每日跟讀#569: Now Hiring: Anyone

When Peter Enevoldsen won a lucrative order for the precision tractor parts that his company, Sjorring Maskinfabrik, makes in northern Denmark, his eyes lit up. The contract was worth more than half a million euros — a boon for his profits.

There was just one hitch: He did not have enough employees for the job.

Delivery was delayed, by one month, then two, then three, as he searched for skilled welders to speed the work at the sprawling factory. But in Denmark’s fast-recovering economy, they were hard to come by.

彼得．艾尼沃森經營的「史澤林工業」公司設在丹麥北部，當他為公司生產的精密曳引機零件拿到一紙高利潤訂單時，雙眼閃閃發亮。這可是張價逾50萬歐元的合約，是他公司獲利的大補帖。

只不過有一個問題：他沒有足夠的員工來應付這張訂單。

交貨因此延遲，先是一個月，然後變成兩個月，再變成三個月，期間他不停尋找有技術的焊工，以加快這龐大工廠裡的工作進度。然而在丹麥經濟快速復甦之際，這樣的焊工卻很難找到。

As Europe rebounds from its economic malaise, Denmark is one of a few countries that can boast of nearing a golden era of full employment, meaning almost everyone who is able and willing to work has a job. But instead of being cheered, it is posing new challenges to the country’s recovery.

More than a third of companies in this industrial and technically advanced nation can no longer recruit enough skilled workers to fill posts. Vacancies abound for IT specialists, computer scientists, engineers and mechanics, as well as for electricians and carpenters. The wages needed to lure them are creeping up. Affected firms are scaling back production, turning down contracts and postponing expansion plans.

歐洲經濟正從不景氣中反彈，丹麥是可以誇稱已接近完全就業黃金時代的幾個歐洲國家之一，這意味幾乎每個有能力和意願工作的人都有工作可做。不過，這不但不值得高興，還對丹麥的復甦構成新的挑戰。

在這個工業和技術先進的國家，超過三分之一的公司再也招不到足夠的技術工人。資訊科技專家、電腦科學家、工程師和技工都嚴重缺人，電工和木匠也是。需要用來吸引他們的薪資節節高升。受影響的公司正縮減生產，回絕合約，以及推遲擴張計劃。

“We need more skilled workers, but we can’t get them,” said Enevoldsen, who recently joined other companies in a nationwide advertising campaign to lure talent. “If the labor shortage continues, it could sharply impact our growth, and growth in general.”

Europe’s recovery is gaining traction fastest in the north, where Britain, Germany and Denmark’s Nordic neighbors also pushing toward full employment. The unemployment rate has fallen in the United States as well, and some economists have expressed optimism the country may be headed in that direction.

But the experience in Denmark shows what can happen with too much of a good thing.

艾尼沃森說：「我們需要更多的技術工人，但是找不到人。若是勞工短缺現象持續，它將嚴重衝擊我們的成長，以及整體的成長。」他最近加入了另一些公司的行列，共同展開一項全國性徵才廣告活動。

歐洲的復甦以北部增長最快，英國、德國和丹麥的北歐鄰國都正朝完全就業邁進。美國的失業率也有所下降，一些經濟學家樂觀表示，美國可能也正朝這個方向前進。

不過，丹麥的經驗說明，情況太好可能讓人受不了。

This country of just under 6 million people produces a diverse range of goods, from drugs to industrial machinery. To bolster its tech sector, the government recently named a “technology ambassador” to conduct relations with Google and other digital giants.

After a painful recession, unemployment is now at 4.3 percent, which is about as low as it can go without provoking inflation. During an economic boom a decade ago, joblessness fell as low as 2.4 percent, igniting an unsustainable spiral of higher wages and prices that the government desperately wants to avoid today.

這個人口略少於600萬的國家生產從藥品到工業機械的各式商品。為了加強其科技部門，政府最近任命了一位「科技大使」，以與谷歌等數位巨擘打好關係。

在經歷痛苦的衰退之後，丹麥目前的失業率為4.3％，大概已達不致引發通貨膨脹的最低水平。10年前丹麥經濟景氣時，失業率下降至2.4％，使得工資和物價出現難以支撐的持續飆漲，這是政府現今極力避免的情況。

Source article: https://paper.udn.com/udnpaper/POH0067/311586/web/#2L-9688602L