Working

工作

better at the bottom

讓底層人民更好一點(diǎn)

MADISON AND MERRILLVILLE

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Life is improving for the lowest-paid

低收入者的生活正在改善

BRAND HOOPER quit his previous job at a grocery in Madison because his boss was “a little crazy”. The manager threatened to sack him and other cashiers for refusing orders to work longer than their agreed hours. Not long ago, Mr Hooper’s decision to walk out might have looked foolhardy. A long-haired navy veteran, he su?ers from recurrent ill-health, including insomnia. He has no education beyond high school. Early this decade he was jobless for a year and recalls how back then, there were “a thousand people applying for every McDonald’s job”.

布拉德·胡珀(Brad hooper)辭去了他在麥迪遜一家雜貨店的前一份工作，因?yàn)樗睦习濉坝悬c(diǎn)瘋狂”。經(jīng)理威脅說要解雇他和其他收銀員，因?yàn)樗麄兙芙^加班。不久前，胡珀先生決定辭職可能看起來有些魯莽。作為一名留著長(zhǎng)發(fā)的海軍老兵，他的健康狀況不斷惡化，其中包括失眠。他所接受的教育止步于高中。在本世紀(jì)初，他失業(yè)了一年，回憶起當(dāng)時(shí)，“每一個(gè)麥當(dāng)勞的職位都有1000人申請(qǐng)”。

詞匯

Sack/解雇；把……裝入袋；劫掠

Foolhardy/有勇無謀的；蠻干的

Veteran/老兵；老手

Recurrent/復(fù)發(fā)的；周期性的，經(jīng)常發(fā)生的

Insomnia/失眠癥，失眠

This time he struck lucky, ?nding much better work. Today he sells tobacco and cigarettes in a chain store for 32 hours a week. That leaves plenty of time for his passion, reading science ?ction. And after years of low earnings he collects $13.90 an hour, almost double the state’s minimum rate and better than the grocer’s pay. His new employer has already bumped up his wages twice in 18 months. “It’s pretty good,” he says with a grin. What’s really rare, he adds, is his annual week of paid holiday. The ?rm also o?ers help with health insurance.

這次他運(yùn)氣好，找到了更好的工作。今天他在一家連鎖店里每周賣32個(gè)小時(shí)的煙草和香煙。這就為他的愛好——閱讀科幻小說——留出了充足的時(shí)間。在多年的低收入之后，他每小時(shí)能掙13.90美元，幾乎是州最低工資的兩倍，比雜貨店老板的工資還高。他的新雇主已經(jīng)在18個(gè)月內(nèi)兩次提高了他的工資?！胺浅：茫彼χf。他補(bǔ)充說，真正罕見的是他每年一周的帶薪假期。該公司還提供醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)方面的幫助。

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His improving fortunes re?ect recent gains for many of America’s lowest-paid. Handwritten “help wanted” signs adorn windows of many cafés and shops in Madison. A few steps on from the cigarette shop is the city’s job centre, where a manager with little else to do points to a screen that tallies 98,678 un?lled vacancies across Wisconsin. In ?ve years, he says, he has never seen such demand for labour. He says some employers now recruit from a vocational training centre for the disabled. Others tour prisons, signing up inmates to work immediately on their release.

他的財(cái)富增長(zhǎng)反映了美國(guó)許多低收入人群最近的收入增長(zhǎng)。麥迪遜許多咖啡館和商店的窗戶上都掛著手寫的“招聘啟事”。離這家卷煙店幾步之遙就是該市的就業(yè)中心，在那里，一位沒什么事可做的經(jīng)理指著一個(gè)屏幕，上面顯示著威斯康星州98,678個(gè)空缺職位。他說，五年來，他從未見過對(duì)勞動(dòng)力的如此需求。他說，一些雇主現(xiàn)在從殘疾人職業(yè)培訓(xùn)中心招聘。還有一些人參觀監(jiān)獄，讓囚犯在獲釋后立即工作。

詞匯

Adorn/裝飾；使生色

Inmate/被收容者；居民

Unemployment in Wisconsin is below 3%, which is a record. Across America it was last this low, at 3.6%, half a century ago. A tight labour market has been pushing up median pay for some time. Fewer unauthorised immigrants arriving in America may contribute to the squeeze, though this is disputed. O?cial ?gures show average hourly earnings rising by 3.2% on an annual basis. “Right now, part time, it seems like everyone is hiring. Every American who wants a job right now can get a job,” says another shop worker in Merrillville, in northern Indiana.

威斯康辛州的失業(yè)率低于3%，創(chuàng)歷史新高。半個(gè)世紀(jì)前，美國(guó)的失業(yè)率是3.6%。一段時(shí)間以來，緊張的勞動(dòng)力市場(chǎng)一直在推高薪資中值。進(jìn)入美國(guó)的非法移民數(shù)量的減少可能會(huì)促進(jìn)傭金的增長(zhǎng)，盡管這是處于爭(zhēng)議之中。官方數(shù)據(jù)顯示，平均時(shí)薪同比增長(zhǎng)3.2%?！艾F(xiàn)在，兼職，似乎每個(gè)人都在招聘。現(xiàn)在每個(gè)想要工作的美國(guó)人都能找到工作。印第安納州北部梅里維爾的另一位店員說道。

詞匯

Squeeze/壓榨；緊握；擁擠；傭金

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In any economic upturn the last group of workers to prosper are typically the poorest earners, such as low-skilled shopsta?, food preparers, care-givers and temps. Their pay was walloped in the Great Recession a decade ago, and the recovery since has been unusually slow. Pay has leapt recently—with the lowest-paid enjoying faster gains than the better-o?.

在任何經(jīng)濟(jì)好轉(zhuǎn)時(shí)期，最后一批獲得成功的勞動(dòng)者通常都是最貧窮的勞動(dòng)者，比如低技能的店員、食品準(zhǔn)備員、看護(hù)員和臨時(shí)工。他們的工資在十年前的大衰退中遭受重創(chuàng)，自那以后的復(fù)蘇異常緩慢。最近工資上漲了——最低工資的人比較富裕的人增長(zhǎng)得更快。

詞匯

Wallop/猛擊，痛打；擊潰，擊敗

The bene?ts are not equally spread. In Wisconsin, as in much of the country, more jobs are being created in urban areas and in services. Laura Dresser, a labour economist, points to a “very big racial inequality among workers”. Wages have been rising fastest for African-Americans, but poorer blacks, especially those with felony convictions, are also likelier to have fallen out of the formal labour market, so are not counted in unemployment ?gures.

好處并不是平均分配的。在威斯康辛州，和全國(guó)大部分地區(qū)一樣，城市地區(qū)和服務(wù)業(yè)正在創(chuàng)造更多的就業(yè)機(jī)會(huì)。勞工經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家勞拉?德萊塞(Laura dresde)指出，“工人之間存在著非常大的種族不平等”。非洲裔美國(guó)人的工資增長(zhǎng)速度最快，但較貧窮的黑人，尤其是那些被判重罪的黑人，也更有可能退出正規(guī)勞動(dòng)力市場(chǎng)，因此不計(jì)入失業(yè)數(shù)據(jù)。

詞匯

Felony/重罪

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The wage recovery is not only about markets. Policy matters too. Some states, typically Republican-run, have been reluctant to lift minimum wages above the federal level of $7.25 an hour. In Merrillville, a worker in a petshop carries a Husky puppy to be inspected by a group of teenage girls. Sta? are paid “a dollar or two above the minimum wage”, says his manager. Despite his 13 years’ employment, and over 40 hours’ toil each week, his pay and bene?ts amount to little. He calls occasional bonuses a “carrot at the end of the road”.

工資復(fù)蘇不僅關(guān)乎市場(chǎng)。政策也很重要。一些州，特別是共和黨控制的州，一直不愿意將最低工資提高到每小時(shí)7.25美元的聯(lián)邦水平之上。在梅里維爾，一家寵物店的工作人員帶著一只哈士奇小狗去接受一群十幾歲的女孩的檢查。他的經(jīng)理說，員工的工資“比最低工資高出一兩美元”。盡管他工作了13年，每周工作40多個(gè)小時(shí)，他的工資和福利卻少之又少。他把偶爾的獎(jiǎng)金稱為“路盡頭的胡蘿卜”。

詞匯

Reluctant/不情愿的；勉強(qiáng)的；頑抗的

He could munch on bigger carrots in other states. Lawmakers in some states are more willing to lift minimum wages. Where they do, the incomes of the lowestpaid rise particularly fast. Thirteen states and the District of Columbia raised the minimum wage last year. (Some cities, like Chicago and New York, occasionally raise it too). Elise Gould of the Economic Policy Institute told Congress in March that, in states which put up minimum wages at least once in the ?ve years to 2018, incomes for the poorest rose by an average of 13%. In the remaining states, by contrast, the poorest got a rise of 8.6% over the same period.

他可以在其他州大嚼胡蘿卜。一些州的立法者更愿意提高最低工資。在他們這樣做的地方，收入最低的人的收入增長(zhǎng)尤其迅速。去年，13個(gè)州和哥倫比亞特區(qū)提高了最低工資標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。(一些城市，如芝加哥和紐約，偶爾也會(huì)提高標(biāo)準(zhǔn))。經(jīng)濟(jì)政策研究所的Elise Gould在三月份告訴國(guó)會(huì)，在截止到2018年的五年內(nèi)至少一次提高最低工資的州，最貧困人口的收入平均增長(zhǎng)了13%。相比之下，在剩下的幾個(gè)州，最貧窮的人口薪酬同期增長(zhǎng)了8.6%。

詞匯

Munch/用力咀嚼；大聲咀嚼

In neither case, however, do the increases amount to much better long-term prospects for the worst-o?. By last year, the poorest 10% were still earning only a miserly 4.1% more per hour than they did (in real wages) 40 years ago. Median hourly pay for America’s workers was up a little more, by 14%.

然而，在這兩種情況下，對(duì)最貧窮的人來說，增長(zhǎng)都沒有帶來更好的長(zhǎng)期前景。到去年，最窮的10%的人每小時(shí)的收入僅比40年前(實(shí)際工資)高出屈指可數(shù)的4.1%。美國(guó)工人的時(shí)薪中位數(shù)漲幅略高，達(dá)到14%。

詞匯

The worst-o?/最貧窮的人

Miserly/吝嗇的；貪婪的

One study in Wisconsin suggests that caretakers, for example, took home over $12 an hour by last year, so were only just getting back to their (real) average earnings achieved in 2010. Expansion at the bottom of the labour market “is ?nally pulling some wages up. But it’s certainly been much slower in this boom than any other,” argues Tim Smeeding, a poverty expert at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison. He describes “capital winning over labour” for several decades, and expects the trend to continue, given weak unions, more automation and other trends.

例如，威斯康辛州的一項(xiàng)研究表明，到去年為止，看護(hù)人每小時(shí)的收入超過12美元，所以他們剛剛回到2010年的(實(shí)際)平均收入。勞動(dòng)力市場(chǎng)底部的擴(kuò)張“終于在一定程度上推高了工資水平。但在這次繁榮中，它肯定比以往任何一次都要慢得多，”麥迪遜市威斯康辛大學(xué)(University of Wisconsin)貧困問題專家蒂姆?斯米丁(Tim Smeeding)表示。他描述了幾十年來“資本戰(zhàn)勝勞動(dòng)力”的情況，并預(yù)計(jì)鑒于工會(huì)疲弱、自動(dòng)化程度提高和其他趨勢(shì)，這一趨勢(shì)將繼續(xù)下去。

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The poorest get some hard-to-measure bene?ts in addition to higher hourly pay. Mr Hooper is not alone in daring to walk away from an exploitative boss. More of the low-paid get a bit more say on how and when they toil. Many crave a reduction in the income volatility that a?icts them, since sudden swings in earnings are associated with poor mental health, high stress and worry over losing access to ?nancial assistance or food stamps.

除了更高的時(shí)薪，最窮的人還能獲得一些難以衡量的福利。霍珀并不是唯一敢于離開剝削型老板的人。更多的低收入者在如何以及何時(shí)工作上獲得了更多的發(fā)言權(quán)。許多人渴望減少困擾他們的收入波動(dòng)，因?yàn)槭杖氲耐蝗徊▌?dòng)與脆弱的心理、壓力過大以及擔(dān)心無法獲得財(cái)政援助或食品券有關(guān)。

詞匯

Exploitative/剝削的；利用的；開發(fā)資源的

Toil/辛苦工作；艱難地行進(jìn)

Crave/渴望；懇求

Reduction/減少；下降；縮?。贿€原反應(yīng)

Volatility/揮發(fā)性；易變；活潑

One study of 7,000 households, by Pew, found in 2015 that 92% of them would opt for lower average incomes, if earnings were predictable. Follow-up research late last year suggested the same trends are still present. Low- and middle-income households remain anxious about volatile earnings. Most have almost no savings. Many would struggle with a ?nancial shock of just a few hundred dollars.

皮尤研究中心2015年對(duì)7000戶家庭進(jìn)行的一項(xiàng)研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，如果收入可以預(yù)測(cè)，92%的家庭會(huì)選擇較低的平均收入。去年年底的后續(xù)研究表明，同樣的趨勢(shì)仍然存在。低收入和中等收入家庭仍然對(duì)不穩(wěn)定的收入感到焦慮。大多數(shù)人幾乎沒有儲(chǔ)蓄。許多人將在僅有幾百美元的金融沖擊中掙扎。

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Lots of jobs that are being created are in or near ?ourishing cities like Madison, where low-paid workers are squeezed by high housing costs. Pew has estimated that 38% of all tenant households spend at least 30% of their income on rent. Living in more a?ordable places, such as Janesville, an hour south of Madison, may be an option for the lower-paid. But that means commuting to the city, or taking local jobs with less pay and fewer bene?ts. Few workers earning less than $12 an hour get health insurance from their employer, whereas most do so above that threshold.

許多正在創(chuàng)造的就業(yè)機(jī)會(huì)都在麥迪遜等繁榮的城市或附近，那里的低收入工人受到高房?jī)r(jià)的擠壓。皮尤研究中心估計(jì)，38%的租戶家庭將至少30%的收入花在房租上。住在更經(jīng)濟(jì)實(shí)惠的地方，比如麥迪遜以南一小時(shí)車程的Janesville，可能是低收入者的一個(gè)選擇。但這意味著要往返于城市之間，或者接受薪水和福利更少的當(dāng)?shù)毓ぷ?。每小時(shí)收入低于12美元的工人很少能從雇主那里得到醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)，而大多數(shù)人的醫(yī)療保險(xiǎn)都超過了這個(gè)門檻。

詞匯

Tenant/承租人；房客；佃戶；居住者

Katherine Cramer, who studies the long-standing causes of simmering anger among poorer, rural Americans, says “resentment is worse than before”, despite the recent better wages. Rural folk complain that “it’s been like this for decades”, she says. A year or two catching up has not yet been enough to change their minds.

凱瑟琳?克萊默(Katherine Cramer)研究了長(zhǎng)期以來導(dǎo)致美國(guó)貧困農(nóng)村居民怒火不斷發(fā)酵的原因。她說，“這些貧困居民（對(duì)收入差距，問題）的憤恨比以前還要糟糕”，盡快這些年來，薪資在逐漸上漲。農(nóng)村居民抱怨“這種情況已經(jīng)持續(xù)了幾十年”。工資一年或兩年的迎頭趕上還不足以改變他們的想法。

詞匯

Simmer/燉；內(nèi)心充滿；即將爆發(fā)

Resentment/憤恨，怨恨

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