经济学人349:公务员与财政紧缩 不曾变革的时代

　　Finance and economics
财经商业
Civil servants and austerity
公务员与财政紧缩
The times they aren't a-changin
不曾变革的时代
Civil-service payrolls² have held up surprisingly well
一直以来，公务员的薪酬都出奇地好
AFTER the party, the hangover.
盛宴之后，宿醉来临。
When debt-fuelled economic growth came to a crashing halt in the financial crisis of 2008, governments across much of the rich world sought to cut spending.
在2008年的经济危机中，由债务推动的经济增长模式彻底崩溃，随后许多富裕经济体政府则力图缩减开支。
One obvious target was the state's payroll¹.
而其中一个明显的着手点便是公务员薪酬支出。
Leviathan's minions³ are certainly costly⁴.
利维坦仆从们的耗费当然不菲。
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In the European Union public-sector wages and salaries take up about 10% of GDP.
在欧盟国家当中，公共部门的薪水支出大约占国民总收入的10%。
The Initiative for Policy Dialogue, based at Columbia University, reckons that since 2010 almost 100 governments have set out plans to cut their payrolls.
据哥伦比亚大学的政策对话倡议组织估计，自2010年以来，已有接近100个政府着手削减他们的公务员薪酬开支。
Some cuts may be savage⁵.
一些裁员计划或许能用残忍来形容。
The headcount in many British government departments may fall by as much as 40% by 2019 from current levels, says a recent report from the Institute for Fiscal⁶ Studies, a think-tank.
近期一篇来自英国政府智囊团财政研究院的报告表明，英国许多政府部门将于在2019年之前裁减目前总数40%的员工。
Relative to its 2012 level Italy plans to jettison⁷ 20% of public-administration managers by 2016.
而意大利政府则计划于2016年之前裁减相当于2012年总量20%的公务员。
However, aggregated⁸ data on public-sector headcounts offer some surprises.
然而，公共部门员工的统计数据却有些出人意料。
Whereas Britain's public-sector workforce⁹ has already contracted by 8% since 2007, in Germany and France the number has increased.
自2007年起英国政府公务员人数已缩减了8%，与此相反的是德国与法国方面却在增加。
More intriguing¹⁰ still is what has happened to compensation costs—the amount governments pay bureaucrats¹¹ in wages and salaries, but not pensions.
更耐人寻味的是官僚薪酬待遇变化情况，而不是津贴方面的问题。
Of the 30 countries in a Eurostat database, half are spending more after inflation on public employees than they were in 2007, even in cases where headcount has fallen.
据欧盟统计局的资料显示，有半数国家公务员薪酬开支与2007年的水平相比有所提升。
The euro zone as a whole spends only 1.7% less on government wages than it did six years ago.
其中部分国家甚至已经着手削减了其公务员规模。以欧元区国家作为整体来统计，其公务员薪酬开支仅比6年前减少了1.7%。
Belgium spends 10% more, Luxembourg 24%.
与此同时，比利时政府反而增加了10%，卢森堡增加了24%。
And since 2007, 21 countries, including Cyprus, Italy and France, have not cut the proportion of GDP that they devote to public servants' wages.
自2007年以来，有21个国家仍未削减公务员薪酬，这其中包括塞浦路斯、意大利和法国。
Finding explanations for dearer public payslips is tricky¹².
要为日益高昂的政府工资单找理由，不是一件容易的事情。
One reason might be wage drift—the automatic increases in salaries that can occur as civil servants are granted annual promotions¹³ in seniority, simply for having been in their jobs for another year.
其中一个原因或许可以总结为工资浮动—这一机制确保了公务员薪酬随着职位的逐年提升而增加，而职位的提升往往并不需要什么理由，仅仅在自己的岗位上又待了一年的公务员便可获得提升。
In 2012, for example, more than 600,000 staff from Britain's National Health Service received rises averaging 3.5%, despite a pay freeze.
例如，除了一次薪金冻结之外，英国国家医疗卫生服务系统超过60万名员工，在2012年得到了平均3.5%的薪金涨幅。
In 2010 Barack Obama also decided¹⁴ to freeze government pay, yet the median salary for federal employees climbed by over $3,000 during the following two years.
在2010年，美国总统奥巴马虽然同样地实施了薪金冻结，然而在其后的两年内，公务员薪酬中位数则突破了3000美元的大关。
Wage drift could outweigh¹⁵ the effect of reduced headcount, which is likely to be concentrated in the lower echelons¹⁶ of the civil service.
工资浮动机制的影响，可能远比裁减人员的作用更大，而这是由于政府的裁员计划主要面向低层公务员。
Another possibility, suggests Alberto Alesina of Harvard University, is that governments simply failed to implement¹⁷ planned spending cuts.
哈佛大学的艾尔波托?艾莱斯那表示还有另一种可能：简单地说，那就是政府没有去执行早已制定好的开支削减计划。
At the end of January Greece's highest administrative¹⁸ court ruled that pay reductions for the armed forces and emergency services were unconstitutional: the government now faces a heavy bill in back pay.
在一月底，希腊最高行政法院宣布，政府对军队以及应急服务部门的经费削减行为是违宪的：这意味着政府现在要面对的是堆积如山的欠薪账单。
Portugal's constitutional court also opposed the scrapping¹⁹ of Christmas bonuses for civil servants on similar grounds.
同样地，葡萄牙宪法法庭也反对其政府取消相关部门公务员圣诞节奖金的计划。
These data are worrisome.
以上种种数据令人十分不安。
The implicit²⁰ trade-off of austerity was pain now, prosperity later.
如今交由政府当局权衡的利弊是自己能否忍受开支削减的痛苦，以换取将来的经济繁荣。
Yet as growth in advanced economies picks up, many civil services seem no more streamlined than before.
但随着发达国家经济增长复苏，许多公共服务将愈发臃肿不堪。

1 payroll   

n.工资表，在职人员名单，工薪总额

参考例句：

• His yearly payroll is $1.2 million.他的年薪是120万美元。
• I can't wait to get my payroll check.我真等不及拿到我的工资单了。

2 payrolls   

n.（公司员工的）工资名单( payroll的名词复数 )；（公司的）工资总支出，工薪总额

参考例句：

• Indices of employment, payrolls, and production steadied in February 1931931年2月，就业、工资额和生产指数稳定。 来自辞典例句
• Wall Street responded to the payrolls figures with gusto. 华尔街对就业数据作出了积极的反应。 来自互联网

3 minions   

n.奴颜婢膝的仆从( minion的名词复数 )；走狗；宠儿；受人崇拜者

参考例句：

• She delegated the job to one of her minions. 她把这份工作委派给她的一个手下。 来自辞典例句
• I have been a slave to the vicious-those whom I served were his minions. 我当过那帮坏人的奴隶，我伺候的都是他的爪牙。 来自辞典例句

4 costly   

adj.昂贵的，价值高的，豪华的

参考例句：

• It must be very costly to keep up a house like this.维修这么一幢房子一定很昂贵。
• This dictionary is very useful,only it is a bit costly.这本词典很有用，左不过贵了些。

5 savage   

adj.野蛮的；凶恶的，残暴的；n.未开化的人

参考例句：

• The poor man received a savage beating from the thugs.那可怜的人遭到暴徒的痛打。
• He has a savage temper.他脾气粗暴。

6 fiscal   

adj.财政的，会计的，国库的，国库岁入的

参考例句：

• The increase of taxation is an important fiscal policy.增税是一项重要的财政政策。
• The government has two basic strategies of fiscal policy available.政府有两个可行的财政政策基本战略。

7 jettison   

n.投弃，投弃货物

参考例句：

• Sometimes you need to jettison unhealthy cargo.有时你必须抛弃不好的货物。
• We jettison an unworkable plan.我们放弃难实行的计划。

8 aggregated   

a.聚合的，合计的

参考例句：

• He aggregated her to a political party. 他吸收她参加一政党。
• The audiences aggregated a million people. 观众总数达100万人。

9 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。

10 intriguing   

adj.有趣的；迷人的v.搞阴谋诡计(intrigue的现在分词)；激起…的好奇心

参考例句：

• These discoveries raise intriguing questions. 这些发现带来了非常有趣的问题。
• It all sounds very intriguing. 这些听起来都很有趣。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 bureaucrats   

n.官僚( bureaucrat的名词复数 )；官僚主义；官僚主义者；官僚语言

参考例句：

• That is the fate of the bureaucrats, not the inspiration of statesmen. 那是官僚主义者的命运，而不是政治家的灵感。 来自辞典例句
• Big business and dozens of anonymous bureaucrats have as much power as Japan's top elected leaders. 大企业和许多不知名的官僚同日本选举出来的最高层领导者们的权力一样大。 来自辞典例句

12 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

13 promotions   

促进( promotion的名词复数 )； 提升； 推广； 宣传

参考例句：

• All services or promotions must have an appeal and wide application. 所有服务或促销工作都必须具有吸引力和广泛的适用性。
• He promptly directed the highest promotions and decorations for General MacArthur. 他授予麦克阿瑟将军以最高的官阶和勋奖。

14 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。

15 outweigh   

vt.比...更重，...更重要

参考例句：

• The merits of your plan outweigh the defects.你制定的计划其优点胜过缺点。
• One's merits outweigh one's short-comings.功大于过。

16 echelons   

n.（机构中的）等级，阶层( echelon的名词复数 )；（军舰、士兵、飞机等的）梯形编队

参考例句：

• Officers were drawn largely from the top echelons of society. 这些官员大都来自社会上层。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Except in the higher echelons, extensive classification has no place in the classification of vegetation. 除高阶类级之外，外延分类在植物分类中还是没有地位的。 来自辞典例句

17 implement   

n.(pl.)工具，器具；vt.实行，实施，执行

参考例句：

• Don't undertake a project unless you can implement it.不要承担一项计划，除非你能完成这项计划。
• The best implement for digging a garden is a spade.在花园里挖土的最好工具是铁锹。

18 administrative   

adj.行政的，管理的

参考例句：

• The administrative burden must be lifted from local government.必须解除地方政府的行政负担。
• He regarded all these administrative details as beneath his notice.他认为行政管理上的这些琐事都不值一顾。

19 scrapping   

刮，切除坯体余泥

参考例句：

• He was always scrapping at school. 他在学校总打架。
• These two dogs are always scrapping. 这两条狗总是打架。

20 implicit   

a.暗示的，含蓄的，不明晰的，绝对的

参考例句：

• A soldier must give implicit obedience to his officers. 士兵必须绝对服从他的长官。
• Her silence gave implicit consent. 她的沉默表示默许。