澳大利亚高薪招揽美国技工

David Wade marched into the Marriott wearing a white cowboy hat and a bushy mustache. The 65-year-old pipe fitter from Alvin, Texas, was there to see a man about a job--in Australia.

头戴白牛仔帽、留着浓密胡须的大卫•韦德（David Wade）大步流星走进万豪酒店（Marriott）。这名65岁的管道工来自德克萨斯州阿尔文市（Alvin），为了一份工作来这里见一个人──这份工作远在澳大利亚。

The invitation-only job fair, organized by the Australian government and a group of natural resource and mining firms, marked the first recruitment effort in the U.S. To fast-track the process, the Australian government agreed to certify workers in the U.S. instead of making job candidates travel the about 8,700 miles to Australia.

这场仅限受邀者参加的招聘会由澳大利亚政府和一批自然资源及采矿企业主办，是澳方在美国进行的第一场招聘。为了加速招聘进程，澳大利亚政府同意在美国本土确认工人们的资质，而不需要应聘者专程去8700英里之外的澳大利亚。

The effort has incensed some Australian union leaders who contend the government should train unemployed workers Down Under. But the work was welcome by Americans eager to earn six-figure salaries toiling for companies including Rio Tinto Ltd. (RIO.AU, RIO, RIO.LN), John Holland and Boart Longyear Ltd. (BLY.AU), often for what is blue-collar work.

Bloomberg News力拓位于皮尔巴拉的铁矿厂这一举措激怒了一些澳大利亚工会领袖，他们主张政府应在澳大利亚本土培训失业工人。然而这些工作受到了美国工人们的欢迎，他们渴望进入力拓（Rio Tinto Ltd.）、约翰•霍兰德（John Holland）以及宝长年（Boart Longyear Ltd.）等公司，通过勤恳工作挣得六位数的薪水。这些工作通常都是蓝领工作。

Wade heard about the fair on the radio, while driving his 3/4-ton Chevrolet pickup around Alvin, a city of 24,000 south of Houston. About 2,600 people registered to attend, but only 650 with the needed skills were invited, Wade among them. Wade, who currently works for gas, oil and chemical companies, said he would move for a job paying over $170,000. One U.S. dollar is worth about 1.03 Australian dollars.

韦德从广播中得知了这场招聘，当时他正开着自己0.75吨的雪佛兰（Chevrolet）皮卡在阿尔文转悠。阿尔文是休斯敦南边一座人口2.4万的城市。约有2,600人报名参加这次招聘，但仅有650位技术对口的求职者接到了邀请，韦德便是其中之一。韦德目前为油气以及化工公司工作，他表示愿意为了一份17万美元年薪的工作而远赴他乡。1美元约合1.03澳元。

Qualified workers, a challenge for all mining firms, is particularly acute in Australia, the world's biggest producer of the iron ore destined for China's steel mills. Mining companies say that even with current production cutbacks they can't find enough skilled workers willing to toil in the country's rugged, isolated outposts, in spite of average salaries exceeding $100,000 a year. The industry estimates it will need 86,000 new workers by 2020.

合格工人的短缺是所有采矿企业都面临的挑战，在澳大利亚尤其严重。澳大利亚是世界最大的铁矿石生产国，为中国的炼钢厂提供大量原料。矿业公司称，即使现在已经削减了产量，他们还是很难招够愿意在澳洲条件艰苦的偏远地区作业的熟练技工，尽管他们开出的平均年薪已经超过了十万美元。据估计到2020年，该行业累计还需新进8.6万名工人。