即将到来的劳动力短缺外文翻译.docVIP

外文翻译 原文 The Coming Labor Shortage Material Source:Journal of labor research Author: WILLIAM B. JOHNSTON I. Introduction This study explores the nature of the labor-shortage problem during the 1990s-its severity, its location, whats driving it, how inevitable it may or may not be, and how its demographics and economics fit together. Solutions are proposed for employers, particularly small employers who may not be at as much of a disadvantage as it may first appear. Although changes in the quality and quantity of the workforce are critical issues, attention is also given to innovation and the way in which people are used and managed. These are areas in which small business has some potential advantages. II. Slowdown in Labor Force Growth Rate The rate of growth in the American labor force during the 1960s and 1970s were an anomaly. An atypically large baby boom generation entered the work force at the same time as women began working outside the home in extraordinary numbers. Both of these phenomena have run their course, and the situation is now one of slowdown. The number of young people is no longer increasing, and the rate at which women are entering the labor force has slowed. Women remain a significant part of that force and their numbers and proportion will keep rising, but the overall growth rate has already slowed dramatically and will continue to slow through most of the 1990s. The average growth of the labor force was about 3 percent per year during the 1960s and much of the 1970s. The rate has now slowed to half that and will be only about one percent per year during the late 1990s. Even that one percent includes an enormous number of immigrants. One-third of all net additions to the work force will be immigrants or first-generation Americans, the native children of immigrants. III. Older Employees The labor force has also experienced an aging phenomenon, an important occurrence for both the country and employers. A work force that was predominantly youn