【外刊精读】澳大利亚劳动力短缺（下）
报道称，澳大利亚国内各地有超过48万个岗位空缺，但由于失业率处于近50年来的最低点，雇主们很难找到人手来填补这些空缺。酒店业、医疗保健业、农业和技术行业受到的冲击格外大。报道称，劳动力短缺已经使该国的机场陷入一片混乱，令水果烂在树上，也给医院带来了巨大压力。今天就让我们跟随贸学长看一下对此，经济学人是如何报道的。原文导读（上）Labour shortages——Hostel to fortune
Australia is struggling to find skilled workers, too. Covid restrictions are not the only reason for that. The government pumped up the economy with fiscal stimulus during the pandemic. Its unemployment rate has plunged by almost two percentage points since covid emerged, to 3.5%, the lowest in nearly half a century. Some half a million positions are sitting unfilled—more than the number of out-of work Australians. Among members of the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries, only Canada is suffering worse labour shortages. But the border closure also means that Australia has emerged from the pandemic with 500,000 fewer migrant workers than it would otherwise have had, reckons cEDA, a think-tank in Melbourne.
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The new Labor government, elected in May, wants immigrants of all stripes to return. On September 2nd Anthony Albanese, the prime minister, said that he would increase the intake of skilled migrants, including nurses and engineers, by more than a fifth, to 195,000 a year. Yet visa-processing has been held up by administrative backlogs. Nearly 1m applications are awaiting approval. To speed up the process Mr Albanese has promised A$36m ($24m) to the home affairs department, which handles visas, so that it can recruit some 500 more staff.
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Plans of this sort would cause a backlash in many rich countries. But Australia has had high immigration rates for years without much grumbling. Nevertheless, Mr Albanese’s efforts will do little to plug the shortage of less-skilled temporary migrants such as backpackers. (Foreign students, another big source of casual labour, have also yet to return in their old numbers.) There is no cap on how many such workers are allowed in, so employers can only sit and wait.
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They worry that Australia no longer looks as appealing to youngsters. Backpackers still fear being caught out by abruptly closed borders or cast into lockdown, they argue. “We are talking about lasting damage that will take years to repair,” says Nick Lester of Captain Cook Cruises, which gives tours of Sydney’s harbour, and is scraping by with about a third of its normal staff. It will take until 2024 for net overseas migration to claw its way back to pre-pandemic levels, CEDA predicts. For Australia’s stricken businesses, that is an awfully long time.
第五段：Australia is struggling to find skilled workers, too. Covid restrictions are not the only reason for that. The government pumped up the economy with fiscal stimulus during the pandemic. Its unemployment rate has plunged by almost two percentage points since covid emerged, to 3.5%, the lowest in nearly half a century. Some half a million positions are sitting unfilled—more than the number of out-of work Australians. Among members of the OECD, a club of mostly rich countries, only Canada is suffering worse labour shortages. But the border closure also means that Australia has emerged from the pandemic with 500,000 fewer migrant workers than it would otherwise have had, reckons cEDA, a think-tank in Melbourne.
参考译文：澳大利亚也在努力寻找技术工人。签证限制并不是唯一的原因。在大流行期间，政府通过财政刺激措施促进了经济发展。自covid发生以来，澳大利亚的失业率几乎下降了两个百分点，达到3.5%，是近半个世纪以来的最低水平。约有50万个职位没有得到填补——比澳大利亚的失业人数还多。在经合组织（主要由富国组成的俱乐部）成员中，只有加拿大的劳动力短缺状况更严重。但据墨尔本的智囊团cEDA估计，关闭边境也意味着澳大利亚从这场大流行中走出来时，移民工人比原来少了50万人。
知识点解读：
1.pump up the economy：促进经济恢复/发展。
2.fiscal stimulus：财政刺激政策。外刊中常见的经济学词汇还有如下：
barrier to entry:进入壁垒economic efficiency：经济效益
endowment position:财富状况excess capacity:产能过剩fixed cost:固定成本
think-tank：专家小组，智囊团。想起“智囊团”的时候我们常常会想起军师诸葛亮，可以延伸学习一个习语的表达：三个臭皮匠，顶个诸葛亮——Three cobblers with their wits combined, equal Zhuge Liang the master mind.
第六段：The new Labor government, elected in May, wants immigrants of all stripes to return. On September 2nd Anthony Albanese, the prime minister, said that he would increase the intake of skilled migrants, including nurses and engineers, by more than a fifth, to 195,000 a year. Yet visa-processing has been held up by administrative backlogs. Nearly 1m applications are awaiting approval. To speed up the process Mr Albanese has promised A$36m ($24m) to the home affairs department, which handles visas, so that it can recruit some 500 more staff.
参考译文：5月当选的新工党政府希望各路移民都能回国。9月2日，总理安东尼·阿尔巴内斯（Anthony Albanese）说，他将把技术移民人数增加五分之一以上，达到每年19.5万人，其中包括护士和工程师。然而，签证处理工作一直被行政积压所阻碍。近100万份申请正在等待批准。为了加快这一进程，阿尔巴内斯承诺向负责处理签证的内政部提供3600万澳元（2400万美元），使其能够再招聘约500名工作人员。
知识点解读：
1.of all stripes：各行各业的，各领域的，形形色色的，例如，“Russia risks scaring off investors of all stripes, as well as potential customers for its oil and gas.俄罗斯吓跑了形形色色的投资者和石油和天然气的潜在顾客，实为冒险之举。”
2.Intake:有非常多的意思，但是其基本意为“进入”，作普通用词时表示“吸入、进入”和“吸气”，例如，“The driver was accused of knocking down most of each day's intake.那司机被控贪污每天的大部分车票收入。”和“Mr. hyde shrank back with a hissing intake of the breath.海德先生猛然朝后一缩，倒抽了一口凉气”在医学上表示“摄入”，例如，“The carbohydrate intake of a diabetic exceeds the capacity of his kidney to excrete sugar.糖尿病人吸入的碳水化合物超过肾排泄糖的能力。”
3. Be awaiting approval:待审核，待审批，常用于商业订单领域和职能行政领域。例如，“The order is awaiting approval. 订单正待审批。”
4. home affairs department：内政部。“affair” 侧重指已发生或必须去做的任何事情或事务。复数形式多为重大或较复杂的事务，例如，“business affair商务”、“civil affair 民政事务”和“private affair 私事”。“affair”还可以表示“出轨、外遇”的意思，例如，“love affair 风流韵事”和“have an affair婚外恋”。其它可以表示“事情、事务”的词如下：
business：通常指较重要且必须承担的事情，常见的俗语有“none of your business 关你屁事”。
Matter：泛词，特指一件考虑中的或需要处理的事。
Concern：往往强调与个人或团体利害有重大关系的事，常见的表达有“issue of common concern 共同关心的问题”、“show one's concern for 对...表示关系和忧虑”和“of no concern 无紧要”。
Thing：词义较笼、含糊。
第七段：Plans of this sort would cause a backlash in many rich countries. But Australia has had high immigration rates for years without much grumbling. Nevertheless, Mr Albanese’s efforts will do little to plug the shortage of less-skilled temporary migrants such as backpackers. (Foreign students, another big source of casual labour, have also yet to return in their old numbers.) There is no cap on how many such workers are allowed in, so employers can only sit and wait.
参考译文：这类计划在许多富裕国家会引起反感。但澳大利亚多年来一直保持着较高的移民率，却没有什么怨言。然而，阿尔巴内斯的努力对解决诸如背包客等低技能临时移民的短缺问题没有什么作用。(外国学生是临时工的另一个主要来源，他们也还没有恢复到以前的数量）。对于允许多少这样的工人入境并没有规定上限，所以雇主只能坐等。
知识点解读：
1. cause a backlash：引起反感、反抗，例如，“The uncertainty over the governor's departure has caused a backlash among some senior economists. 州长是否离职的不确定性在一些高级经济学家中引起了反感。”
There is no cap on：……没有上限，是一组非常形象的表达，例如,“There is no cap on the amount of money he can spend. 他花钱没有上限。”
第八段：They worry that Australia no longer looks as appealing to youngsters. Backpackers still fear being caught out by abruptly closed borders or cast into lockdown, they argue. “We are talking about lasting damage that will take years to repair,” says Nick Lester of Captain Cook Cruises, which gives tours of Sydney’s harbour, and is scraping by with about a third of its normal staff. It will take until 2024 for net overseas migration to claw its way back to pre-pandemic levels, CEDA predicts. For Australia’s stricken businesses, that is an awfully long time.
参考译文：他们担心澳大利亚对年轻人不再那么有吸引力了。他们认为，背包客仍然担心由于突然关闭的边境而被抓，或者被关进监狱。库克船长游轮公司的尼克·莱斯特说："我们谈论的是需要多年才能修复的这些持久的损害”,该公司提供悉尼港口的旅游服务，目前仅靠正常员工的三分之一勉强维持。据CEDA预测，海外净移民要到2024年才会恢复到流行前的水平。对于澳大利亚陷入困境的企业来说，这将是一个非常漫长的时间。
知识点解读：
1. cast into:扔进，例如，“She told of a female dummy of straw which the boys would cast into the river. 她谈到一个被男孩子们扔到河里去的草扎的假女人。”
2. Be scraped (by)/ scrape((on)：靠…勉强度日，例如，“When I was out of work, my family and I barely scraped by. We scraped by on just $3 a day. 当我失业时，我和家人勉强维持生计。我们靠每天3美元勉强度日。”
3. 之前有学弟学妹问道reduce（减少、减弱、降低）有哪些可替换的词，这里给大家总结了部分，供大家学习：
Diminish：“Twilight was closing on the diminished autumn day.秋日苦短，暮霭正在拢来”
Decrease：“The demand for tea is on the decrease ( each year ).茶叶的需求量（逐年）递减。”
whittle down：“Profits are whittled down by the ever - rising cost of energy能源成本的不断上升使利润下降。“
lessen：“The sun lessened.夕阳渐渐西沉。“
slacken：“Don't slacken your vigilance.不要麻痹大意。“
weaken：“Hunger and disease had weakened his constitution .他饥饿与疾病交加，体质已削弱。“
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