efe

2._____________________________________________

3._____________________________________________

4._____________________________________________

141

TECHNOLOGY AND EMPLOYMENT

Does Technological Progress Create or Destroy Jobs?

1.Does technological progress destroy jobs? The obvious answer may seem to be yes. After all, new technology often involves machines taking over jobs that were previously done by people.

2.There is another view, however. This argues that a failure to introduce new technology and ultimately to remain competitive will offer an even worse long-

term employment problem. M arkets, and hence employment, will be lost to more efficient competitors.

3. The relative merits of each of these views are difficult to assess, since they depend greatly upon the type of technology, its organisation in the workplace and the market within which it is located. The diagram isolates four stages in the effects of new technology on jobs.

(3) Servicing

(4) M arket expansion

(1) Design and Emp loy ment installation increase

Time

Four effects of new technology on employment

Source: A. Rajan and G. Cooke. “The impact of IT on employment”. (National Westminster Bank Quarterly Review. August 1986).

Stage (1) Design and installation

Here labour requirements grow as first designers and then construction workers are employed. As construction/installation is completed, employment from this source will then disappear.

Stage (2) Implementation

Here labour requirements decline, especially if the technology is concerned with improving existing processes rather than creating new products.

Stage (3) Servicing

Maintenance and repair may have positive employment effects. This may gradually decrease over time as “teething troubles” are eliminated, or it may increase as the stock of initially new machines begins to grow older.

Stage (4) M arket expansion

This represents the long-term impact of technology on employment levels as the improved and/or cheaper products lead to more sales.

142

4. The optimistic view holds that, historically, technology has generated more jobs than it has destroyed. Total employment today is much higher than a hundred years ago, and yet technological progress has allowed many goods and services to be produced with far fewer workers. What has happened is that increased output has more than compensated for the growth in labour productivity. There is no reason, say the optimists, why this process should not continue.

5. The pessimists, however, are less certain about the potential employment benefits of new technology. Even in growth industries, such as pharmaceuticals, electronics, optical technology and high-value plastics, there has been a decline in employment. Except in a few parts of the world where a rapid growth in exports has allowed a huge expansion of output (e.g. certain south-east Asian countries), output growth in high-tech industries has not kept pace with the growth in labour productivity.

I.Which part of the text reports on these items?

A.The outcome of new technology is risky.

B.The negative influence of technological race on employment.

C.Technological changes improve the potential employment benefits.

D.Technology failure and the nature of employment.

E.How are new technology and jobs shaping their dependence?

II.Choose the best answer to complete each gap in the text.

The impact of technology not only on the ___ (1) of business, but on the economy in general is ___ (2) illustrated by the development and use of the Internet. By 1997,

___ (3) some 40 million people and 25 000 firms used the Internet, and this figure was rising ___ (4) over 10 per cent per month. The commercial possibilities of the Internet ___ (5) from the selling of information and services, to global forms of cat a- logue shopping where you can ___ (6) through a business’s product range (or surf the net) and use your credit card number to pay. The Internet is just one example of how technology and technological change are ___ (7) the whole structure and organisation of business, the ___ (8) of work for the worker, and the ___ (9) of business and hence the competitive ___ (10) of national economies.

III. In most of the lines below there is one extra word. It is either grammatically incorrect or does not fit in with the sense of the text. S ome lines, however, are correct. If there is an extra word in the line, write out the extra word in CAPITAL LETTERS .

01 Can workers who are displaced from high-tech

02 industries not as simply find jobs in other parts of the 03 economy? There are two problems over here. The first is 04 that of a structural unemployment. Displaced workers 05 may not have the skills to take up its work elsewhere. 06 Clearly up what is needed is a system of retraining that 07 enables only workers to move to alternative jobs. The 08 second is that of income distribution. If the only

09 alternative jobs are more relatively low-skilled ones in the 10 service sector (cleaners, porters, shelf p ackers,

11 checkout assistants, etc.), the displaced workers may 12 have to accept for a considerable cut in wages.

144

DO PEOPLE VOLUNTEER TO BE UN EMPLOYED

The distinction between voluntary and involuntary unemployment

I. Read the text. Some parts of the texts have been taken out. These extracts are listed below. Complete each gap with the appropriate extract. One sentence does not belongin any of the gaps.

a)“Voluntary” unemployment tends to imply that the blame for unemployment lies with the unemployed person and not with “market forces” or with inadequate government policies.

b)Workers want to work at the current wage, but there are not enough jobs

available.

c)It occurs when the demand for certain types of labour fluctuates with the seasons of the year.

d)Workers can hardly be said to have volunteered for these changes in d e-

mand.

e)According to these economists, then, only demand-deficient unemployment would be classed as involuntary.

A distinction made by some economists is that between voluntary and involuntary unemployment. M any economists would regard equilibrium unemployment as voluntary. If people choose not to accept a job at the going wage, even though there are jobs available, then in a sense they could be said to have voluntarily chosen to be unemployed. Disequilibrium unemployment, according to these economists, would be classed as invo luntary. ___ (1)

Some economists would also include classical unemployment as voluntary. If people, through their unions, have chosen to demand a higher wage t han the equilibrium wage, then they could be said to have collectively “volunteered” to make themselves unemployed. ___ (2)

Some economists go even further and argue that all unemployment should be classed as voluntary. If the cause of disequilibrium unemployment is a downward stickiness in real wage rates, then workers, either individually or collectively, are choosing not to accept work at a lower wage.

Other economists would go to the other extreme and claim that all disequil i- brium unemployment and most equilibrium unemployment is involuntary. Structural unemployment, for example, results from changes in demand and/or supply patterns in the economy and a resulting mismatching of unemployed workers’ skills to the person specifications of vacant jobs. ___ (3) True, people can be retrained, but retraining takes time, and in the meantime they will be unemployed. Similarly with frictional unemployment, if the cause of some people being unemployed is initial ignorance of job opportunities and hence the time it t akes to search for a job, they cannot be said to have volunteered to be initially poorly informed.

The terms “voluntary” and “involuntary” unemployment are not only ambiguous, they are also unfortunate because they have strong normative overtones. ___ (4) While in one sense, at a low enough wage rate there would probably be a job for vir-

145

tually any unemployed person, the unemployed cannot be said to be voluntarily unemployed if they are choosing to turn down jobs at pitifully low wages.

Although the concepts of voluntary and involuntary unemployment are commonly used, for the above reasons we shall avoid them.

II.For each question 1-4, mark one for the answer you choose.

1.According to some economists involuntary unemployment takes place when workers

A.choose to work at the equilibrium wage but can’t find a job.

B.can’t accept work at the current wage.

C.are encouraged by their unions to resign because of low wage.

2. One of the extreme viewpoints on unemployment is that

A. any unemployment can be classified voluntary and involuntary at the same time. B. all unemployment can be considered as involuntary.

C. in cases workers make their own decisions if to accept work or not.

3. Some economists claim that

A. changes in demand can lead to involuntary unemploy ment. B. retraining of people cause voluntary unemployment.

C. if people are initially poorly informed of job opportunities and become unemployed, they are sure to have done it voluntarily.

4. It is stated that the difference between “voluntary” and “involuntary” unemployment

A. is subtle. B. is obvious. C. is senseless.

III. Choose the best answer to complete each gap in the text.

Structural unemployment is ___ (1) the structure of the economy changes. Employment in some industries may ___ (2) while in others it contracts. There are two main reasons ___ (3) this.

A change in the pattern of demand. Some industries ___ (4) declining demand. This may be ___ (5) to a change in consumer tastes. Certain goods may go ___ (6) fashion. Or it may ___ (7) competition from other industries. For example, consumer demand may ___ (8) from coal and to other fuels.

A change in the methods of production. New techniques of production often allow the ___ (9) level of output to be produced with fewer workers. Unless output expands sufficiently to absorb the surplus labour, people will be ___ (10) redundant.

146

IV. In most of the lines below there is one extra word. It is either grammatically incorrect or does not fit in with the sense of the text. S ome lines, howe v- er, are correct. If there is an extra word in the line, wri te out the extra word in CAPITAL LETTERS .

01. There are two broad approaches to the tackling structural unemployment: 02. market-orientated or interventionist.

03. The first one involves encouraging people to look more active for jobs, if necessary in

04. the other parts of the country, involves encouraging people to adopt 05. a more willing attitude on retraining, and if necessary

06. to accept some reduction in wages.

07. An interventionist approach involves direct government actionto match jobs tothe unemployed.

08.Two examples are providing grants to firms to set back in areas

09.of high unemployment (regionalpolicy),

10.and government-funded trained schemes.

147

Part IV. Fundamentals of Translation

Вводное занятие

Порядок слов в английском предложении, характеристика членов предложения с точки зрения их местоположения в структуре предложения.

Особенности системы времен английского глагола, общая характеристика групп времен английского глагола, особенности перевода ан г- лийского глагола на русский язык в каждой группе времен.

Многозначность глаголов to be, to have.

Порядок слов простого повествовательного предложения. Члены предложения

Приступая к чтению и переводу литературы по специальности на английском языке, следует помнить о том, что связи между словами в английском предложении осуществляются не путем изменения формы самих слов (падежных и личных окончаний, как в русском), а с помощью служебных слов, таких как предлоги, вспомогательные глаголы, артикли. Каждое слово в английском предложении несет в себе грамматическую или лексическую информацию.

В отличие от русского предложения (со свободным порядком слов) английское имеет фиксированный (твердый) порядок слов.

Обязательными членами в английском предложении являются подле-

жащее и сказуемое, поэтому при переводе следует в первую очередь найти сказуемое и подлежащее, а затем остальные члены предложения.

Найти сказуемое достаточно просто, даже если вы не знаете значения ни одного слова в предложении, которое вам нужно перевести. Сказуемое просто определить по наличию окончания или по словам-сигналам, которые его сопр о- вождают.

Внешними признаками анг лийског о сказуемог о являются:

окончание -s у глагола в единственном числе, третьем лице во време-

ни Present Simple:

148

наличие глаголов to be, to have в любой из своих форм (am, is, are, was, were, have, has, had), поскольку они будут являться либо самостоятельными сказуемыми при использовании их в качестве смысловых глаголов, либо войдут в состав сказу емого при образовании одного из времен или передаче модального значения:

(Часть сказуемого в Future Simple)

наличие модальных глаголов can, could, must, may, might:

All shareholders must receive an Все акционеры должны получить

149

(Часть модального сказу емого)

Подлежащее в английском предложении обычно расположено слева от сказуемого (перед сказуемым). Иногда отмечают, что с подлежащего начинается предложение, однако это не всегда так, поскольку перед подлежащим может находиться один из второстепенных членов предложения, что обусловлено «привязанностью» предложения в тексте к предыдущему предложению. Во всяком случае, следует помнить, что перед подл ежащим никог да не может стоять предлог .

(An increase – подлежащее данного предложения).

Дополнение зависит от сказуемого. В английском предложении оно обычно находится справа от сказуемого, непосредственно после него. Чаще всего оно выражается именем существительным или местоимением, но может выражаться и ing-формой глагола. Дополнение может иметь перед собой предлог. На русский язык всегда переводится одним из косвенных падежей.

(Дополнение the elimination выражено существительным с предлогом и пер е- водится на русский существительным в дательном падеже).

Определение выражает собой признак пр едмета, т.е. подлежащего или дополнения. При наличии определений мы имеем дело уже не просто с подлежащим или дополнением, а с группой подлежащего и/или с группой дополнения. При этом нужно иметь в виду различие между определением и определителем. В отличие от определения определитель не выражает качественного признака предмета и является служебным словом. Это прежде всего – формальный признак существительного. Наиболее характерными определителями являются артикли, числительные, притяжательные и указательные местоимения. Способы выражения определения весьма разнообразны. Для большего удобства все определения могут быть разделены, в соответствии с занимаемой ими позицией, на две группы – левые и правые определения, то есть стоящие соответственно перед определяемым словом и после него.

(Last – определение, относящееся к подлежащему year).

Обстоятельство выражает признак признака, а не предмета (в отличие от определения). Следовательно, как член предложения обстоятельство может относиться либо к сказуемому (чаще всего), либо к определению. Выражается обстоятельство обычно наречием или существительным с предлогом.

150