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336期|对制造业工作的怀念是错误的

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From factories to frappes: Nostalgia for manufacturing jobs is misplaced.

从工厂到饮品店:对制造业工作的怀念是错误的。

If there is one thing politicians agree on these days, it is that manufacturing jobs are "good" jobs.

如果说如今的政客们在一件事情上能达成共识,那就是制造业的工作是“好”工作。

Joe Biden is betting that huge subsidies for new factories will transform the outlook for America's workers.

乔·拜登打赌,对新工厂的巨额补贴将改变美国工人的前景。

Donald Trump is just as eager to get more wrenches into the hands of American workers, mostly by slapping tariffs on foreign goods.

唐纳德·特朗普同样渴望让更多的扳手拿在美国工人手中,他的办法主要是对外国商品征收关税。

Politicians across the rich world believe that reversing the decades-long decline in manufacturing employment would leave workers better off.

富裕国家的政客们认为,扭转制造业就业长达数十年的颓势会让工人的生活变得更好。

Your guest Bartleby is not convinced. He has, admittedly, never worked in a factory, and thus feels no nostalgia for hard hats and high-vis vests.

笔者并不相信。笔者确实从未在工厂工作过,因此对安全帽和反光背心也没有什么怀旧之情。

Still, the idea that deindustrialisation has made work worse is hard to square with the fact that data on worker satisfaction have been steadily improving for years.

尽管如此,“去工业化使工作变得更糟”的观点很难与“工作者满意度数据多年来稳步提高”的事实相符。

The argument that manufacturing jobs are better than other sorts has a long pedigree.

制造业的工作比其他工作更好,这种论点由来已久。

Adam Smith believed that manufacturing was "productive", unlike services such as banking, retail or hospitality.

亚当·斯密认为制造业是“生产性的”,与银行、零售或酒店餐饮业等服务业不同。

The factories of the Industrial Revolution transformed living standards in Europe and America in the 19th century. Yet they were also awful places for workers, managing to be both horribly dangerous and tremendously boring.

工业革命时期的工厂在19世纪改变了欧洲和美国的生活水平。但对于工人来说,工厂也是可怕的地方,既非常危险,又极其无聊。

Workers in Henry Ford's carmaking plants, though relatively well paid, complained that work was stultifying.

亨利·福特汽车厂的工人虽然工资相对较高,但也抱怨工作枯燥乏味。

Manufacturing enthusiasts will no doubt counter that jobs in the sector are much better today.

支持制造业的人无疑会反驳说,该行业的工作如今要好很多。

Workplace accidents occur a fraction as often as they once did. Most factories are air-conditioned. Robots do many of the heaviest and most repetitive tasks. And around a third of those who work in manufacturing never go near a rivet, performing white-collar roles such as design and engineering.

工作场所发生事故的频率比以前低了很多。大多数工厂都装有空调。机器人承担了许多最繁重和最重复的任务。而且大约三分之一的制造业工作者从未接近过铆钉,他们做的是设计和工程等脑力工作。

All that may be so, but compare workers of a similar education level and there is little evidence they would gain by moving from services to manufacturing.

或许情况确实如此,但是把教育水平相近的工人进行比较,就可以发现并没有多少证据表明他们从服务业转向制造业会得到好处。

One paper by statisticians at America's Bureau of Labour Statistics found that, across a variety of measures including pay, benefits, job security and safety, "many industries within services equal or exceed manufacturing."

美国劳工统计局的统计学家发表的一篇论文发现,在包括薪酬、福利、工作稳定性和安全在内的各种指标中,“服务业中的许多行业等于或超过了制造业”。

This Bartleby's analysis of British data similarly shows that job quality in the manufacturing sector is no better than average.

笔者对英国数据的分析同样表明,制造业的工作质量并不高于平均水平。

According to Mr Biden, "A job is about a lot more than a pay cheque. It's about your dignity. It's about respect." That is true. Yet dignity and respect should be available for workers wherever they are employed.

据拜登先生所说,“一份工作的意义远不止是薪水。还关乎你的尊严以及获得的尊重。”确实如此。但无论工人在哪里就业,都应该得到尊严和尊重。

If not, politicians should focus their attention on ensuring the right regulations are in place, instead of spending billions of dollars trying to recreate a past that was far less rosy than they imagine.

如果不是这样,政治家们应该把注意力集中在确保有适当的法规,而不是花费数十亿美元,试图重现一个远不如他们想象中那么美好的过去。

重点单词   查看全部解释    
boring ['bɔ:riŋ]

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adj. 令人厌烦的

 
security [si'kju:riti]

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n. 安全,防护措施,保证,抵押,债券,证券

 
repetitive [ri'petitiv]

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adj. 重复的

 
productive [prə'dʌktiv]

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adj. 能生产的,有生产价值的,多产的

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analysis [ə'næləsis]

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n. 分析,解析

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revolution [.revə'lu:ʃən]

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n. 革命,旋转,转数

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counter ['kauntə]

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n. 计算器,计算者,柜台
[计算机] 计数器

 
quality ['kwɔliti]

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n. 品质,特质,才能
adj. 高品质的

 
decline [di'klain]

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n. 衰微,跌落; 晚年
v. 降低,婉谢

 
rivet ['rivit]

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n. 铆钉 v. 铆接,固定,钉牢 v. 集中(目光、注

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