小企业主创造就业机会有限

 　　小企业主创造就业机会有限

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Often when politicians talk about job creation, they talk about small businesses.

　　(SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED RECORDING)

　　PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: Small businesses produce most of the new jobs in this country. They are the anchors of our Main Streets.

　　INSKEEP: That was President Barack Obama speaking in 2010, but it could have been any number of politicians, Democratic or Republican, any time in the last decade. What they're saying feels right but obscures a surprising reality. Researchers have found only a very small subset of those businesses truly are the engines of job creation.

　　NPR's Tamara Keith explains.

　　TAMARA KEITH, BYLINE¹: It makes a nice slogan, but John Haltiwanger says it's not really accurate to say that small businesses produce most of the nation's new jobs.

　　JOHN HALTIWANGER: I'm kind of tired of people saying that.

　　KEITH: Haltiwanger is a professor of Economics at the University of Maryland who studies job creation.

　　HALTIWANGER: To be fair, there is an element of truth to it. And I think the element of truth is quite different than I think what often people have in mind when they hear or actually make that statement.

　　KEITH: What most people imagine are your mom and pop business - the dry cleaner or the coffee shop. But Erik Hurst, an economist² at the Chicago Booth School of Business, says that's not where you'll find the job creation. He points to his neighborhood coffee shop.

　　ERIK HURST: The coffee shop has had, like, probably six, seven employees the whole time it's been there. It's a great coffee, provides a service. When you ask them what they want to do, they say they want to be a coffee shop. When you say do you want to grow big, they say no. Do you want to innovate³? They say no, I want to serve coffee.

　　KEITH: As a result, based on surveys and jobs data, he says...

　　HURST: Most small businesses don't grow and don't innovate in any real way.

　　KEITH: But Hurst says some do and they are responsible for most of the job creation.

　　HURST: A handful of those will start small and grow into being something rather big. But those are, you know, a fraction of all the small businesses that start.

　　KEITH: Economists⁴ say it's all about new firms, startups. Not all of them, though. Most startups will actually fail. The second most likely outcome is that they'll start small and stay small. Just a tiny fraction start small and then grow fast, creating an outsized share of new jobs. One such company is Sweetgreen, which dishes out fast, fresh organic salads in compostable bowls at 20 locations on the East Coast.

　　PEDRO CERON: Can I start with your salad?

　　UNIDENTIFIED MAN: Yeah. Can I get a chicken masala(ph).

　　CERON: Masala(ph)? Ma'am?

　　UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Can I get a Kale Caesar, please?

　　CERON: For here or to go?

　　KEITH: Pedro Ceron manages the restaurant near Capitol Hill.

　　CERON: Head coach, that's what they call it. Not a manager.

　　KEITH: He's worked for the company for a little more than a year and is one of about 570 people now employed by Sweetgreen. Six years ago it was just a little shack⁵ of a shop in D.C.'s Georgetown neighborhood, says co-founder⁶ Nicholas Jammet.

　　NICHOLAS JAMMET: It was 560 square feet and most people told us that you couldn't open a restaurant in that space or that size. But you know, we were college seniors and we wanted to do it so we did it.

　　KEITH: At first, there were only about 10 employees. And Jammet says the founders⁷ worked all day, every day to make it a success.

　　JAMMET: Washing dishes, ringing up - you know, ringing up salads, making salads, and you know, in the early days we were elbow deep in salad.

　　KEITH: Two years later they opened their second and third stores, in larger spaces, hiring more employees. They brought on an executive team and more locations followed. Another founder, Nathaniel Ru, says that was always the plan.

　　NATHANIEL RU: For us, we really approached the business not as a restaurant business but more as a startup. You know, we wanted to create a company and a bigger business, not just a restaurant.

　　KEITH: Researchers say there are fast-growing businesses like this one in just about every segment you can imagine - from hair cutting to high tech. But the University of Maryland's John Haltiwanger says government programs often aren't aimed at these companies.

　　HALTIWANGER: Targeting small businesses overall is probably mis-targeting.

　　KEITH: He points to the Small Business Administration loan program, which he says helps firms based on their size rather than their age.

　　HALTIWANGER: Their loan programs, I would say, would be better targeted towards young businesses than small businesses per se.

　　KEITH: Last year, the federal government backed $30 billion in loans to small businesses, and based on past years, it's safe to say the overwhelming majority of those loans went to existing businesses rather than startups. A few years ago, after it was already established, one of the businesses that benefitted from that program was Sweetgreen.

　　Tamara Keith, NPR News, Washington.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 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。

3 innovate   

v.革新，变革，创始

参考例句：

• We must innovate in order to make progress.我们必须改革以便取得进步。
• It is necessary to innovate and develop military theories.创新和发展军事理论是必要的。

4 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》

5 shack   

adj.简陋的小屋，窝棚

参考例句：

• He had to sit down five times before he reached his shack.在走到他的茅棚以前，他不得不坐在地上歇了五次。
• The boys made a shack out of the old boards in the backyard.男孩们在后院用旧木板盖起一间小木屋。

6 Founder   

n.创始者，缔造者

参考例句：

• He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
• According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说，罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。

7 founders   

n.创始人( founder的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• He was one of the founders of the university's medical faculty. 他是该大学医学院的创建人之一。 来自辞典例句
• The founders of our religion made this a cornerstone of morality. 我们宗教的创始人把这看作是道德的基石。 来自辞典例句