2020年经济学人 熊彼特企业管理专栏--疫情造成的欧美失业潮(3)（在线收听）

The use of furloughs represents a change from previous slumps, says Sandra Sucher of Harvard Business School. Common in Europe during the financial crisis of 2007-09, they were barely used in America. Since then, however, many American firms who laid off workers found subsequent rehiring so difficult that they are loth to suffer the ordeal again, she says.

哈佛商学院的桑德拉·苏凯尔说，休假的使用代表了从以前的萧条中产生的变化。在2007年至2009年的金融危机期间，它们在欧洲很常见，但在美国却很少使用。然而，从那时起，许多解雇工人的美国公司发现随后的重新招聘是如此困难，他们不愿意再遭受这样的折磨，她说。

Another difference with past recessions is the way American firms are encouraging inactive workers to switch jobs to fill temporary vacancies in other industries. Hilton, for instance, is helping its suspended workers to apply for jobs at e-commerce firms like Amazon. This may help keep the labour market relatively fluid at a time of severe stress. (Amid employee absences and increased orders, some workers at Amazon, for instance, are demanding better conditions.) It is also well-suited to the time horizons of the pandemic. As social-distancing measures recede, some of the disease- specific demand for labour will ebb, enabling workers to return to their old jobs.

与以往经济衰退的另一个不同之处在于，美国公司鼓励不活跃的工人换工作来填补其他行业的临时空缺。例如，希尔顿酒店正在帮助其被停职的员工申请亚马逊等电子商务公司的工作。这可能有助于在严重压力时期保持劳动力市场相对的流动性。（例如，在员工缺席和订单增加的情况下，亚马逊的一些员工要求改善工作条件。）它也非常适合疫情的时间范围。随着社会疏远措施的退步，一些针对特定疾病的劳动力需求将会下降，从而使工人能够重返原来的工作岗位。

From pulling pints to pulling up potatoes

从拉品脱到拔土豆

This is where Europe could learn something from America. Some industries have far too many workers, whereas others do not have enough. Airline employees are needed to work in hospitals, and rural bar staff could helpfully be dragooned into farmwork amid a shortage of migrant labour. But European countries’ schemes for subsidising the wages of furloughed workers often do not make it easy for them to take new jobs, even temporarily, and sometimes discourage it. As Giuseppe Moscarini of Yale University says, support for workers should not preclude labour mobility, even if it encourages them to maintain ties with their existing employers.

这是欧洲可以向美国学习的地方。一些行业有太多的工人，而另一些行业却没有足够的工人。航空公司需要员工在医院工作，而在农民工短缺的情况下，农村酒吧员工可能会被拉到农场工作。但是，欧洲国家为休假工人提供工资补贴的计划，即使是暂时的，往往也难以让他们轻松找到新工作，有时甚至会让他们灰心丧气。正如耶鲁大学的朱塞佩·莫斯卡瑞尼所言，对工人的支持不应对劳动力流动造成阻碍，即使支持鼓励工人与现有的雇主保持联系。

Both American and European labour policies have their pros and cons. In America rapid shake-outs in jobs markets help good firms grow and bad firms shrink, promoting dynamism. In Europe worker protections can reduce the devastating toll on employees and their families caused by slumps, but can slow the pace of recovery. American left-wingers believe that more European-style treatment of workers is long overdue—and will cheer examples of companies volunteering to furlough workers rather than fire them. But if America and Europe want to ensure that hospitals are staffed, deliveries are made and food is on the table, they must remember that flexibility, as well as some security, is essential.

美国和欧洲的劳工政策各有利弊。在美国，就业市场的快速震荡有助于好公司成长、坏公司萎缩，促进了活力。在欧洲，对工人的保护可以减少经济衰退对雇员及其家庭造成的毁灭性损失，但会减缓经济复苏的步伐。美国的左翼人士认为，更多欧洲式的工人待遇是早就该有的，他们会为那些自愿让工人暂时休假而不是解雇他们的公司喝彩。但是，如果美国和欧洲想要确保医院有足够的人手，确保分娩顺利进行、食物能够上桌，他们必须记住，灵活性以及一定程度的安全性是至关重要的。