2019年经济学人 巴托比专栏: 英国熟练技工移民窘境 (1)

 

Britain's future relationship with Europe is still uncertain after the overwhelming defeat of Theresa May's deal in Parliament on January 15th.

英国与欧洲未来的关系仍是个未知数，此前1月15日，特雷莎·梅的脱欧协议在议会遭惨败。

The worry for many British employers is that further messy negotiations¹ and hostile political rhetoric² will make it ever harder to attract skilled European workers.

很多英国雇主担心更加混乱的谈判和敌对的政治高调将更加难以吸引技术娴熟的欧洲员工。

A sharp decline in the number coming is visible.

在不久的将来，这个数字的急剧下降是肉眼可见的。

Surveys of airport passengers show that net EU immigration in the 12 months to June 2018 added up to an estimated inflow of 74,000 people,

班机乘客调查表明到2018年6月为止的12个月内，净欧盟移民流入估计增至74,000人，

compared with 189,000 in the year before the June 2016 Brexit referendum.

而在2016年6月脱欧公投之前，该数字为189,000。

But those figures do not make any distinction between skilled and unskilled workers.

但是那些数字并没有对技术娴熟和缺乏技能的工人做出任何区分。

An alternative approach is to look at data compiled by LinkedIn, a website that is used by more than 590m workers worldwide,

一种可替代方法是观察领英网站编辑的数据，全世界有5.9亿工作者使用该网站，

mostly well-paid white-collar ones, to share contact details and employment histories. All LinkedIn users record their location when they join.

其中大部分都是高薪白领，他们在此分享联系方式以及工作经历。所有的领英用户在加入时都会标明他们的位置。

These data can be analysed to measure the attractiveness of the British labour market in two ways.

可以将这些数据进行分析，并用两种方法估量英国劳工市场的吸引力。

First, they can be used to see if members in other countries are searching for jobs in London (the most attractive British city for overseas workers).

首先，它们可以被用于观测其他国家的会员是否在搜索伦敦地区的工作（伦敦是最吸引海外员工的英国城市）。

The numbers show a clear, but not catastrophic, decline in Britain's appeal.

数字表明英国的吸引力出现了明显但并不惨淡的下降。

London at the start of 2016 was the target of 15% of job hunts by workers from other countries in the EU; the proportion has since fallen to 12.6%.

2016年年初，来自欧盟其他国家的15%的求职者以伦敦为目标，后来这个比例降到了12.6%。

Rival European cities, such as Amsterdam, Paris and Berlin, have all increased their share of job searches to compensate³ for London's decline.

欧洲竞争城市，如阿姆斯特丹、巴黎和柏林，均增加了他们的求职比例以弥补伦敦的下降。

But Europeans have not been discouraged altogether from moving across the Channel. London remains⁴ the most popular city for job searches.

但是欧洲人并没有因此打消跨越英吉利海峡的念头。伦敦仍是最受欢迎的求职城市。

Another way of looking at the numbers is to see how many LinkedIn members move to a new country (this relies on the workers updating their profiles).

观测数字的另一种方法是看有多少领英会员搬去一个新的国家（这要依靠员工们更新自己的资料）。

On this basis, there was a fairly sharp, 10% decline in the number of EU citizens shifting to Britain in 2017, followed by a rebound⁵ back to 2016 levels last year.

以此为基础，出现了一个骤变，2017年搬到英国的欧盟市民人数下降10%，去年刚回弹至2016年水平。

But the fall and rebound are not adjusted for the fact that LinkedIn membership has increased by over a quarter since 2016.

但是下降和回弹并没有考虑到自2016年起领英会员增加超过四分之一。

Britain has lost "market share" of skilled immigration, attracting 20.8% of intra-EU moves in 2018, down from 23.6% in 2016.

英国已经失去了熟练技工移民的“市场份额”，吸引欧盟内部求职者人数从2016年的23.6%降至2018年的20.8%。

1 negotiations   

协商( negotiation的名词复数 )； 谈判； 完成（难事）； 通过

参考例句：

• negotiations for a durable peace 为持久和平而进行的谈判
• Negotiations have failed to establish any middle ground. 谈判未能达成任何妥协。

2 rhetoric   

n.修辞学，浮夸之言语

参考例句：

• Do you know something about rhetoric?你懂点修辞学吗？
• Behind all the rhetoric,his relations with the army are dangerously poised.在冠冕堂皇的言辞背后，他和军队的关系岌岌可危。

3 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

4 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

5 rebound   

v.弹回；n.弹回，跳回

参考例句：

• The vibrations accompanying the rebound are the earth quake.伴随这种回弹的振动就是地震。
• Our evil example will rebound upon ourselves.我们的坏榜样会回到我们自己头上的。