★英語聽力頻道為大家整理的英語聽力材料：是什么樣的因素導(dǎo)致了自我雇傭現(xiàn)象激增呢?。更多閱讀請(qǐng)查看本站英語聽力頻道。
Buttonwood 梧桐樹
On their own
自力更生
What explains the surge in self-employment?
是什么樣的因素導(dǎo)致了自我雇傭現(xiàn)象激增呢?
PERHAPS the future belongs to the self-employed. Steady jobs, after all, are hard to find. The idea that a young graduate should expect to work for 40 years with the same employer until retirement seems quaintly dated.
或許，未來就是自我雇傭者的天地。畢竟，穩(wěn)定的工作是很難找的。寄希望于一名年輕的畢業(yè)生只為一個(gè)雇主工作四十年直到退休，這樣的想法是真的過時(shí)了。
There has been a structural shift towards self-employment on both sides of the Atlantic as well as a cyclical one. In the fourth quarter of 2013, 90% of the new jobs created in Britain were classed as self-employment. Is the shift a sign of a thriving entrepreneurial spirit or an indicator of desperation? Are we talking Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook or Walter White and “Breaking Bad”?
在大西洋的東西兩岸，自我雇傭的情況均發(fā)生了結(jié)構(gòu)性的轉(zhuǎn)變，并且這種變化是周期性的。2013年的第四季度中，英國90%的新工作崗位是被歸為自我雇傭類。這樣的轉(zhuǎn)變到底意味著一次創(chuàng)業(yè)精神的繁榮成長，還是預(yù)示著社會(huì)絕望感的產(chǎn)生呢?我們現(xiàn)在所面臨的情況到底是馬克·扎克伯格與他的網(wǎng)絡(luò)帝國Facebook，還是沃爾特·懷特與“絕命毒師”呢?
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Answering the question is made harder by the limitations of the data, drawn as they are from a combination of surveys, tax records and registers of company creation. Some people may incorporate as a business in order to reduce their tax bill; others may fail to report their self-employment income as a way of avoiding taxes. Some may play dual roles, having a full-time job but earning money on the side. Still others may be working for their old employer as contractors, rather than for a salary.
基于數(shù)據(jù)的局限性，我們更加難以回答上述問題。前者通常是由問卷調(diào)查、繳稅記錄和公司注冊(cè)資料所構(gòu)成的。一些人或許只是為了減少應(yīng)交稅費(fèi)而聯(lián)合成立公司;另一些人或許沒有報(bào)告登記自己的自我雇傭業(yè)務(wù)收入以逃避稅負(fù)。部分人或許同時(shí)扮演著兩種角色，既是一位有全職工作的人，同時(shí)也在其他方面賺取外快。還有其他一些人正在為自己的老雇主做事，但并不是以雇員的形式，而是以合約承包商的身份來工作。
Desperation must play a part. A paper by Robert Fairlie of the University of California, Santa Cruz found a close link between the unemployment rate in a given American locality and the rate of new business startups. A survey by the Kauffman Foundation found that the rate of new-business creation in America declined last year, even as the economy turned up; as the report comments, there was “l(fā)ess pressure on individuals to start businesses out of necessity”.
絕望感肯定是其中一個(gè)原因。來自加州大學(xué)圣克魯茲分校的羅伯特·費(fèi)爾利的論文發(fā)現(xiàn)了在給定美國的地點(diǎn)關(guān)于失業(yè)率和新公司成立的比率的密切聯(lián)系。一份來自考夫曼基金會(huì)的調(diào)查結(jié)果顯示，就算在經(jīng)濟(jì)復(fù)蘇的環(huán)境下，去年美國新公司成立的比率出現(xiàn)下降的情況。正如報(bào)告里所評(píng)論的一樣，“人們不太會(huì)覺得有創(chuàng)業(yè)的必要性”。
Self-employment may be more socially acceptable than it used to be. Middle-class people can call themselves consultants or freelancers, rather than unemployed. The businesses they create are unlikely to be the growth engines of the future. In Britain, by far the fastest growth in recent years has been in businesses that are one-man bands.
目前自我雇傭要比從前更容易被社會(huì)所接納。中產(chǎn)階級(jí)的人們能夠稱自己為咨詢顧問或者自由工作者而不是失業(yè)者。這樣的事業(yè)不太可能成為未來經(jīng)濟(jì)增長的引擎。在英國，近幾年來增長最快的部門是在一人獨(dú)立公司。
The numbers also show self-employed Britons tend to be male, work longer hours than salaried employees and earn less. Indeed, the real wages of the self-employed fell faster than those in contractual employment between 2007 and 2012. This may help to explain why British productivity has grown only sluggishly in recent years. Setting up a new business involves a lot of time tracking down new clients or handling a host of issues that were previously dealt with by a company.
數(shù)字還顯示出自我雇傭的英國人大多為男性，工作的時(shí)間比全職工作的員工長而且賺得少。確實(shí)，2007年至2012年間，自我雇傭人的真實(shí)薪水要比合同制員工下降得更快。這或許能解釋為何英國近幾年的生產(chǎn)率只提高了一丁點(diǎn)。開創(chuàng)一個(gè)新的事業(yè)需要花費(fèi)大量的時(shí)間去構(gòu)建新的客戶網(wǎng)以及處理一堆事務(wù)，而這些事務(wù)本來是由公司去處理的。
The new self-employed are also older. British people aged 50 and above comprised five-sixths of the increase in the category between 2008 and 2012. And there has been a rise of 160,000 in the number of self-employed people aged 65 and over since 2007. Some of that may reflect the need to replace shortfalls in pension income.
此外，新晉自我雇傭的人們通常是年齡比較大的。英國50歲及以上的人在2008年至2012年間，構(gòu)成了六分之五新增的自我雇傭人口。與此同時(shí)，自2007年起有160000位年齡在65及以上的人進(jìn)入到自我雇傭的領(lǐng)域。上述的情況也許反映了退休金短缺所帶來的工作需求。
But these changes are not all negative. The rise of the service economy means it is easier for people aged 65 and over to find jobs that suit them; retirees are fitter than they would have been 40 years ago, when many had been through a long career in manual labour. Getting people to work for longer is the best way of dealing with the costs of an ageing population. In addition, a survey by the Royal Society of Arts suggests that the self-employed are happier than those in paid employment—independence counts for a lot, as does the feeling that one's work has meaning.
但這些轉(zhuǎn)變帶來的并不全是負(fù)面影響。服務(wù)業(yè)經(jīng)濟(jì)的增長意味著年齡在65及以上的人更容易找到一份適合的工作;當(dāng)退休人員已經(jīng)進(jìn)行了很長時(shí)間的體力勞動(dòng)工作，他們現(xiàn)在要比40年前更適合從事服務(wù)業(yè)工作。讓人們工作的時(shí)間延長，是應(yīng)對(duì)人口老齡化所帶來的社會(huì)福利成本問題的方法。除此之外，一份由皇家藝術(shù)學(xué)會(huì)所進(jìn)行的調(diào)查顯示，自我雇傭人員要比全職上班的人更加開心-獨(dú)立所帶來的影響是深遠(yuǎn)的，正如一個(gè)人認(rèn)為工作是有意義時(shí)所帶來的感受一樣。
In the long run, this rise in self-employment will raise some interesting macroeconomic and political questions. Does it mean, as Morgan Stanley suggests in a research note, that the labour market is not as robust as it appears; that many people have been forced into self-employment and will happily take a paid job if offered one? That would imply there is still plenty of slack in the labour market and monetary policy can stay looser for longer.
長遠(yuǎn)來看，在自我雇傭領(lǐng)域的增長會(huì)引起一些有趣的宏觀經(jīng)濟(jì)和政治問題。正如摩根士丹利的一份研究報(bào)告所提到的，上述的增長是否意味著勞動(dòng)力市場(chǎng)并不像其顯示出的一樣強(qiáng)健;如果被迫進(jìn)入自我雇傭境地的人們得到一份全職工作，是否會(huì)很開心地選擇后者呢?這些問題的肯定將會(huì)顯示出勞動(dòng)力市場(chǎng)依舊處于一個(gè)低迷時(shí)期，并且貨幣政策可以繼續(xù)在更長的時(shí)間里保持更為寬松的狀態(tài)。
But perhaps the structural trend means those paid jobs will not become available. If so, the economy may have created a vast reserve labour force, akin to the “spinsters” of early 19th-century Britain—single women who were paid piece rates for spinning textiles at home—or the dockers who used to mass outside port gates in the hope of being selected for a day's work. That would suggest an economy where wages are permanently kept under pressure and where profit margins remain high. Good news for the stockmarket perhaps, but not so good for the self-employed.
但也許這一結(jié)構(gòu)性的趨勢(shì)意味著全職工作崗位不會(huì)出現(xiàn)空缺。如果真的如此，那經(jīng)濟(jì)體或許已經(jīng)制造了大量的勞動(dòng)力儲(chǔ)備，類似于19世紀(jì)早期英國的“老姑娘”—單身女人在家進(jìn)行紡織品制造而獲得計(jì)件工資---或者是碼頭工人們擁堵在港口大門處等待被挑選進(jìn)入工作。這表示經(jīng)濟(jì)體當(dāng)中工資水平長期保持在高度壓榨的水平，同時(shí)利潤空間依然巨大。這對(duì)股市來說或許是好消息，但對(duì)自我雇傭者來說可就不是那么回事了。
Buttonwood 梧桐樹
On their own
自力更生
What explains the surge in self-employment?
是什么樣的因素導(dǎo)致了自我雇傭現(xiàn)象激增呢?
PERHAPS the future belongs to the self-employed. Steady jobs, after all, are hard to find. The idea that a young graduate should expect to work for 40 years with the same employer until retirement seems quaintly dated.
或許，未來就是自我雇傭者的天地。畢竟，穩(wěn)定的工作是很難找的。寄希望于一名年輕的畢業(yè)生只為一個(gè)雇主工作四十年直到退休，這樣的想法是真的過時(shí)了。
There has been a structural shift towards self-employment on both sides of the Atlantic as well as a cyclical one. In the fourth quarter of 2013, 90% of the new jobs created in Britain were classed as self-employment. Is the shift a sign of a thriving entrepreneurial spirit or an indicator of desperation? Are we talking Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook or Walter White and “Breaking Bad”?
在大西洋的東西兩岸，自我雇傭的情況均發(fā)生了結(jié)構(gòu)性的轉(zhuǎn)變，并且這種變化是周期性的。2013年的第四季度中，英國90%的新工作崗位是被歸為自我雇傭類。這樣的轉(zhuǎn)變到底意味著一次創(chuàng)業(yè)精神的繁榮成長，還是預(yù)示著社會(huì)絕望感的產(chǎn)生呢?我們現(xiàn)在所面臨的情況到底是馬克·扎克伯格與他的網(wǎng)絡(luò)帝國Facebook，還是沃爾特·懷特與“絕命毒師”呢?
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Answering the question is made harder by the limitations of the data, drawn as they are from a combination of surveys, tax records and registers of company creation. Some people may incorporate as a business in order to reduce their tax bill; others may fail to report their self-employment income as a way of avoiding taxes. Some may play dual roles, having a full-time job but earning money on the side. Still others may be working for their old employer as contractors, rather than for a salary.
基于數(shù)據(jù)的局限性，我們更加難以回答上述問題。前者通常是由問卷調(diào)查、繳稅記錄和公司注冊(cè)資料所構(gòu)成的。一些人或許只是為了減少應(yīng)交稅費(fèi)而聯(lián)合成立公司;另一些人或許沒有報(bào)告登記自己的自我雇傭業(yè)務(wù)收入以逃避稅負(fù)。部分人或許同時(shí)扮演著兩種角色，既是一位有全職工作的人，同時(shí)也在其他方面賺取外快。還有其他一些人正在為自己的老雇主做事，但并不是以雇員的形式，而是以合約承包商的身份來工作。
Desperation must play a part. A paper by Robert Fairlie of the University of California, Santa Cruz found a close link between the unemployment rate in a given American locality and the rate of new business startups. A survey by the Kauffman Foundation found that the rate of new-business creation in America declined last year, even as the economy turned up; as the report comments, there was “l(fā)ess pressure on individuals to start businesses out of necessity”.
絕望感肯定是其中一個(gè)原因。來自加州大學(xué)圣克魯茲分校的羅伯特·費(fèi)爾利的論文發(fā)現(xiàn)了在給定美國的地點(diǎn)關(guān)于失業(yè)率和新公司成立的比率的密切聯(lián)系。一份來自考夫曼基金會(huì)的調(diào)查結(jié)果顯示，就算在經(jīng)濟(jì)復(fù)蘇的環(huán)境下，去年美國新公司成立的比率出現(xiàn)下降的情況。正如報(bào)告里所評(píng)論的一樣，“人們不太會(huì)覺得有創(chuàng)業(yè)的必要性”。
Self-employment may be more socially acceptable than it used to be. Middle-class people can call themselves consultants or freelancers, rather than unemployed. The businesses they create are unlikely to be the growth engines of the future. In Britain, by far the fastest growth in recent years has been in businesses that are one-man bands.
目前自我雇傭要比從前更容易被社會(huì)所接納。中產(chǎn)階級(jí)的人們能夠稱自己為咨詢顧問或者自由工作者而不是失業(yè)者。這樣的事業(yè)不太可能成為未來經(jīng)濟(jì)增長的引擎。在英國，近幾年來增長最快的部門是在一人獨(dú)立公司。
The numbers also show self-employed Britons tend to be male, work longer hours than salaried employees and earn less. Indeed, the real wages of the self-employed fell faster than those in contractual employment between 2007 and 2012. This may help to explain why British productivity has grown only sluggishly in recent years. Setting up a new business involves a lot of time tracking down new clients or handling a host of issues that were previously dealt with by a company.
數(shù)字還顯示出自我雇傭的英國人大多為男性，工作的時(shí)間比全職工作的員工長而且賺得少。確實(shí)，2007年至2012年間，自我雇傭人的真實(shí)薪水要比合同制員工下降得更快。這或許能解釋為何英國近幾年的生產(chǎn)率只提高了一丁點(diǎn)。開創(chuàng)一個(gè)新的事業(yè)需要花費(fèi)大量的時(shí)間去構(gòu)建新的客戶網(wǎng)以及處理一堆事務(wù)，而這些事務(wù)本來是由公司去處理的。
The new self-employed are also older. British people aged 50 and above comprised five-sixths of the increase in the category between 2008 and 2012. And there has been a rise of 160,000 in the number of self-employed people aged 65 and over since 2007. Some of that may reflect the need to replace shortfalls in pension income.
此外，新晉自我雇傭的人們通常是年齡比較大的。英國50歲及以上的人在2008年至2012年間，構(gòu)成了六分之五新增的自我雇傭人口。與此同時(shí)，自2007年起有160000位年齡在65及以上的人進(jìn)入到自我雇傭的領(lǐng)域。上述的情況也許反映了退休金短缺所帶來的工作需求。
But these changes are not all negative. The rise of the service economy means it is easier for people aged 65 and over to find jobs that suit them; retirees are fitter than they would have been 40 years ago, when many had been through a long career in manual labour. Getting people to work for longer is the best way of dealing with the costs of an ageing population. In addition, a survey by the Royal Society of Arts suggests that the self-employed are happier than those in paid employment—independence counts for a lot, as does the feeling that one's work has meaning.
但這些轉(zhuǎn)變帶來的并不全是負(fù)面影響。服務(wù)業(yè)經(jīng)濟(jì)的增長意味著年齡在65及以上的人更容易找到一份適合的工作;當(dāng)退休人員已經(jīng)進(jìn)行了很長時(shí)間的體力勞動(dòng)工作，他們現(xiàn)在要比40年前更適合從事服務(wù)業(yè)工作。讓人們工作的時(shí)間延長，是應(yīng)對(duì)人口老齡化所帶來的社會(huì)福利成本問題的方法。除此之外，一份由皇家藝術(shù)學(xué)會(huì)所進(jìn)行的調(diào)查顯示，自我雇傭人員要比全職上班的人更加開心-獨(dú)立所帶來的影響是深遠(yuǎn)的，正如一個(gè)人認(rèn)為工作是有意義時(shí)所帶來的感受一樣。
In the long run, this rise in self-employment will raise some interesting macroeconomic and political questions. Does it mean, as Morgan Stanley suggests in a research note, that the labour market is not as robust as it appears; that many people have been forced into self-employment and will happily take a paid job if offered one? That would imply there is still plenty of slack in the labour market and monetary policy can stay looser for longer.
長遠(yuǎn)來看，在自我雇傭領(lǐng)域的增長會(huì)引起一些有趣的宏觀經(jīng)濟(jì)和政治問題。正如摩根士丹利的一份研究報(bào)告所提到的，上述的增長是否意味著勞動(dòng)力市場(chǎng)并不像其顯示出的一樣強(qiáng)健;如果被迫進(jìn)入自我雇傭境地的人們得到一份全職工作，是否會(huì)很開心地選擇后者呢?這些問題的肯定將會(huì)顯示出勞動(dòng)力市場(chǎng)依舊處于一個(gè)低迷時(shí)期，并且貨幣政策可以繼續(xù)在更長的時(shí)間里保持更為寬松的狀態(tài)。
But perhaps the structural trend means those paid jobs will not become available. If so, the economy may have created a vast reserve labour force, akin to the “spinsters” of early 19th-century Britain—single women who were paid piece rates for spinning textiles at home—or the dockers who used to mass outside port gates in the hope of being selected for a day's work. That would suggest an economy where wages are permanently kept under pressure and where profit margins remain high. Good news for the stockmarket perhaps, but not so good for the self-employed.
但也許這一結(jié)構(gòu)性的趨勢(shì)意味著全職工作崗位不會(huì)出現(xiàn)空缺。如果真的如此，那經(jīng)濟(jì)體或許已經(jīng)制造了大量的勞動(dòng)力儲(chǔ)備，類似于19世紀(jì)早期英國的“老姑娘”—單身女人在家進(jìn)行紡織品制造而獲得計(jì)件工資---或者是碼頭工人們擁堵在港口大門處等待被挑選進(jìn)入工作。這表示經(jīng)濟(jì)體當(dāng)中工資水平長期保持在高度壓榨的水平，同時(shí)利潤空間依然巨大。這對(duì)股市來說或許是好消息，但對(duì)自我雇傭者來說可就不是那么回事了。