来源：《洛杉矶时报》
刊登日期：2021年5月14日
The phrases “we are closed” and “nobody wants to work anymore” were trending Thursday on Twitter. News told that job openings had set a record in March — more than 8 million positions unfilled — even as unemployment and underemployment remained far higher than they were before the pandemic. The news about openings came a few days after the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the number of new jobs filled in April was far lower than analysts were expecting.
“我们关门了”和“没人想再工作了”这两个短语周四在Twitter上迅速流行起来。新闻报道说，尽管失业率和不充分就业率仍远高于流感大流行前的水平，但3月份的职位空缺率创下了纪录——超过800万。此前几天，美国劳工统计局公布，4月份新增就业岗位数量远低于分析师预期。
Anecdotes abounded from employers who said they’ve struggled to find people willing to be hired. And they blamed the extended unemployment benefits the federal government has been providing since March 2020. The extra money — $300 a week — came on top of an average weekly benefit of just under $390, translating to an average wage of $17 an hour.
很多雇主都说他们很难找到愿意被雇佣的人。他们将此归咎于联邦政府把自2020年3月以来提供的失业福利延长。除了每周300美元的联邦政府补贴外，平均每周还能领到390美元的失业救济金，折合成时薪为17美元。
Republicans have largely opposed the extra benefits, arguing that they discourage people from working. A growing number of GOP-led states have told the feds to keep their money; they are returning to pre-pandemic benefit levels in the belief that it will spur idled workers to get off the benefits.
共和党人基本上反对额外的福利，认为这会让人们不想工作。越来越多的共和党领导的州要求联邦政府别再发钱了；他们正在恢复大流行前的福利水平，相信这会刺激失业工人不再依赖福利。
It might seem obvious that laid-off workers don’t have a lot of incentive to take a job that pays less than they are receiving in their unemployment checks. But the data from last year show that most people value a job so much, they will make that choice. And it’s not hard to understand why — a job will continue to provide income long after one’s eligibility for unemployment benefits runs out, not to mention the dignity and sense of purpose that good jobs provide. A Yale study of the food and beverage industry showed that the $600 a week in extra benefits had a negligible effect on whether idled people returned to work.
似乎很明显，下岗工人没有太多的动力去接受一份薪酬比他们的失业金还少的工作。但去年的数据显示，大多数人非常看重一份工作，如果有的选，他们会做出这样的选择。这并不难理解——一份工作将在一个人的失业救济金资格之后的很长一段时间内继续提供收入，更不用说好工作所提供的尊严和目的感了。耶鲁大学(Yale)对食品和饮料行业的一项研究显示，每周600美元的额外福利对于失业的人是否重返工作岗位的影响微乎其微。
Another point to consider: Many of the anecdotes about the inability to hire workers are coming from restaurant owners and others in the relatively low-paying service industry. Yet according to the Economic Policy Institute, low-wage sectors as a whole showed “notably faster job growth” in April than other sectors. EPI argued that a bigger problem is the lingering pandemic effects on schools, child care providers and families, which are forcing many women to stay home to care for dependents.
需要考虑的另一点是：许多关于雇不到人的说法来自餐馆老板和其他薪酬相对较低的服务业。然而，根据经济政策研究所的数据，4月份，低工资行业整体就业增长“明显快于其他行业”。EPI认为，一个更大的问题是新冠大流行对学校、托儿机构和家庭的影响依然存在，这迫使许多妇女留在家中照顾孩子。
We are far closer to normality today than we were a year or even three months ago, so it makes sense for unemployed workers to look for work or training and take a job if it matches their skills. But we still have a ways to go, with millions of Americans facing significant barriers to working. The extra benefits may keep some workers out longer, but for most people, they bring the ability to keep paying bills and their mortgage and continue supporting their local economies. The data show that people want to work. Don’t punish the ones who can’t.
与一年前、甚至三个月前相比，我们现在更接近正常状态。因此，失业工人去寻找工作或接受培训，找到一份符合自己技能的工作，是有道理的。但我们仍有很长的路要走，数以百万计的美国人面临着巨大的工作障碍。额外的福利可能会让一些工人更长时间不工作，但对大多数人来说，各种福利金使他们有能力继续支付账单和还房贷，并继续支持当地经济。数据显示人们想要工作。不要惩罚那些无法工作的人。