Bartleby

【专栏名

“和所有的专栏一样，《经济学人》在起名上还是费了一番心思的。在文中作者说，Bartleby这个名字来自Herman Melville的短篇小说Bartleby the Scrivener，余光中先生曾把它译为《录事巴托比》。

这个短篇讲的是Bartleby的故事。他在华尔街为一位律师工作，话不多，本分老实，活儿干得也很漂亮。不过突然有一天，他开始拒绝做老板给他安排的任务，后来甚至就在办公室里呆着，拒绝任何工作。他拒绝的方式也很奇葩，软硬不吃，每次都幽幽地、语调乏力地说：I would prefer not to （恕难从命）。“

——摘自https://www.sohu.com/a/233135559_697978】

People are working longer for reasons of choice and necessity

人们工作更长时间是出于选择和需要

The long and winding career

漫长而曲折的职业生涯

ACROSS THE developed world, the workforce now comes in 50 shades of grey. Since 2008 the average labour-force participation rate of 55- to 64-year-olds in OECD countries has risen by eight percentage points. Depending on your point of view, that trend can be spun as ruthless capitalism requiring workers to spend more years down the salt mines or as a sign that society that is finally recognising the value of its older employees.

在整个发达国家，劳动力现在处于半灰色地带。自2008年以来，经合组织国家55至64岁劳动力的平均出勤率上升了8个百分点。以你而言，这种趋势可以被归因为无情的资本主义，要求工人在盐矿坑里多呆几年，或者是社会终于开始认识到老员工的价值。

词汇

Spin（分词spun）/纺纱；吐丝

A new OECD report, “Working Better with Age”, points out that the employment of older workers is vital, if prosperity is to be maintained. The median age of citizens in the OECD is set to rise from 40 now to 45 in the mid-2050s; on current trends, by 2050 there will be 58 retired people for every 100 workers, up from 41 today.

经济合作与发展组织(OECD)的一份名为《员工越老越值钱》(Working Better with Age)的新报告指出，要想保持繁荣，就有必要对老员工保持雇佣。经合组织成员国公民的平均年龄将从现在的40岁上升到本世纪50年代中期的45岁;按照目前的趋势，到2050年，每100名工人将有58名退休人员，高于目前41这一人数。

Many people will be more than happy to work longer. A recent survey of 1,000 British retired people found that a quarter thought they had stopped too early (on average they had quit at 62). A third said that they had lost their purpose in life after they retired.

很多人会非常乐意工作更长时间。最近一项针对1000名英国退休人员的调查发现，四分之一的人认为自己退休太早(平均而言，他们在62岁时就退休了)。三分之一的人说他们退休后失去了生活的目标。

Bartleby has reached an age at which many of his contemporaries have stopped working. The appeal is understandable. Retirement gives you the chance to sleep late and avoid the morning commute. On a summer’s day, you can enjoy the sunshine; on a winter’s day, you can avoid the cold and rain. No longer do you have to sit through endless meetings or check email obsessively.

巴托比已经到了许多同龄人都停止工作的年龄。这种呼吁是可以理解的。退休让你有机会晚睡，避免早晨的通勤。在夏天，你可以享受阳光;在冬天，你可以避免寒冷和下雨。你不再需要坐着开没完没了的会议，也不再需要痴迷地查看电子邮件。

But work has many compensations. It keeps the mind active and gives people a purpose in life. The first month of retirement may seem idyllic, but boredom is bound to ensue. Grand plans to learn languages and travel the world can quickly fizzle out. Furthermore, the camaraderie of colleagues provides a social network; spending all week at home can lead loneliness. It will be a while before Bartleby retires to his seaside cottage, “Dunwritin”.

但是工作有很多补偿。它使头脑保持活跃，给人们一个生活的目标。退休的第一个月似乎是田园诗般的，但随之而来的一定是无聊。学习语言和环游世界的宏伟计划可能很快就会流产。此外，同事之间的友情提供了一个社交网络;整个星期都呆在家里会导致孤独。巴托比还要过一段时间才会退休，之后他会住进他海边的小屋“敦文顿”。

词汇

Idyllic/牧歌的；田园诗的

Camaraderie/ n. 友情；同志之爱     

Working longer should be easier now that most jobs require mental, rather than manual, labour. But the physical strain of being a fireman, miner or construction worker makes it harder to keep working in your 60s.

既然大多数工作需要脑力劳动，而不是体力劳动，那么工作时间更长应该会更容易。但消防员、矿工或建筑工人的身体压力会让其在60多岁时更难继续工作。

Of course, many people are working longer not because they enjoy what they do, but because they cannot afford to quit. That is not solely because governments have been pushing up the state retirement age. In practice, the average age at which people actually retire (the “effective” retirement age) is lower than the official age by several years. In part, that is because rather than rely on a state pension, which kicks in at the official age, as their sole source of retirement income, many people supplement it with work-related pensions, which can be taken earlier.

当然，许多人工作更长时间不是因为他们喜欢他们所做的，而是因为他们不能辞职。这不仅仅是因为政府一直在提高退休年龄。实际上，人们实际退休的平均年龄(“有效”退休年龄)比官方年龄低几年。这在一定程度上是因为，许多人并没有把国家养老金作为退休收入的唯一来源，而是用可以提前领取的与工作相关的养老金来补充，而不是依赖于国家养老金。

词汇

Solely/单独地；仅仅

However, companies have been phasing out pensions linked to final salaries and replacing them with “defined contribution” schemes. Under the latter, workers end up with a pot of savings at retirement that needs to be reinvested. The income from such pots has been reduced by very low interest rates. Women tend to have smaller retirement pots (owing to their years spent raising children). That makes their difficulties particularly acute. They need to keep working.

然而，企业一直在逐步取消与最终工资挂钩的养老金，代之以“固定缴款”计划。在后一种情况下，工人们退休后会有一大笔储蓄，需要进行再投资。极低的利率降低了通过储蓄得到的收入。女性趋向于得到更少的退休金(由于她们花了数年时间抚养孩子)。这使得她们的困难尤为突出。她们需要继续工作。   

This helps explain the long-term trends. The effective male retirement age across the OECD was 68.4 in the late 1960s and then steadily fell to reach a low of 62.7 in the early 2000s. At that point it started to increase, reaching 65.3 by 2017.

这有助于解释长期趋势。在20世纪60年代末，经合组织国家男性的实际退休年龄为68.4岁，随后在本世纪初稳步下降至62.7岁的低点。从那时起，这个数字开始上升，到2017年达到65.3。

For women, the pattern has been similar. The effective retirement age fell from 66.5 in the late 1960s to 60.9 in 2000, and then rebounded to 63.7 by 2017. These statistics indicate that age discrimination in the workforce has been reduced, if not entirely eliminated. Some countries now have laws prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of age, although surveys suggest older workers still feel disadvantaged, particularly when it comes to promotion.

对于女性来说，情况也差不多。有效退休年龄从上世纪60年代末的66.5岁降至2000年的60.9岁，到2017年又回升至63.7岁。这些统计数字表明，劳动力中的年龄歧视即使没有完全消除，也有所减少。一些国家现在有法律禁止基于年龄的歧视，尽管调查显示年长的员工仍然感到处于不利地位，尤其是在晋升方面。

Two issues seem to hold employers back. The first is that older workers tend to command higher salaries, because of the seniority system. The OECD suggests that the premium for long tenure should be reduced. The second is a skills deficit; one in three 55- to 65-year-olds in OECD countries either lacks computer experience or cannot pass technology tests.

有两个问题似乎阻碍了雇主。首先，由于年资制度，年长的工人往往要求更高的工资。经济合作与发展组织(OECD)建议，应该降低长期聘用的溢价。第二是技能匮乏;在经合组织国家，55岁至65岁的人中，有三分之一要么缺乏计算机经验，要么无法通过技术测试。

Such deficits can be tackled with proper training, organised by the government or by companies themselves. But the over-55s should take it upon themselves to keep up with technological changes. Become a silver surfer. Your livelihood may depend on it.

此类缺口以通过政府或企业自身组织的适当培训加以解决。但55岁以上的人应该主动承担起跟上技术变化的责任。当成为一名银发网民。你的生计可能就靠它了

词汇

Deficit/ n. [财政] 赤字，亏损【个人感觉此处的deficit既指财政上的问题，又以deficiency 缺陷，缺点的引申意讲老员工技能的缺陷】

silver surfer/ ( informal ) an old person who spends a lot of time using the Internet 银发网民（指经常上互联网的老年人）