美国制造业公司正在艰难地寻找拥有专业技能的工人，尽管该行业在过去两年已裁员逾200万。熟练工的短缺，可能会限制企业在经济复苏步伐加快时扩大生产的能力。
Manufacturing companies in the US are struggling to find workers with technical skills even though the sector has shed more than 2m jobs in the past two years. The shortage of skilled staff could restrict companies' ability to step up production as the economic recovery gathers pace.
在英国《金融时报》的采访中，从美国最大制造商和出口商之一的波音，到小企业，各制造业公司还表示，未来几年它们将有一大批技术工人达到退休年龄，而接替的年轻工人数量不足。
In interviews with the Financial Times, groups ranging from Boeing – one of the US's biggest manufacturers and exporters – to small companies also said they faced a wave of skilled workers reaching retirement age in the next few years, with a shortage of younger workers to replace them.
波音的人力资源高级副总裁里克·斯蒂芬说：“所有的大型技术公司都面临着类似问题，这些公司中很大一部分员工有资格退休。”
“All large technical firms are facing similar issues, where a large part of the population is eligible to retire,” said Rick Stephens, senior vice-president of human resources at Boeing.
他表示，到2015年，该飞机制造商40%的工人将达到退休年龄。“这就是说，在5年内我们将有6万名员工符合退休资格。我们认为招聘渠道将根本不能满足需要。”
He said that by 2015, 40 per cent of the aircraft maker's workers would be in that position. “That's some 60,000 employees eligible to retire in five years. We just don't see the [recruitment] pipeline meeting our needs.”
根据美国劳工统计局(Bureau of Labor Statistics)的数据，美国约19%制造业工人年逾54岁，整体劳动力队伍的情况大致相同。然而，25岁以下的工人数量仅占制造业工人总数的7%，是全美工人数量中同一比例的一半。
About 19 per cent of US manufacturing workers are 54 and older, roughly the same as for the workforce as a whole, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. However, only 7 per cent of manufacturing workers are under 25 years old – half that of the wider workforce.
对于许多工业企业，经济衰退并未缓解熟练工短缺的问题。旨在促进美国技工教育的西门子基金会总裁吉姆·瓦莱表示，德国工程集团西门子在美国有大约600个工程师职位空缺，高于去年的500个。
For many industrial companies, the recession has not eased the skills shortage. Siemens, the German engineering group, has about 600 vacancies for engineers in the US, up from 500 on last year, according to Jim Whaley, president of the Siemens Foundation, which promotes technical education in the US.
制造商表示，工程师和一线熟练工最为短缺。
Manufacturers said the biggest shortages were for engineers and skilled floor workers.