27.Workplace discrimination(683)

Passage Twenty-Seven

Workplace discrimination

就业歧视

 【1】The obesity pay gap(difference) is worse than previously thought,obese people experience discrimination in many parts of their lives, and the workplace is no exception.

因肥胖造成的薪资差距比以往想得更严重生活中，肥胖人群在很多方面会受到歧视，在工作场所中亦不例外。

【2】Studies have long shown that obese workers, defined as those with a body-mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, earn significantly(observably) less than their slimmer counterparts(positions).

早有研究表明，肥胖的劳动者（BMI指数超过30的人）相较于他们更苗条的同事来说挣得更少。

【3】In America, several state and local governments are contemplating(considering) laws against this treatment. On November 22nd, one such ban came into force in New York City.

在美国，一些州和地方政府正考虑立法来禁止此类不公待遇。11月22日，这类禁令在纽约市生效。

【4】Yet the costs of weight discrimination may be even greater than previously thought. “The overwhelming(vast) evidence,” wrote the Institute for employment Studies, a British think-tank, in a recent report, “is that it is only women living with obesity who experience the obesity wage penalty(punishment).”

然而，体重歧视的代价或许比以往所想得更严重。“大量证据表明，”英国智库就业研究所在近期一份报告内写道，“唯有肥胖的女性才会经历肥胖所致的薪资惩罚。”

【5】They were expressing a view that is widely aired in academic papers. To test it, The Economist has analysed data concerning 23,000 workers from the American Time Use Survey, conducted by the Bureau of Labour Statistics. Our number-crunching suggests that, in fact, being obese hurts the earnings of both women and men.

这个观点在学术论文中被广泛讨论。为验证是否正确，《经济学人》分析了由劳工统计局进行的“美国人时间使用调查”中23000名员工的数据。数据分析结果表明，事实上，肥胖对女性和男性的收入都会产生不利影响。

【6】The data we analysed cover men and women aged between 25 and 54 and in full-time employment. At an aggregate(total) level, it is true that men’s BMIs are unrelated to their wages.

我们所分析的数据涵盖25-54岁的全职男女员工。在总体层面上，男性的BMI指数与其薪资确实无关。

【7】But that changes for men with university degrees. For them, obesity is associated with a wage penalty of nearly 8%, even after accounting for the separate effects of age, race, graduate education and marital status.

但对于有大学学位的男性来说，情况就会发生变化。对于他们来说，即便分别考虑了年龄、种族、毕业院校和婚姻状况的影响，肥胖也与近8%的薪资惩罚相关。

【8】When we re-ran our analysis, using a different data set that covers nearly 90,000 people, from the Department of Health and Human Services, we got similar results.

当我们使用来自卫生与公共服务部涵盖近9万人的不同数据集重新进行分析时，也得到了类似的结果。

【9】The conclusion—that well-educated workers in particular are penalised for their weight—holds for both sexes. Moreover, the higher your level of education, the greater the penalty.

调查显示，尤其是受过良好教育的员工会因体重而受到不公对待，这一结论适用于两性。此外，受教育程度越高，受到的不公待遇就越大。

【10】We found that obese men with a bachelor’s degree earn 5% less than their thinner colleagues, while those with a graduate degree earn 14% less. obese women, it is true, still have it worse: for them, the equivalent figures are 12% and 19%, respectively.

我们发现，拥有学士学位的肥胖男子比他们较瘦的男同事少挣5%，而研究生学历的肥胖男子少挣14%。而对于肥胖的女子，情况确实还要更糟：她们相应少挣的薪资分别是12%和19%。

【11】Your line of work makes a difference, too . When we crunched the numbers for individual occupations(works) and industries, we found the greatest disparities in high-skilled jobs. 

 个人工作行业的差异也会带来影响。我们对个人职业和行业进行数据运算处理时发现，高技能工作中的薪资差异最大。

【12】Obese workers in health care, for example, make 11% less than their slimmer colleagues; those in management roles make roughly 9% less, on average. In sectors such as construction and agriculture, meanwhile, obesity is actually associated with higher wages.

例如，在医疗保健领域，肥胖的工作者比体重较轻的同事少挣11％；在管理职务中，肥胖员工平均来说其薪资大概会少9%。与此同时，在建筑业、农业等行业，肥胖实际上会带来更高的工资。

【13】These results suggest that the aggregate costs of wage discrimination borne by overweight workers in America are hefty(huge). Suppose you assume that obese women, but not men, face a wage penalty of 7% (the average across all such women in our sample) and that this is the same regardless of their level of education. Then a back-of-the-envelope calculation(estimate) suggests that they bear a total cost of some $30bn a year.

这些结果表明，在美国，肥胖员工所承受的薪资歧视总体代价相当巨大。假设你认定肥胖女性而非男性会遭受7%的薪资惩罚（该比例是我们样本中所有此类女性的平均值）且无论她们的教育水平如何，这一比例都是相同的。那么粗略估算下来，她们一年就要承受约300亿美元的损失。

【14】But if you account for both the discrimination faced by men, and for the higher wage penalty experienced by the more educated (who also tend to earn more), the total cost to this enlarged(extensive) group more than doubles, to $70bn per year.

但如果考虑到男性所面临的歧视，以及受过更高教育的人（他们通常也挣得更多）所经历的更高薪资惩罚，那么这个扩大的群体的总成本将超过每年700亿美元。

【15】What can be done? Several cities, such as San Francisco and Washington, DC, already ban discrimination on the basis of appearance. A handful(minority) of states—including Massachusetts, New York, New Jersey and Vermont—are considering similar bills.

有什么解决办法呢？一些城市，如旧金山、华盛顿特区等城市已经禁止基于外貌的歧视。马萨诸塞州、纽约州、新泽西州以及佛蒙特州等少数几个州正在考虑制定类似法案。

【16】The ban New York City began to enforce(apply) on November 22nd prohibits weight-based discrimination in employment, housing and public accommodation such as hotels and restaurants.

纽约市于11月22日施行的禁令规定，禁止在就业、住房以及酒店、餐厅等公共场合中的体重歧视。

【17】Alas, it is unlikely to accomplish much. When we restricted our analysis to workers in Michigan, where a similar ban has been in place for nearly 50 years, we found the obesity wage penalty to be no lower than for America as a whole.Outlawing prejudice(bias) is one thing. Ironing it out of society is quite another.

可惜的是，此举不会有太大成效。在密歇根州，类似的禁令已经实施了近50年，而在把分析面限制在密西根州的员工上时，我们发现肥胖薪资惩罚并不比全美的低。以法律禁止偏见是一回事，将偏见完全从社会中根除则完全是另一回事。