the discrepancy to unexplained “cultural differences”.

　　在排除了一系列看似可能的原因后，论文作者最终将这种差距归结为原因不明的“文化差异”。

　　Acutely aware of the sensitivity of these findings, the professors delayed publication until after the presidential election.

　　三名教授们深知这一研究结果过于敏感，所以他们选择在美国总统大选结束之后才对外公布。

　　“I knew full well that Trump and his minions would use it as a propaganda piece,” says Mr Hamermesh, a colourful and respected labour economist.

　　Hamermesh先生是一位备受尊敬的劳动经济学家，同时他自己也属于有色人种。他表示：“我非常清楚特朗普和他的手下会借此进行宣传。”

　　The paper may yet be seized on by those who are keen to root out “political correctness” and are perennially unhappy with current anti-discrimination laws.

　　这篇论文可能会被一些试图推翻“政治正确性”以及对目前的反歧视法令始终持反对态度的人士所利用。

　　The study’s method is straightforward.

　　研究采用的方法简单直接非白种人的男性员工每天在工作时间内的偷懒时间要长出1.1%，相当于每天多出5分钟。

　　The data come from nearly 36,000 “daily diaries”, self-reporting on how Americans spent their working hours, collected from 2003 to 2012.

　　数据来自2003-2012年的近36000份“日常日记”，日记的作者们描述了美国人如何支配日常工作时间。

　　Relying on the assumption that workers are equally honest in admitting sloth, the authors calculate the fraction of time spent not working while on the job—spent relaxing or eating, say—and find that it varies by race to a small but statistically significant degree.

　　在假定员工们都同样诚实地承认偷懒的前提下，研究人员计算了员工在工作时间内未工作（休息或吃零食）的时间占比，其结果是，不同人种的偷懒时间存在差异，其数值不大却具有统计学意义。

　　The gap remains, albeit in weaker form, even with the addition of extensive controls for geography, industry and union status, among others.

　　即使加入地理位置、行业和工会状况等各种控制条件的制约，差距会变小但却依然存在。

　　Non-white male workers spend an additional 1.1% of the day not working while on the job, or an extra five minutes per day.

　　有色人种的男性员工每天在班上用于非工作内容的时间要多1.1%，或者说每天多五分钟。

1 economist   

n.经济学家，经济专家，节俭的人

参考例句：

• He cast a professional economist's eyes on the problem.他以经济学行家的眼光审视这个问题。
• He's an economist who thinks he knows all the answers.他是个经济学家，自以为什么都懂。

2 economists   

n.经济学家，经济专家( economist的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The sudden rise in share prices has confounded economists. 股价的突然上涨使经济学家大惑不解。
• Foreign bankers and economists cautiously welcomed the minister's initiative. 外国银行家和经济学家对部长的倡议反应谨慎。 来自《简明英汉词典》

3 slurs   

含糊的发音( slur的名词复数 )； 玷污； 连奏线； 连唱线

参考例句：

• One should keep one's reputation free from all slurs. 人应该保持名誉不受责备。
• Racial slurs, racial jokes, all having to do with being Asian. 种族主义辱骂，种族笑话，都是跟亚裔有关的。

4 controversy   

n.争论，辩论，争吵

参考例句：

• That is a fact beyond controversy.那是一个无可争论的事实。
• We ran the risk of becoming the butt of every controversy.我们要冒使自己在所有的纷争中都成为众矢之的的风险。

5 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。

6 murky   

adj.黑暗的，朦胧的；adv.阴暗地，混浊地；n.阴暗；昏暗

参考例句：

• She threw it into the river's murky depths.她把它扔进了混浊的河水深处。
• She had a decidedly murky past.她的历史背景令人捉摸不透。

7 plausible   

adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的

参考例句：

• His story sounded plausible.他说的那番话似乎是真实的。
• Her story sounded perfectly plausible.她的说辞听起来言之有理。

8 discrepancy   

n.不同；不符；差异；矛盾

参考例句：

• The discrepancy in their ages seemed not to matter.他们之间年龄的差异似乎没有多大关系。
• There was a discrepancy in the two reports of the accident.关于那次事故的两则报道有不一致之处。

9 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

10 minions   

n.奴颜婢膝的仆从( minion的名词复数 )；走狗；宠儿；受人崇拜者

参考例句：

• She delegated the job to one of her minions. 她把这份工作委派给她的一个手下。 来自辞典例句
• I have been a slave to the vicious-those whom I served were his minions. 我当过那帮坏人的奴隶，我伺候的都是他的爪牙。 来自辞典例句

11 perennially   

adv.经常出现地；长期地；持久地；永久地

参考例句：

• He perennially does business abroad. 他常年在国外做生意。 来自辞典例句
• We want to know what is perennially new about the world. 我们想知道世上什么东西永远是新的。 来自互联网

12 straightforward   

adj.正直的，坦率的；易懂的，简单的

参考例句：

• A straightforward talk is better than a flowery speech.巧言不如直说。
• I must insist on your giving me a straightforward answer.我一定要你给我一个直截了当的回答。

13 sloth   

n.[动]树懒；懒惰，懒散

参考例句：

• Absence of competition makes for sloth.没有竞争会导致懒惰。
• The sloth spends most of its time hanging upside down from the branches.大部分时间里树懒都是倒挂在树枝上。

14 statistically   

ad.根据统计数据来看，从统计学的观点来看

参考例句：

• The sample of building permits is larger and therefore, statistically satisfying. 建筑许可数的样本比较大，所以统计数据更令人满意。
• The results of each test would have to be statistically independent. 每次试验的结果在统计上必须是独立的。

15 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

16 albeit   

conj.即使；纵使；虽然

参考例句：

• Albeit fictional,she seemed to have resolved the problem.虽然是虚构的，但是在她看来好象是解决了问题。
• Albeit he has failed twice,he is not discouraged.虽然失败了两次，但他并没有气馁。