原文標題：
Employment
Not child’s play
The chancellor hopes more child care will get more parents working
就業(yè)
絕非兒戲
大臣希望提供更多的托兒服務來促進家長就業(yè)

But will nurseries provide the places?

但是，托兒所是否能提供足夠的服務呢？

[Paragraph 1]
SPACE IS TIGHT in Lisa Evans’s office, but there’s enough for the important stuff.
莉薩·埃文斯的辦公室空間有限，但足以放置重要物品。

Bags of chocolate eggs are perched on a cardboard box, ready for daily hunts in the run-up to Easter.
一些裝有巧克力蛋的袋子平放在紙箱上，準備在復活節(jié)的日常搜尋活動中使用。

At Abacus Nursery and Childcare in New Romney, a pebble’s throw from the Kent coast, the rooms where children play and learn are light and airy.
在新羅姆尼，“算盤托管中心”距離肯特郡海岸僅一步之遙，那里的孩子們在寬敞明亮的教室里嬉戲和學習。

But the register is as full as the manager’s cubbyhole. Though Abacus can take 60 children at a time, during the day and in breakfast and after-school clubs, few slots are left for this coming September.
但報名人數(shù)已經滿了，就像經理辦公室的空間一樣有限。雖然“算盤托管中心”可以一次性容納60個兒童，并提供白天托管、早餐和課后俱樂部服務，但今年9月的名額已經所剩無幾了。

[Paragraph 2]
Even as Jeremy Hunt presented his budget on March 15th, parents were asking Abacus about more hours.
3月15日，杰里米·亨特提交了預算，與此同時，家長們也在詢問“算盤托管中心”是否能提供更多的托管時間。

The chancellor unveiled a big expansion of “free” (ie, government-funded) child care, hoping to coax more parents (especially mothers) back into work.
財政大臣宣布擴大“免費”（即政府資助）兒童保育計劃的規(guī)模，目的是吸引更多的家長（特別是母親）回歸職場。

The government will, in effect, be setting the price of around 80% of pre-school care, calculates the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS), a think-tank, up from just under half now.
智庫“財政研究所”（IFS）估算，政府實際上將支付約80%的學前護理價格，目前這個比例不到50%。
But whether nurseries and childminders—who look after small groups, usually in their own homes—can meet the surge is open to doubt.
然而，托兒所和托兒家庭（通常在自己家中照看幾個兒童）是否能夠滿足激增的需求，仍存在疑慮。

[Paragraph 3]
From September 2025 working parents will be entitled to 30 hours’ state-funded child care a week, for the equivalent of 38 weeks a year, once their child reaches just nine months of age.
從2025年9月開始，只要孩子滿9個月大，工作父母就有資格獲得每周30小時的國家資助兒童保育服務，相當于每年38周。

(Mr Hunt is starting by giving two-year-olds 15 funded hours from April 2024.) Currently only working parents of three- and four-year-olds are eligible for so much.
（從2024年4月開始，亨特將給2歲孩子的父母提供15小時的資助。）目前只有3-4歲孩子的工作父母有資格獲得如此多的資助。

All parents of three- and four-year-olds can have 15 paid-for hours, as can the most disadvantaged—roughly 40%—of those with two-year-olds.
所有3-4歲兒童的父母和最貧困的40%的2歲兒童家庭可以享受每周15小時的免費服務。

Parents pay for additional hours, and often for lunches and other extras.
父母仍需支付額外時長服務，以及午餐和其他額外費用。

[Paragraph 4]
The chancellor is also lifting the cap on help for those parents on universal credit, the main working-age benefit, who buy extra hours—from ￡646 ($780) for one child and ￡1,108 for two or more, where it has been stuck for years, to ￡951 and ￡1,630 respectively.
財政大臣還將提高家長普惠信用（一種社會福利）的額度上限。領取者可用普惠信用購買額外時長，但資助標準已經多年未變。現(xiàn)在分別將1個孩子資助646英鎊（780美元），2個及以上孩子資助1108英鎊，提高到951英鎊和1630英鎊。

They will also be able to claim in advance, rather than wait for weeks, which they can ill afford.
家長們還可以提前申請這筆錢，而不必等上幾周，因為等不起啊。

[Paragraph 5]
The Office for Budget Responsibility, a watchdog, estimates that of all Mr Hunt’s measures, the extension of 30-hour child care will provide the biggest boost to economic output.
預算責任辦公室是一個監(jiān)管機構，它估計亨特提出的所有措施中，擴大30小時兒童看護將對經濟產出提供最大的推動力。

It expects an extra 60,000 people to work an average of 16 hours a week by 2027-28, plus an equivalent effect from those already in jobs putting in more hours.
到2027-2028年，它預計將新增加6萬人就業(yè)，他們平均每周工作16個小時，加上已工作的人工作時間會更長，這將產生相應的效果。

Raising the universal-credit cap lifts employment by another 15,000.
提高普惠信用上限可以再增加1.5萬人就業(yè)。

[Paragraph 6]
That may be over-optimistic. It is hard to know how many parents of very young children will simply prefer to look after them. So is predicting whether there will be enough child-care places.
這可能有點過于樂觀。很難知道有多少父母愿意親自照顧他們的幼兒，也難以預測是否有足夠的托兒場所。

Although Ofsted, the education regulator, says the total number has been pretty constant in recent years, many childminders, especially, have shut up shop.
雖然教育監(jiān)管機構Ofsted表示近年來總數(shù)量基本穩(wěn)定，但是許多托兒所，特別是托兒家庭，已經停止營業(yè)了。

Providers say the hourly rate for “free” hours falls well short of their costs, as wages (around three-quarters of their expenses) and energy prices have risen.
托兒所稱，“免費”時段的每小時費用遠遠低于他們的成本，因為工資（約為他們開支的3/4）和能源價格已經上漲。

They make up the shortfall by charging more for additional hours: in New Romney, Ms Evans will raise prices after Easter. Extending free hours will reduce the scope for that kind of thing.
他們通過為額外時間收費來彌補這一缺口：在新羅姆尼，埃文斯將在復活節(jié)后提高托管價格。擴大免費時長將減少提價的可能性。

[Paragraph 7]
Mr Hunt is trying to woo childminders back, offering them a ￡600 bounty. He is also raising providers’ hourly rate for 2023-24 and 2024-25.
亨特正在努力吸引托兒家庭回歸，向他們提供600英鎊的獎勵，并提高了2023-24年和2024-25年托兒所的小時費率。

That, estimates Christine Farquharson of the IFS, covers expected rises in wages and other providers’ costs, but not the 13% cut in real funding since 2017-18 (after adjusting by a sector-specific price index).
然而，據(jù)IFS的Christine Farquharson估計，這只能覆蓋預期的工資上漲和其他成本的上漲，但不能彌補自2017-2018年以來實際資金下降13％（經過部門特定價格指數(shù)調整）的情況。

The government is also relaxing the minimum ratio of staff to children, though to some that means cutting corners as well as costs. “Fewer staff means less quality,” says Ms Evans.
政府還放寬了員工與兒童之間的最低比例，但對一些人來說，這意味著節(jié)省了成本，也犧牲了質量。埃文斯表示：“員工越少，質量就越低?！?br>
If the measures in the budget do not tempt more providers into the sector, Britain’s child-care squeeze may get even tighter.
如果預算措施不能吸引更多的從業(yè)者進入該領域，英國的兒童保育壓力可能會變得更大。

（恭喜讀完，本篇英語詞匯量689左右）
原文出自：2023年3月18日《The Economist》Britain版塊

精讀筆記來源于：自由英語之路

本文翻譯整理: Irene

本文編輯校對: Irene
僅供個人英語學習交流使用。

【補充資料】（來自于網(wǎng)絡）
為使更多的家庭回歸社會促進英國經濟發(fā)展，Jeremy Hunt將宣布一項為英格蘭的1歲和2歲兒童提供免費托兒服務的價值40億英鎊的計劃。根據(jù)《衛(wèi)報》的最初報道，該計劃將把目前只適用于3歲和4歲孩子的每周30小時的托兒服務范圍擴大到1歲和2歲孩子的父母。與此同時，英國的托兒行業(yè)將進行更廣泛的改革，包括向托兒機構提供補貼，以提高機構向家長提供免費托兒服務的能力，改變員工與孩子的比例，從原來的一名員工照顧4名兒童變?yōu)?名兒童。財政大臣改變了最初反對教育部兒童保育提案的立場，因為有預測顯示該提案將有助于促進經濟增長。

普惠信用Universal Credit是英國的一項社會福利計劃，旨在替代多種現(xiàn)有的社會福利計劃，例如失業(yè)救濟、住房救濟、殘疾人津貼等。該計劃于2013年啟動，旨在通過提供更簡單、更公平的福利計劃來改善英國的福利制度，并鼓勵更多的人進入就業(yè)市場。計劃的實施遇到了很多問題和爭議，但它仍然是英國社會福利制度中的一個關鍵組成部分。

【重點句子】（3?個）
But whether nurseries and childminders—who look after small groups, usually in their own homes—can meet the surge is open to doubt.
然而，托兒所和托兒家庭（通常在自己家中照看幾個兒童）是否能夠滿足激增的需求，仍存在疑慮。

All parents of three- and four-year-olds can have 15 paid-for hours, as can the most disadvantaged—roughly 40%—of those with two-year-olds.
所有3-4歲兒童的父母和最貧困的40%的2歲兒童家庭可以享受每周15小時的免費服務。

If the measures in the budget do not tempt more providers into the sector, Britain’s child-care squeeze may get even tighter.
如果預算措施不能吸引更多的從業(yè)者進入該領域，英國的兒童保育壓力可能會變得更大。