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1、Drew Greenblatt surveys the shop floor of his small factory in a down-at-heel district of Baltimore, Maryland, where two workers are using a large steel-bending robot. 德鲁格林布拉特(Drew Greenblatt)的小工厂位于美国马里兰州巴尔的摩一个破败的地区，他正在视察工厂车间，两名工人正在操作一个大型的钢铁弯轧机器人。 “This part used to be made in China,” he says. “But
2、because of the robotics we stole this manufacturing from China and now make it in America.” “过去这个零部件在中国制造，”他称，“但是由于机器人技术，我们将这项（制造业务）从中国偷走了，如今在美国制造它。” The introduction of automation at Marlin Steel Wire Products has helped boost employee productivity fourfold since 1998, estimates Mr Greenblatt, whos
3、e customers include carmaker General Motors . The gains in efficiency are impressive but they are not being replicated across America. 格林布拉特估计，自 1998 年以来，马林钢丝产品公司(Marlin Steel Wire Products)引入自动化技术已经帮助将员工的生产率提高了 3 倍。他的客户包括汽车制造商通用汽车(General Motors)。该公司生产率的提升令人瞩目，但是这种模式并未在美国得到普遍推广。Even as US manufactu
4、rers adopt automation as part of their fightback against offshoring to Asia, productivity growth across the economy is at a near-standstill. A similar picture is being played out across the globe, exposing the most pressing problem in the world economy today. Only India and sub-Saharan Africa seem t
5、o be immune from slowing productivity growth. 即便美国制造商采用自动化作为反击制造业岗位向亚洲外流的部分努力，但整个经济的生产率增长仍近乎处于停滞状态。类似的景象正在全球各地上演，这暴露了当今世界经济面临的最紧迫问题。只有印度和撒哈拉以南非洲地区看上去并未出现生产率增长放缓。 Economists are increasingly alarmed because slower improvements in efficiency will lead to a fall-off in living standards and less-solid p
6、ublic finances. In the medium term, productivity growth is the most important driver of prosperity. Its weakness in recent years lies at the heart of why advanced nations have remained in a low-growth rut since the financial crisis even as unemployment has fallen. 由于生产率提高放缓将导致生活水平下降以及公共财政稳定性降低，经济学家对
7、此日益担心。从中期来看，生产率增长是繁荣最重要的推动因素。自金融危机以来，即便失业率已经下滑，但发达国家仍未能摆脱低增长率趋势，这其中的核心问题就是近年来生产率增长疲软。 Janet Yellen, the Federal Reserve chair, raised Americas “relatively weak” productivity in a speech last week and urged new measures to strengthen education, boost entrepreneurship and lift capital investment. 上周，美
8、联储主席珍妮特耶伦(Janet Yellen)在发表演讲时提到了美国“相对疲软”的生产率，敦促推出新的措施以加强教育、促进创业以及提升资本投资。 New data from the Conference Board think-tank show that average labour productivity growth in mature economies slowed to 0.6 per cent in 2014 from 0.8 per cent in 2013, as a result of ebbing performances in the US, Japan and Eu
9、rope. Productivity, which tracks how efficiently inputs such as labour and capital are used, tends to evolve over long periods. But the Conference Board readings confirm a longer-term trend of sagging growth that is setting off alarm bells around the world. 智库机构世界大型企业联合会(Conference Board)的新数据显示，由于美国
10、、日本和欧洲的表现日益走下坡路，成熟经济体的平均劳动生产率增速由 2013 年的 0.8%降至2014 年的 0.6%。追踪劳动力、资本等投入使用效率的生产率，往往经过长期演化形成。但是，世界大型企业联合会的数据证实了生产率增长低迷的长期趋势，这一趋势正在全世界范围敲响警钟。 “In the past decade the US has had terrible productivity growth and other countries have been slipping relative to the US,” says John Fernald, an economist at th
11、e San Francisco Fed. “过去 10 年，美国生产率增长表现糟糕，而其他国家相对于美国的差距持续加大，”旧金山联邦储备银行(San Francisco Fed)的经济学家约翰 弗纳尔德(John Fernald)称。 In the UK, productivity has not improved in eight years, breaking a trend of roughly 2 per cent annual growth stretching back over a century. George Osborne, the chancellor, last wee
12、k committed the new Conservative government to boosting productivity. 英国的生产率已经 8 年未出现改善，打破了一个世纪以来每年增长约两个百分点的趋势。上周，英国财政大臣乔治奥斯本(George Osborne)向新的保守党(Conservative)政府承诺将提高生产率。 Faced with rapidly ageing populations and slowing employment growth, mature economies need to boost productivity sharply if the
13、y are to escape stagnating living standards. To compensate fully for slower employment growth over the coming 50 years, productivity growth would need to be 80 per cent faster than over the past half-century, according to calculations from McKinsey, the consultancy. 面对人口迅速老龄化以及就业增长放缓，成熟经济体如果想摆脱生活水平停
14、滞不前的问题，就需要大幅提高生产率。据咨询公司麦肯锡(McKinsey)估算，为了完全弥补未来 50 年就业增长放缓的影响，生产率增速将需要比过去半个世纪快 80%。 Whether such an acceleration can be achieved depends in part on identifying why growth is slowing. To optimists, the poor numbers are a transitory legacy of the recession. The downturn in global demand has temporaril
15、y depressed companies willingness to invest in new equipment and ideas, and that more cautious outlook dented productivity. 这种加速能否实现，部分取决于能否确定生产率增速下降的原因。对于乐观主义者来说，糟糕的数据只是衰退的暂时性后遗症。全球需求下滑暂时性地打压了公司投资新设备和新想法的意愿，人们更加谨慎的观点拉低了生产率。But the slowdown predated the financial crisis; Conference Board data reveal
16、 a longstanding fall in growth across mature economies. In Europe and Japan it started in the 1990s, and is related to slower adoption of technology, it says. 但是，生产率增长放缓先于金融危机；世界大型企业联合会的数据显示，成熟经济体长期以来普遍存在生产率增长放缓的情况。该机构表示，欧洲和日本生产率增长放缓始于上世纪 90年代，与之相联系的是技术应用变慢。 Marco Annunziata, the chief economist at General Electric, worries there is a structural problem in Europe due to a lack of risk-taking, low R&D spending and inflexible labour markets. 通用电气(General Electric)的首席经济学家马可安农齐亚
