美国国家公共电台 NPR--Why worker productivity has fallen in the U.S.

Why worker productivity has fallen in the U.S.

Transcript¹

Productivity is probably the most important economic indicator² for the health of an economy, and in the U.S. it's falling. (Story aired on All Things Considered on Oct. 5, 2022.)

BUSINESS

Why worker productivity has fallen in the U.S.

LEILA FADEL, HOST:

The relationship between workers and employers has been the subject of much debate. Now it's starting to show up in productivity data. NPR's Stacey Vanek Smith on what it means for the health of the economy.

STACEY VANEK SMITH, BYLINE³: Brian Bowser (ph) is 22. He just graduated from the University of Louisville, but he has been working for years, most recently at a rental⁴ car company.

BRIAN BOWSER: I really liked that it paid pretty well when I was making, like, $25 an hour.

VANEK SMITH: Brian started at the agency last year, and he needed the work. He'd been laid off from a previous job at the start of the pandemic, and he had bills and tuition. Brian worked hard, got along with everybody. But one day in the middle of art history, he got this text from his boss.

BOWSER: And they're like, hey, the pay is going down to, I think it was like 13.50 an hour.

VANEK SMITH: Brian's pay was basically getting cut in half. He immediately started texting his co-workers. They'd all gotten the same note.

BOWSER: What the heck, you know? Two minutes ago, I had a nice, secure job, and everything was all right.

VANEK SMITH: There was no explanation. And this was at a moment when companies were all desperate for workers and raising wages everywhere. Brian was shocked, but also not that shocked. Brian's short time in the workforce⁵ had taught him that this is just how it goes with companies.

JULIA POLLAK: The connection between effort and reward got broken during the pandemic.

VANEK SMITH: Julia Pollak is a labor⁶ economist⁷ at ZipRecruiter. She points out that at the start of the pandemic, companies laid off nearly 20 million people in a matter of weeks.

POLLAK: Many people have responded to that experience by saying, I'm never going to care as much about a job again because they don't care about me, and they'll just drop me if the economic winds change.

VANEK SMITH: Yeah. Companies will just work you till you drop and then drop you when they want. Working your heart out for them is a fool's game. Pollak thinks these kinds of ideas have created a sort of economic ennui⁸ among workers, an ennui that is starting to show up in the numbers. Not that economists⁹ are measuring ennui, but they are measuring something called productivity. Productivity essentially¹⁰ measures how much stuff companies produce for each hour we work. And this year, that number has seen the biggest drop on record.

(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK VIDEO)

AARON KNIGHTLEY: Be the last one in and the first one out and do as little as you can for maximum pay.

VANEK SMITH: This is a TikTok from business and finance blogger Aaron Knightley. It has been watched by 17 million people.

(SOUNDBITE OF TIKTOK VIDEO)

KNIGHTLEY: So the fact is, no matter how much people say, but I'm really passionate¹¹, and I love my job, believe me, the CEO is not bothered by you. You are a number.

VANEK SMITH: Economist Julia Pollak says a lot of things are probably contributing to the drop in productivity. But she thinks burnout, frustration¹² and ennui are part of it. And if this drop continues, the consequences could be bad. Productivity is the fuel of our economy. If it declines, the economy shrinks. Quality of life goes down. Opportunities dry up. Innovation and ideas go elsewhere. It is a bad cycle. And, Pollak says, ennui is a hard thing to turn around.

POLLAK: Once you've had that sort of Ecclesiastes moment of thinking that everything's futile¹³ and pointless...

VANEK SMITH: She just went biblical.

Ecclesiastes is the book in the Old Testament¹⁴ that begins, meaningless, meaningless; everything is meaningless.

That is not what you want the guy who's, like, administering your medication to feel (laughter).

POLLAK: Exactly.

VANEK SMITH: But Brian Bowser, as he was reflecting on all the time and energy he'd put in at the rental agency - driving cars to the car wash, bringing them back, renting them out - says it did feel meaningless.

BOWSER: The job was, basically, drive for six hours a day in a circle. And at the end of it, you just got nowhere.

VANEK SMITH: To Brian, it felt like a metaphor¹⁵ for the workplace. So Brian opted¹⁶ out. He got his real estate license¹⁷ and is going to work for himself.

Stacey Vanek Smith, NPR News.

1 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

2 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

3 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。

4 rental   

n.租赁，出租，出租业

参考例句：

• The yearly rental of her house is 2400 yuan.她这房子年租金是2400元。
• We can organise car rental from Chicago O'Hare Airport.我们可以安排提供从芝加哥奥黑尔机场出发的租车服务。

5 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

6 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

7 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。

8 ennui   

n.怠倦，无聊

参考例句：

• Since losing his job,he has often experienced a profound sense of ennui.他自从失业以来，常觉百无聊赖。
• Took up a hobby to relieve the ennui of retirement.养成一种嗜好以消除退休后的无聊。

9 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》

10 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

11 passionate   

adj.热情的，热烈的，激昂的，易动情的，易怒的，性情暴躁的

参考例句：

• He is said to be the most passionate man.据说他是最有激情的人。
• He is very passionate about the project.他对那个项目非常热心。

12 frustration   

n.挫折，失败，失效，落空

参考例句：

• He had to fight back tears of frustration.他不得不强忍住失意的泪水。
• He beat his hands on the steering wheel in frustration.他沮丧地用手打了几下方向盘。

13 futile   

adj.无效的，无用的，无希望的

参考例句：

• They were killed,to the last man,in a futile attack.因为进攻失败，他们全部被杀，无一幸免。
• Their efforts to revive him were futile.他们对他抢救无效。

14 testament   

n.遗嘱；证明

参考例句：

• This is his last will and testament.这是他的遗愿和遗嘱。
• It is a testament to the power of political mythology.这说明，编造政治神话可以产生多大的威力。

15 metaphor   

n.隐喻，暗喻

参考例句：

• Using metaphor,we say that computers have senses and a memory.打个比方，我们可以说计算机有感觉和记忆力。
• In poetry the rose is often a metaphor for love.玫瑰在诗中通常作为爱的象征。

16 opted   

v.选择，挑选( opt的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was co-opted onto the board. 她获增选为董事会成员。
• After graduating she opted for a career in music. 毕业后她选择了从事音乐工作。

17 license   

n.执照，许可证，特许；v.许可，特许

参考例句：

• The foreign guest has a license on the person.这个外国客人随身携带执照。
• The driver was arrested for having false license plates on his car.司机由于使用假车牌而被捕。