Things are even worse in technology. In Britain only one in five computer-science university students is a woman—a big problem at a time when the World Economic Forum predicts that technology will create more than a quarter of all jobs in newly emerging professions. But women are underrepresented in some important fields of technology; they have only 12% of jobs in cloud computing, for example. Something about the tech industry puts off female applicants.
科技行业的情况更糟。世界经济论坛预测,在英国的新兴职业中,技术将创造超过四分之一的就业岗位,而只有五分之一的计算机科学大学生是女性,这是个大问题。而在一些重要的技术领域,女性的比例偏低;例如,只有12%女性的工作在云计算领域。科技行业的某些东西让女性申请者望而却步。
Women play a much bigger role in the health- and social-care sectors, which are also poised for expansion. The bls forecasts that eight of the 12 fastest-growing jobs in America over the next few years will be in those areas, with roles ranging from occupational-therapy assistants to genetic counsellors. The snag is that some of these jobs are not very well paid. Home-health and personal-care aides (with the third- and fourth-fastest growth rates, respectively) had median annual salaries in 2018 of just over $24,000.
妇女在保健和社会保健部门发挥更大的作用,这些部门也准备扩大。劳工统计局预测,未来几年美国12个增长最快的工作中有8个将属于这些领域,从职业治疗助理到基因顾问。问题是,其中一些工作的薪水并不高。家庭健康和个人护理助理(增长率分别位居第三和第四)2018年的平均年薪略高于2.4万美元。
Some jobs in health care are extremely lucrative, of course. But another gender imbalance emerges here: women make up only one-third of American health-care executives. In contrast, they tend to dominate the poorly paid social-care workforce. In Britain 83% of social-care workers are female. That suggests men shun the field, perhaps because they do not perceive caring to be a masculine trait.
当然,医疗行业的一些工作薪水丰厚。但这里出现了另一种性别失衡:医疗行业高管中女性的比例仅为三分之一。相比之下,低收入的社会护理劳动力则更多为女性。在英国,83%的社会福利工作者是女性。这表明男性回避这个领域,也许是因为男性认为护理工作太不具有男性特征了。
The biggest problem in the labour market, then, may not be that teenagers are focusing on a few well-known jobs. It could be a mismatch: not enough talented women move into technology and not enough men take jobs in social care. Any economist will recognise this as an inefficient use of resources. Wherever the root of the problem lies—be it the education system, government policy or corporate recruiting practices—it needs to be identified and fixed.
因此,劳动力市场的最大问题可能不是青少年专注于一些众所周知的工作。这可能是一种错位:没有足够多的有才华的女性进入科技行业,也没有足够多的男性从事社会福利工作。任何经济学家都会认识到,这是一种对资源的低效利用。无论问题的根源在哪里——无论是教育体系、政府政策还是企业招聘实践——都需要加以识别和修正。
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