新冠疫情夺走了很多人的工作，然而也给自由职业者带来了商机。Freelancer网站对第二季度的调查报告显示，自由职业者的职位相比第一季度增加了25%，同比增加了41%。数学建模、统计、家庭娱乐、网购相关的职位也出现了大幅增长。
The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on the global jobs market, leaving many unemployed, furloughed or working reduced hours as employers implemented sweeping cost-cutting measures.
新冠疫情已经对全球就业市场造成了严重破坏，雇主们实施大规模降低成本的措施，导致许多人被解雇、临时停职或减少工作时间。
sweeping [ˈswiːpɪŋ]: adj. 影响广泛的；笼统的；规模大的
furlough[ˈfɜːrloʊ]: vt. 暂时解雇
Yet, one workforce that has weathered the storm better than most is the freelance market. That segment of the workforce has seen a surge in demand — even as full-time work has collapsed, according to a new report from online freelance market place Freelancer.
然而，有一支劳动力队伍在一片颓势中逆势上扬，那就是自由职业者。根据在线自由职业市场Freelancer网站的一份新报告，就在全职工作衰减的同时，自由职业劳动力的需求却见涨。
Freelance job openings increased over 25% during the April to June quarter of 2020 — compared to the first three months of the year, Freelancer’s report found. The quarterly study tracks movements from the top 50 fastest growing and declining jobs on the site’s global marketplace which spans North America, Europe and Asia.
Freelancer的报告发现，2020年第二季度，自由职业的工作机会相比第一季度增加了超25%。这项季度调查追踪了该网站跨越北美、欧洲和亚洲的全球市场中增长和衰减最快的50种职业。
The uptick reflects a shift in the post-Covid-19 global jobs landscape, as employers reevaluate budgets and opt for a more flexible workforce. But it also indicates a growing interest among employees to move toward independent work, Freelancer’s CEO Matt Barrie told CNBC.
Freelancer 的首席执行官马特·巴里告诉CNBC说，随着雇主们重新评估预算和选择更灵活的劳动力，自由职业岗位的增加反映出后疫情时代全球就业格局的变化，但也显示出就业人员对于向独立工作模式转变的兴趣日增。
"While Covid-19 has been the trigger of the already upward trending freelancer movement, this exponential growth can also be attributed to the strong demand for individuals to finally start their own freelance enterprise, work on their own terms and supplement their income,” said Barrie.
巴里说：“尽管新冠疫情刺激了本就在上升阶段的自由职业发展，这种快速增长也可以归因于个人终于开始了自己的自由职业生涯、按照自己的意愿工作和贴补收入的强烈需求。”
exponential [ˌekspəˈnenʃl]: adj. 指数的；快速增长的
Freelance job postings rose 41% to 605,000 in the second quarter of 2020 compared to the same period in 2019, according to the report.
这份报告指出，2020年第二季度自由职业的岗位相比2019年同期增加了41%，达到了60.5万个。
Meanwhile, last week the United Nations’ International Labour Organization estimated that the number of working hours lost in the second quarter this year could be the equivalent of 400 million full-time jobs.
与此同时，上周联合国国际劳工组织估计，今年第二季度损失的劳动时间相当于4亿份全职工作。
"I do foresee that this crisis will extend well into 2021, and there will be a permanent step-change in both working from home and the use of freelancers by businesses,” Barrie added.
巴里补充道：“我预见这次危机将持续到2021年，而且在居家办公和企业雇佣自由职业者这两方面都会有永久性的彻底改变。”
step-change: 突变；巨变；彻底的改变
The jobs that saw the greatest surge in demand from employers in the second quarter tended to be those directly connected to the pandemic, according to the report.
根据该报告，第二季度雇主需求量增长最大的岗位通常是和疫情直接相关的那些工作。
Jobs related to mathematical modeling — including mathematics, Matlab and algorithm projects — saw the greatest increase over the quarter, as they surged 99.6% to 16,501 jobs. Statistics and statistical analysis positions also saw a major uptick, rising 75% to 7,397 jobs.
和数学建模相关的岗位——包括数学、数字图像处理和算法项目——在这一季度迎来了最大增长，飙升了99.6%，达到了16501个。统计和统计分析岗位也出现了较大增长，增加了75%，达到了7397个。
Much of that demand came from health-care institutions, governments, businesses and media organizations, which increasingly require number crunchers to “interpret, analyze and report” data on cases, hospitalizations, mortality rates, testing, as well as the impact of the pandemic, the report noted.
报告指出，这些岗位的许多需求来自医疗机构、政府、企业和媒体组织，他们越来越多地需要统计人员们“解读、分析和报告”关于病例、住院、死亡率、检测和疫情影响的数据。
Elsewhere, near-global lockdowns sparked demand for home entertainment and online shopping and, consequently, workers with applicable skills. Demand for game designers and game developers surged 68% and 64% respectively in the second quarter, while job postings for e-commerce professionals rose 54.4%.
另一方面，全球各地近乎普遍封锁的情况激发了人们对家庭娱乐和网上购物以及有相关应用能力的劳动人员的需求。第二季度，游戏设计师和游戏开发者的需求量分别上升了68%和64%，而电商专业人士的岗位则增加了54.4%。
At the other end of the spectrum, listings for face-to-face jobs unsurprisingly saw the biggest declines over the period, dropping 35.6%.
与此相对，这一期间面对面工作的岗位毫不意外地出现了最大降幅，减少了35.6%。