经济学人364:非洲撒哈拉以南地区就业状况

　　Finance and economics

财经商业

Employment in Sub-Saharan Africa

非洲撒哈拉以南地区就业状况

Sorry, no vacancies 1

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Why African firms create so few jobs

为何非洲公司创造的就业机会如此之少

AFRICAN businesses are reluctant employers.

非洲企业均为不愿聘请员工的雇主。

A given firm in Sub-Saharan Africa typically has 24% fewer people on its books than equivalent firms elsewhere, according to a recent paper from the Centre for Global Development, a think-tank based in Washington, DC.

全球发展中心一份近期的报告显示，在给定的相同规模条件下，非洲撒哈拉以南地区的公司通常比其他地方的公司在账面上要少雇佣24%的员工。

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Given the links between employment and development, economists 2 want to figure out the reasons for the shortfall.

就业与增长之间的是有所关联的，而在考虑到这一点后经济学家们都想要弄清楚上述差额产生的原因。

The study calculates the missing jobs by crunching 3 information on 41,000 formal businesses globally from a World Bank survey.

此次研究使用了来自世界银行全球41000家正规企业的调查资料，统计出了岗位流失情况。

The data capture only a sliver 4 of what actually happens in Africa: nine in ten workers have an informal job.

而这些数据只反映出了零星非洲的真实情况：事实上，十个工人当中有九位是在干着非正式的工作。

Shunned 5 by the formal sector 6, workers turn to below-the-radar employment—toiling on family farms or otherwise beyond the government's reach.

由于被正规部门所抛弃，工人们转向了地下就业市场—在家庭农场工作或是进入到政府监管之外的领域。

But a big informal sector makes it harder for Africa to reduce poverty, even when economic growth is strong.

但一个庞大的非正规就业市场，甚至是在经济增长强劲的条件下，也会使得非洲国家难以减少贫困人口。

Increases in income on the production side of the economy translate weakly into higher wages for workers.

国家经济在生产方面的收入增长，难以转化为更高的工人薪资水平。

Indeed the relationship between economic growth and poverty reduction is weaker in Africa than any other developing region.

事实上，经济增长与贫困人口减少之间的联系密切程度，在非洲地区的要比其他发展中地区弱得多。

Several factors explain African bosses' reluctance 7 to take on new workers.

以下一些因素能够去解释为何非洲的老板们不愿意雇用新工人。

One is that firms tend to be younger than elsewhere, but even older ones have fewer employees.

首先是非洲公司都普遍比其他地区的公司年轻，但即便是老牌公司也雇用很少的员工。

More broadly, Africa's business climate discourages hiring.

更广泛地说，那就是非洲的市场不鼓励雇用员工。

Government officials in search of taxes and bribes 8 tend to chase large firms, rather than small ones, says Vijaya Ramachandran of CGD, because they are considered more likely to cough up.

来自CGD组织的Vijaya Ramachandran解释道，渴望税收和贿赂的政府官员更倾向于对大公司下手而不是小公司，因为他们觉得大公司更有可能缴税和贿赂。

The managers of Nigerien and Liberian firms with more than 100 employees spend 14% longer dealing 9 with government officials than smaller peers.

尼日尔和利比里亚当中规模超过100名员工的公司负责人，要比小规模的同行花费多出14%的时间去与政府官员打交道。

A recent study from South Africa revealed that bosses there were desperate to dodge 10 the attentions of bureaucrats 11 and thus avoided taking on new workers.

最近一份南非的研究报告揭示，非洲这边的老板们正迫不及待地想要避开政府的关注，因此他们选择避免聘请新工人。

High unit labour costs are also culpable 12.

高昂的单位劳动力成本也是其中一个因素。

Employing people in Africa should be cheap, given that many of its countries have rock-bottom income levels.

鉴于许多非洲国家的国民收入水平都处于底部，这边的劳动力应该是十分低廉的。

Yet in half of African countries labour costs are higher than in China because workers are less productive.

然而，由于工人生产力低下，半数非洲国家的劳动力成本比中国还要高。

They are nearly 80% higher in Africa than those in other countries at similar levels of income.

与其他收入水平相当的国家相比，非洲的劳动力成本要高出约80%。

That lowers competitiveness and makes hiring less likely.

而这不仅降低了国家的竞争力，还令雇佣就业水平大减。

Economists disagree about the possible causes of this.

对其成因，经济学家们的观点并不一致。

Red tape and unionisation may be responsible, though on average indicators 13 of labour-market regulation are no different in Africa than elsewhere.

虽然平均来看劳力市场监管的各项指标显示非洲与其他地区没什么不同，但政府的官僚作风和工会的组织不力有着一定的责任。

Nonetheless there are horror stories.

尽管如此，这里还是有可怕的故事。

A 2012 report on South Africa, which lays the blame on greedy unions, calculates that the average employee at Eskom, a state-owned electricity utility, earns 40% more in terms of purchasing-power parity 14 than a German professor.

一份2012年来自南非的报告谴责了贪婪的垄断联合团体。该份报告统计了一家国有电力公司Eskom的情况，发现以购买力平价计算，该公司平均员工的薪酬水平比德国教授的薪酬水平还要高40%。

Africa's commodity-driven export models may be another cause of low formal employment.

非洲实体商品出口模式或许是正规就业市场低迷的另一大因素。

Four-fifths of the continent's export revenues are from commodities.

五分之四的非洲出口利润是从实体商品中获取的。

That can lead to overvalued exchange rates if their prices rise.

如果商品价格上升，这便会导致货币汇率被高估。

That hurts firms' competitiveness, curbs 15 their growth and thus discourages hiring.

而这伤害了公司的竞争力，损害了他们的业绩增长，因此也导致了就业市场的低迷。

Changing labour-market dynamics 16 could exacerbate 17 the job problem.

动荡的劳动力市场会加剧就业问题。

Some 250m people are expected to join the African workforce 18 between 2010 and 2050.

有2亿5千万人将在2010年至2050年间加入非洲的劳动力市场。

In the short term many will go into farming, which employs 65% of the African labour force.

短期内，许多人将会投身于农业耕作当中，而目前这正是非洲65%的劳动力的工作内容。

The agricultural sector struggles to create enough jobs.

农业部门一直在为创造足够的新就业机会而挣扎。

In the 1990s donors 19 lost interest in using their aid dollars for agricultural investment.

20世纪90年代，捐赠者们已经对农业方面的投资捐助失去了兴趣。

Shame: better farming techniques could bring unproductive land into use and help Africa shift into higher-value-added crops.

而这正是一个值得羞愧的事情：更好的农耕技术能够让贫瘠的土地变肥沃，与此同时，还能帮助非洲转向生产更高价值的作物。

According to a report by McKinsey, a consulting firm, that could create 6m extra jobs by 2020.

麦肯锡咨询公司的报告表示，这样的技术将会在2020年前为非洲创造额外600万个就业机会。

But agricultural improvement can also free up labour to work in more productive sectors—if the jobs are available.

但是，农业技术进步的同时也解放了劳动力的使用，使得富余劳动力能够往更高产出的部门流动。

Africa is embracing structural 20 reform: a recent report from the World Bank shows that of the 20 economies worldwide making the most progress in improving business regulation, nine are in Sub-Saharan Africa.

非洲正在实现自身的结构性改革：一份世界银行近期的报告显示，全球20个在改进商业法规的方面做得最好的国家当中，有9个是非洲撒哈拉以南地区的国家。

Without further improvement, employment growth in Africa's formal sector will remain depressingly stunted 21.

然而，在没有进一步改善的情况下，非洲正规部门的就业增长将依旧呈现出令人失望的受阻态势。