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Automation already plays a central role at Amazon’s huge warehouses.
自动化在亚马逊大型仓库中起着关键的作用。
Devices tell workers which direction to walk to pick up a package from a shelf.
自动化设备会提示员工取货路径。
And there are signs that technology is at least easing the company’s voracious appetite for warehouse workers:
有迹象表明，技术至少缓解了该公司对仓库工人的火爆需求：
Last holiday season, it hired fewer temporary workers than in the previous year,
上个假期，该企业雇佣的临时工的数量相比前一年已经有所下降，
and last quarter, its head count was up 12 percent, the lowest rise in years.
上个季度，该公司的员工人数只增长了12%，达到了数年来的最低增幅。
Amazon isn’t trying to turn warehouse pickers into software engineers.
亚马逊并没有打算将仓库管理员变成软件工程师。
Rather, its new program aims to move a large swath of workers up one or two rungs on the skills ladder,
这次的再培训项目只是为了让大量工人在技能阶梯上提升一到两个层次，
turning warehouse floor workers into IT technicians and low-level coders into data scientists.
把仓库的地勤人员变成IT技术人员，把低级程序员变成数据科学家。
Ms. Williams said the retraining initiative was built on existing education programs at the company.
威廉姆斯说，再培训计划是依托公司现有培训项目推出的。
Software engineering classes will be available for corporate employees without technical backgrounds, she said.
没有技术背景的企业员工也能上该项目的软件工程课。
Ms. Williams said in an interview, “When automation comes in, it changes the nature of work,
威廉姆斯在接受采访时说：“自动化出现以后改变了工作的本质，
but there are still pieces of work that will be done by people.
但还是有一些工作需要人工来完成。
You have the opportunity to up-skill that population so they can, for example, work with the robots.”
我们有这个机会提高这些员工的技能，让他们可以和机器人一起工作什么的。”
Amazon’s announcement met with some skepticism from experts,
亚马逊的声明遭到了一些专家的质疑，
They noted that American companies had long spent less on training than their European counterparts —
他们指出，长期以来，美国企业在培训方面的投入一直低于欧洲同行——
and that when they did offer training, it was usually for college-educated, white-collar workers.
而且，就算美国的企业推出了培训项目，通常也是针对受过大学教育的白领的项目。
Amazon’s most prominent retraining program has had only modest adoption internally.
哪怕是亚马逊最著名的再培训项目，真正参加的人数还是十分有限。
In 2012, Amazon started a program called Career Choice to provide up to $12,000 in tuition and other costs
2012年，亚马逊启动了一个名为“职业选择”的再培训项目，为小时工们提供高达1.2万美元的学费和其他费用，
for hourly employees to get certificates or associate degrees in high-demand fields like health care.
帮助他们获取医疗等需求较大的领域的证书或副学士学位。
Even though hundreds of thousands of people have worked at Amazon’s warehouses since the program started,
尽管自该项目启动以来，亚马逊的仓库员工新增了数十万人，
only about 25,000 have participated.
真正参加该项目的却只有2.5万人左右。
Even if the retraining effort succeeds, some workers are bound to lose out.
就算再培训成功了，无疑还是会有部分员工被淘汰。
Not every one of them will be able to find a better job.
也不是所有人都能找到更好的工作。
A report that the McKinsey Global Institute published on Thursday
麦肯锡全球研究所周四发布的一份报告
analyzed the impact of automation and the clustering of skilled workers in geographic hubs.
分析了自动化和技术工人集中在地理枢纽地区对整个国家就业增长率的影响。
The research paper concluded that 25 cities and high-growth hubs
该研究论文指出，到2030年，25个城市及高增长中心
could generate 60 percent of the job growth in the United States through 2030.
就能给美国带来60%的就业增长。
The 54 trailing cities and rural areas, where one-fourth of Americans live, could have no growth in jobs.
而54个落后的城市和农村地区，这些地区的人口占到了美国总人口的四分之一，可能不会出现任何增长。
Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who recently wrote a report on automation and the work force,
布鲁金斯学会高级研究员马克·穆洛最近撰写了一份关于自动化和劳动力市场的报告，
said increased training would, like higher wages, benefit workers.
他说，增加培训和提高工资一样能造福员工。
But he cautioned that there was no guarantee those policies would last when the economy cooled.
但他也警告称，不保证经济降温时企业还会继续执行这些政策。
And he said that if Amazon did expect large job cuts in the future,
他还说，如果亚马逊真的准备在未来大幅裁员，
offering training now would be a savvy public relations move.
现在就提供培训堪称是明智的公关举措。
He said, “A less benign view of it is you’re pushing a lot of stuff out publicly
他说，“不那么善意地理解这件事就会觉得，你之所以公开推出这么多培训项目，
at a moment where you know there’s going to be a real serious human accounting in the coming years.
是因为你知道接下来几年会进行大幅人事调整。
“It’s also good marketing now at a time when you’re beginning to contemplate major staffing changes.”
“开始考虑重大人事变动之际推出这些再培训项目也是很好的营销手段。”
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
