Reinventing Workers for the Post-COVID Economy

The nation’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic will hinge ( ) to some extent ( ) on how quickly show managers can become electricians ( ), whether taxi drivers can become plumbers ( ), and how many cooks can manage software for a bank.

This is likely to prove especially problematic for millions of low-paid workers in service industries like retailing ( ), hospitality ( ), building maintenance and transportation, which may be permanently impaired ( ) or fundamentally transformed. What will janitors ( ) do if fewer people work in offices? What will waiters do if the urban restaurant ecosystem never recovers its density ( )?

Their prognosis ( ) is bleak ( ). Marcela Escobari, an economist at the Brookings Institution, warns that even if the economy adds jobs as the coronavirus risk fades ( ), “the rebound won’t help the people that have been hurt the most.”

Looking back over 16 years of data, Escobari finds that workers in the occupations ( ) most heavily hit since the spring will have a difficult time reinventing themselves. Taxi drivers, dancers and front-desk clerks have poor track records moving to jobs as, say, registered nurses, pipe layers or instrumentation technicians.

COVID is abruptly ( ) taking out a swath ( ) of jobs that were thought to be comparatively ( ) resilient ( ), in services that require personal contact with customers. And the jolt ( ) has landed squarely on workers with little or no education beyond high school, toiling ( ) in the low-wage service economy.

“The damage to the economy and particularly to workers will probably be longer lasting than we think it is going to be,” said Peter Beard, senior vice president at the Greater Houston Partnership, an economic development group.

What’s more, he said, COVID will intensify underlying ( ) dynamics ( ) that were already transforming ( ) the workplace. Automation ( ), for one, will most likely accelerate ( ) as employers seek to protect their businesses from future pandemics

The challenge is not insurmountable ( ). Yet despite scattered ( ) success stories, moving millions of workers into new occupations remains an enormous ( ) challenge.

“We need a New Deal ( ) for skills,” said Amit Sevak, president of Revature, a company that hires workers, trains them to use digital tools and helps place them in jobs. “President Roosevelt deployed ( ) the massive number of workers unemployed in the Great Depression on projects that created many of the dams ( ) and roads and bridges we have. We need something like that.”

勞工轉型以因應後疫情時代經濟

美國經濟能否從新型冠狀病毒影響下復甦，將在一定程度上取決於表演經理們要多久才能變成電工，計程車司機能否化身為水管工，以及有多少廚師能替銀行管理軟體。

這對零售業、餐旅業、建築維修和運輸業等服務業數百萬低薪工人來說，問題恐怕特別大。這些行業可能受到永久性損害或發生根本性改變。若辦公室裡人變少了，工友要做什麼呢？若都市餐廳生態系統繁盛不再，服務生又該如何？

他們的前景是黯淡的。布魯金斯學會經濟學家Marcela Escobari警告說，即使就業機會隨新型冠狀病毒疫情風險消退而增加，「經濟反彈也幫不了那些受創最重的人」。

Escobari檢視16年來的數據發現，今春以來受衝擊最大的一些職業，勞工將很難自我改造。計程車司機、舞者和櫃檯人員轉行從事護理師、舖管工或儀器技工等工作者十分有限。

新型冠狀病毒突然帶走了一大批原本被認為較不容易永久消失的工作，即需與客戶面對面接觸的服務工作。這一衝擊直接打擊到那些僅受過高中教育、在低薪服務經濟區塊中掙扎的勞工。

經濟發展組織大休士頓商會資深副總裁Peter Beard表示：「經濟、尤其是勞工們受害的時間，可能比我們預期的還要更長。」

他說，更重要的是，新型冠狀病毒疫情將強化已經在改變職場的潛在動力，自動化即為一例，由於雇主力求讓自己的企業未來不受大疫情影響，自動化極可能加速。

這項挑戰並非不能克服。然而，儘管有少數成功的例子，讓數百萬勞工轉業仍是巨大的挑戰。

雇用勞工後培訓他們使用數位工具，並幫他們找到工作的Revature公司總裁Amit Sevak說：「我們需要一項針對職業技能的新政。小羅斯福總統大蕭條時期把大量失業勞工投入工程計畫，興建了我們現在使用的水壩、道路與橋樑。我們需要這樣的東西。」

#高雄人 #學習英文 請找 #多益達人林立英文
#高中英文 #成人英文
#多益家教班 #商用英文
#國立大學外國語文學系講師

費德勒和貝克的舌頭

昨天有位球友分享說，費德勒在打得很順手的時候，會吐小舌頭歪向一邊，截了幾張圖給我們看。之前都沒注意過呢！

如果單看這個表情，其實我們也時常會有，比如看到美味的甜點，或是可口的情人，吐吐舌頭，是腦內多巴胺大量分泌時不自覺的外顯行為。是的，運動也會分泌多巴胺，球王對球原來也有這樣的渴望。

另一個小故事來自阿格西談前球王貝克（Boris Becker）的舌頭。

昨天剛好也是阿格西51歲的生日，Tennis TV回顧了一段這位接發球大師的專訪。

訪談中阿格西談到自己與貝克的前三次對賽都輸。主要的原因是貝克的發球是阿格西之前沒見過的。於是，阿格西不斷回看貝克的影片，然後發現一個連貝克自己都不知道的細節。

阿格西發現貝克在拋球的那一瞬間會將舌頭伸出來一點點，而舌頭伸出來的位置就是貝克的球準備要發的位置！比如在Deuce court，如果貝克的舌頭從中間伸出來，就表示他的球要發向中線或是身體；如果是伸向左邊，則是要發外角。

阿格西強調我沒開玩笑喔！然後接著說，自從發現了這個線索以後，比賽時最困難的便不再是接貝克的發球，而是如何不讓貝克知道自己知道了。所以阿格西變得要刻意地阻止自己去看貝克的舌頭的渴望，只有選在關鍵的時候才會用。

直到貝克退休之後，有一次在慕尼黑啤酒節，阿格西在和貝克一起喝了幾杯啤酒之後，終於忍不住告訴貝克自己的發現。阿格西說，你知道你的舌頭會透露你要發球的位置嗎？

貝克聽到之後驚呆了！就像是從椅子上摔下來....他對阿格西說，有好一陣子我回家時總是跟我太太說，為什麼阿格西那個傢伙就像是可以看透我的心思一樣？！

費德勒和貝克伸舌頭的動作是他們專注時的表現。儘管有時會暴露了自己的計畫，但伸舌頭還有另外一項好處。有研究證實「伸舌頭」，能和緩脖子和肩膀的肌肉，手臂因此能伸得更長。

想讓發球高度再高一點點？救球範圍再廣一點點嗎？或許，就像刻意讓自己嘴角上揚就會感到開心一樣，在球場上學球王伸伸舌頭，讓自己專注當下，手臂變長，注意！費德勒和貝克可是有練過的。我是不敢試啦。

圖片來源：https://images.app.goo.gl/FLmJNHxUcHS78M7x8
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/what-beckers-tongue-can-teach-toiling-bowlers-zpnlw59fq

Self-Made or God-Made?

““This is what Yahweh of Armies says: These people say, ‘The time hasn’t yet come, the time for Yahweh’s house to be built.’” Then Yahweh’s word came by Haggai, the prophet, saying, “Is it a time for you yourselves to dwell in your paneled houses, while this house lies waste? Now therefore this is what Yahweh of Armies says: Consider your ways. You have sown much, and bring in little. You eat, but you don’t have enough. You drink, but you aren’t filled with drink. You clothe yourselves, but no one is warm, and he who earns wages earns wages to put them into a bag with holes in it.”” (Haggai‬ ‭1:2-6‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

Sometimes with a fast pace of life, it is easy to confuse much activity with productivity. We need to pause and consider, “Am I just desperately toiling by the flesh because of fear, or am I being led by the Spirit?”

Only the Holy Spirit can give you the kind of restful increase and fruitfulness that the children of Israel enjoyed. They stepped into the land of Canaan and possessed houses, orchards and land that they did not build, plant or labor for.

“It shall be, when Yahweh your God brings you into the land which he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you, great and goodly cities, which you didn’t build, and houses full of all good things, which you didn’t fill, and cisterns dug out, which you didn’t dig, vineyards and olive trees, which you didn’t plant, and you shall eat and be full; then beware lest you forget Yahweh, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.” (Deuteronomy‬ ‭6:10-12‬ ‭WEB‬‬)

God had prepared the way for them, allowing the strong giants (the Anakim) of the land to build cities and towns for Israel, before giving Israel victory over the natives.

God gave them favor without the labor.

The world has people who call themselves ‘self-made men’, and they take credit for their achievements because they strived and sacrificed to get them. Lots of loss and compromise before getting something transient.

In the way of faith, it is impossible to boast about the good things we receive because the supernatural results cannot be justified by human effort. When God supplies fruitfulness, it is above and beyond what we think is possible.

Do you want to take credit for your achievements as a ‘self-made person’ and smile in public while you are crying from all the stress, loss and suffering in private, or do you want God to do all the heavy lifting and you just enjoy restful increase?

You have a loving, powerful, prosperous Heavenly Father who wants to take care of all your needs. Trust Him and receive everything you need by faith.

Learn and apply the way of miracle-working faith to enjoy supernatural fruitfulness: https://www.ko-fi.com/s/0db846b58c