2020年经济学人 熊彼特企业管理专栏--疫情造成的欧美失业潮(1)

Business

来源于《商业》版块

Schumpeter

熊彼特企业管理专栏

You’re furloughed!

你被停职了！

Should American job-cullers become more European during the current crisis?

在当前的经济危机中，美国的裁员应该更加欧洲化吗？

In mid-February Hilton, a hotelier, and its employees had something to celebrate. For the second year running the company came top in Fortune magazine’s list of best American companies to work for. The perks² provided to its 62,000 direct employees in America included extended parental³ leave, Under Armour-branded uniforms and facilities to let travelling staff ship breast milk home. A mere⁴ six weeks later, on March 26th, tens of thousands of those pampered⁵ employees were given notice that they would be thrown out of work because of the covid-19 pandemic. That was the day weekly jobless claims in America spiked⁶ by 1,000% to 3.3m.

2月中旬，酒店老板希尔顿和其员工举行了庆祝活动。该公司连续第二年荣登《财富》杂志“美国最佳雇主”排行榜榜首。该公司为其在美国的62,000名直接员工提供的福利包括延长育婴假、军服品牌的制服以及让出差员工能将母乳带回家的设施。仅仅6个星期后，3月26日，成千上万优待惯了的员工接到通知，他们将因covid-19传染病而失业。这是美国每周申请失业救济人数上升1000%达到330万的那一天。

The stratospheric surge of Americans seeking unemployment benefits contrasts with the situation in western Europe. Companies there are struggling just as hard but many are keeping workers on the books at reduced pay. That is a familiar story. In times of economic upheaval⁷, European firms rely extensively on schemes in which the government picks up part of the wage bill, such as Germany’s Kurzarbeit, France’s ch?mage partiel and Italy’s cassa integrazione. Traditionally, America has shunned⁸ such feather-bedding. From frontier days its labour laws have given employers leave to cull¹ jobs almost at will. Not for nothing did the country elect a president whose catchphrase was “You’re fired!”

寻求失业救济人数激增的美国人与西欧的情况形成了鲜明对比。那里的公司也举步维艰，但许多公司仍在削减工资。这是一个熟悉的故事。在经济动荡时期，欧洲企业广泛依赖政府支付部分工资的方案，如德国的Kurzarbeit、法国的chomage partiel和意大利的cassa integrazione。传统上，美国一直避免使用这种“限产超雇法”。从拓荒时期开始，其劳动法就允许雇主随意裁员。这个国家选出了一位口头禅是“你被解雇了!”的总统，这不是没有原因的。

1 cull   

v.拣选；剔除；n.拣出的东西；剔除

参考例句：

• It is usually good practice to cull the poorest prior to field planting.通常在实践上的好方法是在出圃栽植前挑出最弱的苗木。
• Laura was passing around photographs she'd culled from the albums at home.劳拉正在分发她从家里相册中挑选出的相片。

2 perks   

额外津贴，附带福利，外快( perk的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• Perks offered by the firm include a car and free health insurance. 公司给予的额外待遇包括一辆汽车和免费健康保险。
• Are there any perks that go with your job? 你的工作有什么津贴吗？

3 parental   

adj.父母的；父的；母的

参考例句：

• He encourages parental involvement in the running of school.他鼓励学生家长参与学校的管理。
• Children always revolt against parental disciplines.孩子们总是反抗父母的管束。

4 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。

5 pampered   

adj.饮食过量的，饮食奢侈的v.纵容，宠，娇养( pamper的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The lazy scum deserve worse. What if they ain't fed up and pampered? 他们吃不饱，他们的要求满足不了，这又有什么关系？ 来自飘（部分）
• She petted and pampered him and would let no one discipline him but she, herself. 她爱他，娇养他，而且除了她自己以外，她不允许任何人管教他。 来自辞典例句

6 spiked   

adj.有穗的；成锥形的；有尖顶的

参考例句：

• The editor spiked the story. 编辑删去了这篇报道。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• They wondered whether their drinks had been spiked. 他们有些疑惑自己的饮料里是否被偷偷搀了烈性酒。 来自辞典例句

7 upheaval   

n.胀起，(地壳)的隆起；剧变，动乱

参考例句：

• It was faced with the greatest social upheaval since World War Ⅱ.它面临第二次世界大战以来最大的社会动乱。
• The country has been thrown into an upheaval.这个国家已经陷入动乱之中。

8 shunned   

v.避开，回避，避免( shun的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• She was shunned by her family when she remarried. 她再婚后家里人都躲着她。
• He was a shy man who shunned all publicity. 他是个怕羞的人，总是避开一切引人注目的活动。 来自《简明英汉词典》