The jobs crisis 失业危机
It’s coming, whatever governments do; but they can make it better or worse
不论政府如何努力,失业危机已经到来。不过政府可以在这场危机中起到关键作用
Illustration by Belle Mellor
NOTHING evokes the misery of mass unemployment more than the photographs of the Depression. You can see it in the drawn faces of the men, in their shabby clothes, in their eyes. Their despair spawned political extremism that left a stain on society; but it also taught subsequent generations that public policy has a vital part in alleviating the suffering of those who cannot get work. Thanks to welfare schemes and unemployment benefits, many of which have their origins in those dark days, joblessness no longer plunges people into destitution, at least in the developed world.
再没有什么比关于经济大萧条的照片更能让人体会大量失业的痛苦。这种痛苦显见于人们紧绷的面容,褴褛的衣衫,还有他们的眼神。由人们的绝望所引发的政治极端主义给社会留下污点;失业问题也使后人懂得公共政策在减轻失业痛苦方面所起到的重要作用。很多福利计划和失业救济金方案都发轫于那些灰暗的失业时期;受惠于这些计划,至少发达国家的人们不再因为失业而陷入穷困。