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Even the best-run firms can find savings when pushed. 运行得最好的公司甚至可以在强制的情况下找到解决的方式。
They may even find benefits. 他们甚至在其中有利可图。 Turnover of low-paid staff often falls in places where minimum wages go up, reducing hiring costs. 当最低工资上调时，低薪员工流通率也会同时上涨，这样将可以降低雇佣成本。 Higher wages might also make workers more productive. 而高工资也可能使得工人更有效率。 The theory of “efficiency wages” says that well-paying firms can induce staff to work harder by improving morale or by making it costlier for them to risk being sacked. “绩效工资”理论认为：高薪公司或可以激发员工士气，或使员工冒解雇之风险而投机牺牲代价变的更高，从而促使员工更努力工作。 The well-heeled firms that have signed up to the living wage report a better standard of work. 据报告显示，收入不错的企业都规规矩矩地执行最低工资标准，其工作质量都处于较高水平。 Bosses in less cosy workplaces know this, too. 而工作环境不怎么舒适的公司的老板都知道这一点。 A study of prostitution in Chicago found that pimps paid above-market wages to retain the best street workers. 芝加哥的一项研究发现，老鸨们支付高于市场的薪水来留住最好的街头工作者。
These are comforting arguments for those who think firms should be cajoled into paying the living wage. 对那些认为公司应该被连哄带骗地支付最低生活工资来说，这些都是令人欣慰的参数。 They apply only up to a point. 但是他们只用到了一个方面。 Efficiency-wage theory was devised to explain high unemployment. 效率工资理论被用来解释高失业率。 Wage floors in America are low by European standards. 美国的最低工资标准低于欧洲水平。 Britain’s minimum wage is carefully set to avoid demolishing jobs. When it was introduced it affected fewer than 2 million workers. 英国的最低工资的设置是十分谨慎的，以防带来失业，受影响的人数应控制在200万之内。 But the national living wage is 20% higher, the London rate almost 40% higher. 但是全国最低生活工资高出（实际水平 的）20%,伦敦率更是高出近40%。 If applied to all those currently in work, they would raise the pay of around 5m employees. 如果推广到所有的行业，约有500万人将会提高最低工资。 It is hard to believe that would have no effect on jobs. 那么，很难相信这对就业没有任何影响。
Indeed, large cuts in real wages help explain why the jobs market has hummed along in an otherwise sluggish economy. 事实上,实际工资大削减有助于解释为什么就业市场在萧条的经济中仍高歌猛进。 Employment growth has been stronger in low-paid industries—in shops, hotels, bars, office services and so on—than in higher-paid work. 例如像商店、酒店、酒吧、办公服务，如此等等低收入行业往往比报酬更高的的工作的就业率要高。 The law firms, banks and accountants who have embraced the living wage can afford it, as they employ few low-paid workers. 律师事务所、银行和会计等行业可以承受起最低工资标准，因此他们很少雇佣那些低薪劳动者。
A living wage implies a wage level that keeps up with prices, at least in part. 一个最低生活工资至少要与部分物价水平保持一致。 But British workers have had to settle for a lower standard of living in recent years, because of a weaker pound, the rising cost of oil across the world and higher taxes. 然而，由于英镑疲软，世界范围内石油价格上升以及税收提高，英国工人最近几年不得不过着水平相对较低的生活。 As a result, surprisingly few have lost their jobs. 但是，令人惊讶的是，很少有人失去了工作。 Brits, it seems, much prefer the hardship of low wages to the misery of no wages. 与没有工资相对比，收入低一点对英国人来说没什么关系。 （全文共350个词）（红色标注词为考研重点词汇）
考研重点词汇： devise [dɪ'vaɪz] vt. 设计；想出；发明；图谋；遗赠给 demolish [dɪ'mɒlɪʃ] vt. 拆除；破坏；毁坏；推翻；驳倒 sluggish ['slʌgɪʃ] adj. 萧条的；迟钝的；行动迟缓的；懒惰的 每天一篇双语经济学人没有看够！ |
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