PBS高端访谈:低薪工人如何获得更好的机会?(1)（在线收听）

As the American economy recovers from the worst impacts of the pandemic, questions remain about the labor force and the larger problems that plagued the economy prior to the start of COVID-19.

随着美国经济逐渐从严重的疫情影响中复苏，劳动力问题和一个在新冠开始前就困扰着美国经济的更大的问题依然存在。

In the final installment of Paul Solman's Work Shift series, he looks at what we have learned and what's at stake for workers and employers.

在保罗·索尔曼的《轮班工作》系列的最后一篇文章中，他探讨了我们所获的经验教训以及工人和雇主面临的风险。

All around us, jobs going wanting. But it couldn't just have been pandemic unemployment benefits and low wages keeping workers in dry dock, because a host of high-paying jobs have gone unfilled for a very long time.

在我们周围，到处都是工作。但仅仅靠疫情的失业救济金和低工资是不可能让人们待在干船坞里的，因为很多高薪职位已经闲置很久了。

I have got plumbers that work for me today that make $200,000-plus a year.

现在我有管道工为我工作，他们一年能挣20多万美元。

And yet Seattle plumbing contractor Vinnie Sposari has been unable to find workers for years.

然而，西雅图管道承包商Vinnie Sposari多年来一直招不到工人。

I could hire six, eight experienced plumbers right now.

我现在能雇到六到八个有经验的水管工。

So why the labor shortage?

所以，为什么招不到人？

You're doing manual labor. Some people tend to look down on that.

你做的是体力活儿，人们看不上体力活儿。

Sarah Schnabel, a Cornell grad, became an electrician.

从康奈尔大学的毕业生莎拉·施纳贝尔成为了一名电工。

For people my age, it's definitely more glamorous to think of the tech job, where you're in a really nice cushy office building.

对于我这个年纪的人来说，科技方面的工作肯定更吸引人，因为可以坐在非常舒适的办公楼里工作。

High schoolers in Southwest Louisiana had an added explanation.

路易斯安那州西南部的高中生们对此有其它的解释。

That's not an option that's often presented to us. Like, this is not for you.

我们很少接触到这一选择，就像，它不是为你准备的。

It's like, go to college, go to college. There's barely anybody saying, go to trade school.

就比如说，人们都说上大学、上大学。但很少有人说，去上职业学校吧。

Right, said Mike Rowe, famous for his cable TV series "Dirty Jobs."

是的。因电视连续剧《肮脏的工作》而闻名的迈克·罗说。

The push for one form of education, in my view, really was the beginning of a long list of stigmas and stereotypes and myths and misperceptions that to this day dissuade millions of kids from pursuing a legitimate opportunity to make six figures in the trades.

在我看来，对一种教育形式的推动，实际上是一系列耻辱、刻板印象、传言和误解的开始。直到今天，这些阻碍了数以百万计的孩子追求合法的机会，利用职业技能赚到六位数的钱。

A final reason the trades are underpopulated, up until recently, some two-thirds of Americans were excluded, women, people of color, or both.

技工人丁稀少的最后一个原因是，直到今天，有约三分之二的美国人被这一行业排除在外，其中包括妇女、有色人种或者两者都有。

Dead rats in my lunch box, like the women before me. They wanted me to leave.

我的饭盒里有死老鼠，就像我面前的那些女人一样，他们想让我走。

Plumber Adrienne Bennett, who now runs her own firm.

水管工阿德里安娜·贝内特，她现在经营着自己的公司。

I was in a porta john one time. They picked me up with a crane. And you're bouncing around in there, you got this sewage. It's splashing all over you. You're afraid.

有一次我在厕所里，他们用起重机把我吊起来。然后你就在厕所里上来下去。里面还有污水，溅得你满身都是。你害怕了。

Electrician Tonya Hicks also has her own company.

电工Tonya Hicks也有自己的公司。

I had a foreman to tell me that all Black women do is get fat, have a bunch of kids and collect welfare.

有个工头告诉我，黑人女性只会变胖，生一堆孩子，然后等着领国家福利。

But it's not just the trades that can't fill jobs today. Tons of low-wage workers seem to be fed up with their pay and work and just aren't taking it anymore. And maybe they shouldn't, says economist Byron Auguste.

但如今缺的不仅仅是技工。大量低薪工人似乎厌倦了他们的工资和工作，不再接受。经济学家拜伦·奥古斯特说，或许他们不应该这样。

During the pandemic, we saw tens of millions of essential workers do amazing things, things that required skills, that required adaptability, that required problem-solving, that required teamwork, that required communication under very difficult conditions.

在疫情期间，我们看到有数千万重要岗位工作者做出了令人赞叹的事情，这些事情需要技能，需要适应能力，需要解决问题，需要团队合作，需要在非常困难的条件下进行沟通。

And given data collected by his firm, Opportunity@Work, they could be earning a lot more.

根据他的公司Opportunity@Work收集的数据，技工可能赚得更多。

Thirty million today have the skills, based on the work they're doing, for jobs that pay at least 50 percent more than the jobs they're in.

从所从事的工作来看，如今有3000万人拥有技能，他们的工资至少比他们所从事的工作要高出50%。

So, how to get those tens of millions of low-wage workers better opportunities?

那么，如何为这几千万的低薪工人提供更好的就业机会呢？

Government job training programs are one route, like Back to Work Rhode Island, where then-Governor Gina Raimondo used federal CARES Act money to fund training programs in areas where employers couldn't fill jobs.

政府工作培训项目是一条途径，比如罗德岛州的“重返工作岗位”项目，当时的州长吉娜·雷蒙多利用联邦《关爱法案》的资金，为无法填补职位空缺的行业的雇主提供培训项目资金。

We will tailor these training initiatives so that, when you hire someone, you have confidence they're going to be able to do the job.

我们将对这些培训计划进行调整，这样，当你雇用某人时，你就能保证他们能够胜任这项工作。

Some 4,000 Rhode Islanders have already graduated into new higher-paying jobs. But, in general, says Professor Doug Besharov, government isn't the ideal overseer.

大约有4000名罗德岛居民已经毕业，进入了新的高薪工作岗位。但是，道格·贝沙洛夫教授说，总的来说，政府并不是理想的监督者。

It doesn't learn fast enough. It fights the last war. And change is happening more rapidly as we speak. And it will continue to happen. And I think government will be left behind.

政府跟不上变化的节奏，它在打最后一场仗。就在我们说话的时候，变化正在以更快的速度发生，而且这种情况还会继续，我觉得政府会落在后面。

There's a huge body of research on government job training. And, overall, I would say the results are unfortunately disappointing.

有大量关于政府工作培训的研究。总的来说，我想说的是，结果令人失望。

Economist Ariella Spitzer studies job training.

经济学家阿丽拉·史皮泽负责研究职业培训。

The good ones, we're seeing at most 5 to 10 percent earnings increase.

好的职业培训，我们能看到最多5%到10%的工资增长幅度。