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The winners are the workers. When workers are scarce, employers have an incentive to broaden their searches -- considering people with less formal education, or those with disabilities -- and to give existing employees opportunities for advancement.
赢家是劳动者。当劳动力稀缺时，雇主有动力扩大搜索范围--考虑那些受教育程度较低的人或残疾人--并为现有员工提供晋升机会。
At Central Vermont Medical Center, as at rural hospitals across the country, the pandemic compounded an existing nursing shortage. An aging population means that demand for health care will only grow.
在佛蒙特中部医疗中心，就像在全国各地的乡村医院一样，大流行加剧了现有的护工短缺。人口老龄化意味着对医疗保健的需求会只增不减。
So the medical center has teamed up with two local colleges on a program enabling hospital employees to train as nurses while working full time. The hospital built a classroom and simulation lab on site, and lent out its nurses to serve as faculty.
因此，该医疗中心与当地两所大学发起了一个合作项目，使医院员工能够在全职工作的同时接受护士培训。医院在院内建了一个教室和模拟实验室，并调来护士担任教员。
Students spend 12 of their paid working hours each week studying -- and if they stay on as nurses for three years after completing the program, their student debt is forgiven.
项目学员每周有12小时的带薪工作时间用于学习，如果在完成学习项目后继续当护士满三年，那么他们的学生贷款就会被免除。
Other businesses are finding their own ways to accommodate workers. Lake Champlain Chocolates, a high-end chocolate maker outside Burlington, has revamped its production schedule to reduce its reliance on seasonal help. It has also begun bringing former employees out of retirement, hiring them part time during the holiday season.
其他企业也在自己找办法适应劳动力情况。伯灵顿郊区的高端巧克力制造商尚普兰湖巧克力公司已经修改了生产时间安排，以减少对季节性外援的依赖。该公司还开始返聘退休的前员工，在假日季节雇他们做兼职。
Then there is the most straightforward way to attract workers: paying them more. Lake Champlain has raised starting wages for its factory and retail workers 20 to 35 percent over the past two years.
还有一个最直接的吸引工人的办法：给他们更高的工资。在过去的两年里，尚普兰湖已经将工厂工人和零售工人的起薪提高了20%到35%。
The labor challenge is evident at Cabot Creamery's packaging plant in the company's namesake town. Blocks of cheese weighing close to 700 pounds are fed into machines that cut them, for one product, into cracker-size slices.
在卡博特镇的卡博特乳品包装厂，人手不足的挑战显而易见。重量接近700磅的奶酪块被送入机器中，机器将它们切割成饼干大小的切片，变成一件产品。
Employees in gloves and hairnets then drop the slices into plastic pouches, which are sealed and packaged together. Many of the workers are in their 50s and 60s, and have been with Cabot for decades.
戴着手套和发网的员工然后把切片放进塑料袋里，塑料袋会被集中密封并包装。许多工人都是五六十岁的人，已经在卡博特工作了几十年。
Cabot is over an hour from Burlington, in a rural area where cellphone coverage is spotty and many roads are unpaved.
卡博特距离伯灵顿有一个多小时的车程，是一个农村地区，手机信号并未全面覆盖，许多道路都是土路。
The county has only about 700 unemployed people, according to the state's Labor Department, and while the company has raised pay and offers generous benefits -- a recent marketing campaign cites perks including a defined-benefit pension plan, tuition reimbursement and, of course, free cheese -- hiring remains difficult.
根据佛蒙特州劳工部的数据，该县只有大约700名失业人员，虽然卡博特公司已经提高了工资并提供了慷慨的福利--最近的营销广告列举了固定福利养老金计划、学费报销，当然还有免费奶酪--但仍然很难招到人。
Adding to the challenge is Vermont's housing shortage. Cabot has contracted with a local college to use unoccupied dormitories to house temporary workers brought in from other states and -- on guest-worker visas -- from other countries.
让招聘更难的是佛蒙特州的住房短缺。卡博特已经与当地一所大学签订了合同，使用空置的学校宿舍来为其他州的临时工以及持客工签证的外国临时工提供住处。
It is also investing in automation -- not just to require fewer workers but also to make jobs less taxing for its aging employee base. New equipment will package cheese slices automatically.
卡博特还在投资自动化设备，不仅是为了减少对工人的需求，也是为了让工作对老年员工来说不那么繁重。新设备将自动包装奶酪切片。
