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Automation already plays a central role at Amazon’s huge warehouses.
自動化在亞馬遜大型倉庫中起著關鍵的作用。
Devices tell workers which direction to walk to pick up a package from a shelf.
自動化設備會提示員工取貨路徑。
And there are signs that technology is at least easing the company’s voracious appetite for warehouse workers:
有跡象表明，技術至少緩解了該公司對倉庫工人的火爆需求：
Last holiday season, it hired fewer temporary workers than in the previous year,
上個假期，該企業雇傭的臨時工的數量相比前一年已經有所下降，
and last quarter, its head count was up 12 percent, the lowest rise in years.
上個季度，該公司的員工人數只增長了12%，達到了數年來的最低增幅。
Amazon isn’t trying to turn warehouse pickers into software engineers.
亞馬遜并沒有打算將倉庫管理員變成軟件工程師。
Rather, its new program aims to move a large swath of workers up one or two rungs on the skills ladder,
這次的再培訓項目只是為了讓大量工人在技能階梯上提升一到兩個層次，
turning warehouse floor workers into IT technicians and low-level coders into data scientists.
把倉庫的地勤人員變成IT技術人員，把低級程序員變成數據科學家。
Ms. Williams said the retraining initiative was built on existing education programs at the company.
威廉姆斯說，再培訓計劃是依托公司現有培訓項目推出的。
Software engineering classes will be available for corporate employees without technical backgrounds, she said.
沒有技術背景的企業員工也能上該項目的軟件工程課。
Ms. Williams said in an interview, “When automation comes in, it changes the nature of work,
威廉姆斯在接受采訪時說：“自動化出現以后改變了工作的本質，
but there are still pieces of work that will be done by people.
但還是有一些工作需要人工來完成。
You have the opportunity to up-skill that population so they can, for example, work with the robots.”
我們有這個機會提高這些員工的技能，讓他們可以和機器人一起工作什么的。”
Amazon’s announcement met with some skepticism from experts,
亞馬遜的聲明遭到了一些專家的質疑，
They noted that American companies had long spent less on training than their European counterparts —
他們指出，長期以來，美國企業在培訓方面的投入一直低于歐洲同行——
and that when they did offer training, it was usually for college-educated, white-collar workers.
而且，就算美國的企業推出了培訓項目，通常也是針對受過大學教育的白領的項目。
Amazon’s most prominent retraining program has had only modest adoption internally.
哪怕是亞馬遜最著名的再培訓項目，真正參加的人數還是十分有限。
In 2012, Amazon started a program called Career Choice to provide up to $12,000 in tuition and other costs
2012年，亞馬遜啟動了一個名為“職業選擇”的再培訓項目，為小時工們提供高達1.2萬美元的學費和其他費用，
for hourly employees to get certificates or associate degrees in high-demand fields like health care.
幫助他們獲取醫療等需求較大的領域的證書或副學士學位。
Even though hundreds of thousands of people have worked at Amazon’s warehouses since the program started,
盡管自該項目啟動以來，亞馬遜的倉庫員工新增了數十萬人，
only about 25,000 have participated.
真正參加該項目的卻只有2.5萬人左右。
Even if the retraining effort succeeds, some workers are bound to lose out.
就算再培訓成功了，無疑還是會有部分員工被淘汰。
Not every one of them will be able to find a better job.
也不是所有人都能找到更好的工作。
A report that the McKinsey Global Institute published on Thursday
麥肯錫全球研究所周四發布的一份報告
analyzed the impact of automation and the clustering of skilled workers in geographic hubs.
分析了自動化和技術工人集中在地理樞紐地區對整個國家就業增長率的影響。
The research paper concluded that 25 cities and high-growth hubs
該研究論文指出，到2030年，25個城市及高增長中心
could generate 60 percent of the job growth in the United States through 2030.
就能給美國帶來60%的就業增長。
The 54 trailing cities and rural areas, where one-fourth of Americans live, could have no growth in jobs.
而54個落后的城市和農村地區，這些地區的人口占到了美國總人口的四分之一，可能不會出現任何增長。
Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution who recently wrote a report on automation and the work force,
布魯金斯學會高級研究員馬克·穆洛最近撰寫了一份關于自動化和勞動力市場的報告，
said increased training would, like higher wages, benefit workers.
他說，增加培訓和提高工資一樣能造福員工。
But he cautioned that there was no guarantee those policies would last when the economy cooled.
但他也警告稱，不保證經濟降溫時企業還會繼續執行這些政策。
And he said that if Amazon did expect large job cuts in the future,
他還說，如果亞馬遜真的準備在未來大幅裁員，
offering training now would be a savvy public relations move.
現在就提供培訓堪稱是明智的公關舉措。
He said, “A less benign view of it is you’re pushing a lot of stuff out publicly
他說，“不那么善意地理解這件事就會覺得，你之所以公開推出這么多培訓項目，
at a moment where you know there’s going to be a real serious human accounting in the coming years.
是因為你知道接下來幾年會進行大幅人事調整。
“It’s also good marketing now at a time when you’re beginning to contemplate major staffing changes.”
“開始考慮重大人事變動之際推出這些再培訓項目也是很好的營銷手段。”
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