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Skilled labour
技工
Behind the scenes
在幕后
What a shortage of workers on film sets in Georgia says about America
美国称，乔治亚州电影现场面临工作人员的严重短缺问题
THE recent arrival of aliens and murderous youth in suburban Atlanta might seem like cause for concern. But they are merely characters in films shot at the Atlanta Media Campus and Studios, the largest complex of its kind outside California. The lot has hosted the final two instalments of “The Hunger Games” and “The Fifth Wave”, an upcoming science-fiction film. What ought to worry local residents is Georgia's inability to produce workers who can build the sets, run the wires or manage the sound for such films. This skills shortage may endanger the $4 billion or so that Jim Jacoby, whose firm plans to redevelop the complex, reckons the film industry could bring to the state this year.
在亚特兰大郊区，新到的外侨以及凶残的青年有可能会成为一个令人担忧的问题。但是在亚特兰大传媒学校以及工作室里，这些人却不是电影里的角色。该地已经迎来了“饥饿游戏”系列的两部电影以及电影“第五波”（“第五波”为一部即将上映的科幻片）。让当地居民担心的是，乔治亚州无法自产工作员工，这些员工的工作包括建造电影现场、控制电路或者为这类电影控制声效。这种技能的缺失将会造成大约40亿美元的损失，而这笔钱目恰恰是有重建综合设施的电影计划的吉姆·雅各比预估电影产业今年将产生的利润。
Georgia offers generous tax incentives to lure production companies. They can receive a credit for up to 30% of the costs incurred while making movies, as long as they spend more than $500,000. This convinced Mathew Hayden to move his firm, Cinipix, from California to Georgia. But Mr Hayden still imports many workers from Florida and New York. “It's a big concern,” he says. The state's movie business will only prove as profitable as its workers prove employable.
为了吸引生产公司，乔治亚州开出了大量税率奖励条件。在制作电影时，只要生产公司花费超过50万美元，他们就可以收到实际费用的30%的信贷。马修·海登心动了，为此他把自己的电影公司Cinipix从加利福尼亚州迁到乔治亚州。但是海登先生依然从弗洛里达州和纽约招募大量工作人员。他说，“这是一个很大的问题。”州的电影产业只有在该地的员工可以被录用的情况，才能够产生利润。
Georgia's skills shortage goes beyond the film industry. For every four tradesmen that retire just one takes their place, even though the state's unemployment rate hovers around 7.4%, over a point higher than the national rate. But a similar problem, albeit in less acute form, is in evidence across America. More than half of the country's tradesmen are aged over 45. According to the Department of Labour, America will need 41,700 more cement masons, 114,700 more electricians and 218,200 more carpenters by 2022. The government already spends around $17 billion a year trying to close what the president, Barack Obama, calls the “skills gap”. On July 22nd Mr Obama signed laws that he said would make job-training programmes that receive federal money “more effective, more responsive to employers and more accountable for results”.
比起电影工业，乔治亚州技工的缺失更为严重。即使州失业率徘徊在7.4%，且远高于国家失业率，四个商人退休也只有一个人顶替。然而，一个类似的问题，尽管没那么急型，在美国却显而易见。超过有一半的商人年龄高于45岁。劳工部称，到2022年，美国将还需要4.17万名泥瓦匠、11.47万名电工以及21.82万名木匠。政府每年已经花费170亿美元，努力去解决奥巴马总统口中的“技能鸿沟”问题。7月22日，奥巴马总统签署了法律文件，该法律将使得由联邦出资的岗位培训项目“更加高效、更加负责”。
One such programme is Go Build Georgia, which teaches teenagers a trade. But efforts to train young people as plumbers or pipe-fitters run up against concern from parents. Instead of being proud to raise a future welder, “everyone wants to believe that their child will go to Harvard”, says Matthew Gambill, the director of the Georgia Association for Career and Technical Education. Despite the lower cost of a skills-based education and the solid job prospects, enrolment at technical colleges has dropped 23% since recession-stricken students clamoured for entry in 2010.
其中一个项目叫做“建造乔治亚”，该项目教年轻人学会交易。但是训练年轻人成为水管工却引发了父母的担忧。乔治亚职业与技术教育协会的主任马修·甘比尔说道，不以培养一个未来的焊接工为豪，“每个人都希望他们的小孩会去读名校”。暂且不说技工教育的低费用以及坚实的就业前景，自2010年经济不景气学生要求入学，技校的升学率已经下降了23%。
Still, Georgia is pouring money into training, and targeting industries such as the movie business that are particularly short of skilled labour. It spent $24m last year on the teaching of trades in schools, while the state's technical colleges received $318m. Some of these institutions are already collaborating with film studios to design specialist courses. Lee Thomas, the deputy commissioner of Georgia's film, music and digital entertainment office, says a stand-alone academy is also in the works for those who wish to become stars behind the scenes.
尽管如此，乔治亚州依旧投入大量资金支持培训，而且瞄准急需技工的电影产业。去年，就学校教交易课投入2400万美元，而州技校则投入3.18亿美元。一些这样的机构已经与电影工作室合作，开设专业课程。乔治亚影视音乐数字娱乐办公室的副总监李·汤姆说，一所独立学院也同样为那些希望成名的幕后工作者提供帮助。
Mr Jacoby, though, is taking matters into his own hands. By next summer he wants the Atlanta Media Campus to host a school that will teach students how to work on a film set. American firms spent $162 billion training their employees in 2012. The success of Mr Jacoby's investment in Georgia may depend on whether he can bridge its skills gap.
雅各比先生正在考虑自行其事。到明年夏天，他希望亚特兰大传媒大学能开设一个教学生如何在电影现场工作的学院。2012年，美国电影业投资1620亿美元来培训工作人员。雅各比先生在乔治亚投资的成功将取决于他能否消除技能鸿沟。
