我时常觉得自己非常幸运，职业生涯很大一部分时间是在欧洲、北美及亚洲，许多不同国度过。这种异国经历，我再推崇也不为过。国外度过的日子改变了我的人生，无论是职业生涯还是个人生活。那些日子里，我感觉自己融入了当地社会，接触到各式各样的文化和人民，收获了难能可贵的经历，让我的职业和生活都变得更加丰富和充实。

I consider myself extremely fortunate to have spent a large part of my professional career working in different countries across Europe, North America and Asia. I couldn’t recommend the experience highly enough. Time spent living away from my home country was life changing for me, both professionally and personally. Over those years, I felt welcomed into local societies, encountered a vast range of cultures and people, gained valuable experience that I would not have otherwise gained, and as a result, my own career and life has certainly been richer and more fulfilled. 

让我难过的是，这样的机会似乎马上要变得越来越少了。这个越来越开放的世界正在经历变革，过去几年里，我们都见证了政治形势对移民问题关注度的不断增加。关于移民问题的讨论在最近全球各国的大选中屡次出现，包括美国、法国和英国，而且在舆论中总是呈现负面的形象。虽然移民问题辩论总体来说极度复杂，但简单粗暴地认为所有移民都是坏事是错误的，必须予以遏制。毕竟，美国正是建立在移民的基础之上，而英国经济之所以强大，部分也要归功于历史上各产业和公共服务部门吸引了大批来自全球各地的技术移民。

Sadly, it seems that such opportunities may soon become far more limited. Our increasingly open world is now changing and over the past few years, we’ve all seen how changing political landscapes have focused increasingly on immigration. The topic of immigration as a whole has come up time and time again in recent elections around the globe, including the United States, as well as in France and the UK, and it is usually portrayed as a bad thing. While the overall debate around immigration is extremely complicated, it is simply wrong to broad-brush that all immigration is bad and must be curtailed. After all, the USA was built on immigration in the first place and the UK economy partly owes its strength to its historic reputation for attracting skilled workers from around the world to staff its industries and public services.

应当对技术移民开放边境而非关闭

BORDERS NEED TO BE OPEN TO SKILLED WORKERS, NOT CLOSED

这就是为什么我认为政客和其所制定的政府政策应当要明晰界限，承认大批非技术移民和技术移民有明显区别。这两类移民大不一样，但是似乎没几个政客明晰这一点。我们需要技术的自由流动，这样各国经济才能发挥最大潜能，进而促进社会发展。简单来说，各国需要对技术移民敞开边境，而不是将之关闭。

And this is why I feel it is important that politicians, and the government policies they enact, start to draw a clearer distinction between mass unskilled immigration and the movement of skilled workers across borders. The two are very different, yet few politicians seem to grasp that. We need free movement of skills in order for economies to run at their full potential and in turn for society to enjoy the many benefits it brings. Put simply, countries need to be opening their borders to skilled workers, not closing them.

现实忧心

THE WORRYING REALITY

越来越多的国家在未来大有可能限制技术移民。情理之中，这种趋势导致一些雇主愈发忧虑，他们招揽人才很大程度依靠吸引技术移民。我的公司身在招聘行业，清楚地明白如果不能利用本国和全球的最佳人才，企业就很可能会出现技术缺口，商业目标就更难完成。这就是今日众多企业所面对的忧心现实。

The prospect of a limit on skilled migration is now very real in more and more countries. Understandably this is creating growing concern to those who rely on access to talent pools beyond their own borders. As a recruitment company, my business sees all too well that without access to the best talent both locally and globally, businesses often find themselves exposed to a skills gap, making it harder for them to achieve their goals. This is the worrying reality for many today.

现在已有大量研究探讨这个话题，我们不能回避它，因为适当移民与经济增长之间的关系可从此清晰洞见。下面列举数例：

There’s been a huge amount of research into this topic which cannot be ignored as it consistently points to the clear correlation between appropriate immigration and economic growth. Here are a few examples:

•英国工业联合会近期宣布，来自欧洲的劳动力对英国企业及宏观经济至关重要，并倡议施行一套“基于需求”的移民体系，而不是一味削减移民人数来满足某种随意或专门制定的指标。

•In the UK, the CBI has recently announced that European workers are crucial to the success of UK businesses and the wider economy, calling for an immigration system “based on need” rather than curtailing numbers to hit some arbitrary or specific target. 

•同篇报告还指出，如果不能维持对全球劳动力市场的利用，企业可能被迫推迟投资计划，因为无法雇佣必需的技术劳工。

•This same report also acknowledged that without maintained access to global labour markets, businesses may be forced to postpone investment decisions because they are unable to access the necessary skilled workers.

•美国国家研究院(NAS)最近的研究同样指出了技术移民的重要性，理由是技术移民会提高生产效率，促进经济增长。

•A recent study in the US, by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS), also relayed the importance of skilled migration by stating it is likely to increase productivity and economic growth.

政客可能有削减移民的政治需要，以保证自己竞选成功，但是我们不能忽视事实，那就是企业仍然对移民有实际且迫切的需求。这就引到了我的下一点——从商业角度来看，人才的自由流动大有裨益。

There may be a political need to cut migration in order to get (re)elected, but we simply can’t ignore the fact that businesses still have a real and pressing need for it. And that leads me to my next point – the free movement of talent makes really good business sense.

商业角度下人才的自由流动大有裨益

THE FREE MOVEMENT OF TALENT MAKES GOOD BUSINESS SENSE

海外工作不仅仅对个人的职业有益，对企业也有不少实在的益处。从商业角度来看，人才的自由流动大有裨益，我认为这一点无需争论。首先从经济方面看，移民就是一个简单的供需方程，只要哪儿有需求，就应该允许人才往哪儿流动。第二，众所周知，多元化的工作团队比只有相同背景或经验员工组成的团队的表现要强。最后，雇佣海外人才常常会促进现有员工提高自身技术水平。适当的技术移民百利无一弊。

The benefits of working abroad aren’t just limited to individual careers – the benefits to businesses are real too, and there are lots of them. The free movement of talent simply makes good business sense, and it’s hard to argue otherwise in my opinion. In economic terms, it’s a simple supply and demand equation and talent should be allowed to move to where the demand is felt. Secondly, we know that diverse teams often perform more strongly than those made up of people with a similar background or set of experiences. Finally, hiring in external talent often raises the skill level of current employees. This can only ever be a good thing.

我们必须提高本土劳动力的技术水平以保障长期繁荣

WE MUST UPSKILL OUR LOCAL WORKFORCES TO ENSURE LONG-TERM PROSPERITY

政策若能让国内经济实现产业和公共服务部门的技术自给自足，我举双手赞成。事实上，这样的体系会让国家经济拥有长期竞争优势。我们现在的背景是未来移民极有可能减少，那么至少我们看到了国家越来越重视填补技术缺口，通过为本土劳动力提供更好的教育和培训的方式。

I have absolutely no problem with policies that enable a local economy to become self-sufficient in the skills its industries and public services require. In fact, such a system will provide a long-term competitive advantage for that economy. So, with a context where immigration is most likely to fall in the coming years, at least we have started to see increased focus on filling the skills gap by better educating and training local workforces.

我多年前的第一份工作是见习工程师，亲身感受到了技术培训的益处，所以我是站在过来人的立场上发言。遗憾的是，英国的这种体系在近年经历了重创，好在现在又有复苏之势，因为人们再次领悟到这种体系给年轻一代提供了通往全球职场的绝佳渠道。这就是为什么英国政府近期推出技术教育考试T-level（技术教育全面改革规划）的决定是件大事：这昭示了英国真心实意地投入，要将有才能的年轻一代培养成未来企业需要的技术劳动力。然而，各国并不需要从零开始建立这种体系。照搬其他国家的好点子没有什么不对，学习德国长久以来成功的学徒制模式，比自己摸索要容易许多。在德国，大部分学徒都会参加一个融合雇主培训和教育学习的三年制项目。德国也有自己的技术缺口问题，但是如果没有这种体系，经济只会更差，这种体系让技术教育变成了德国经济成功的关键。

Many years ago my first job was as an apprentice engineer, so I speak as someone who has personally benefited from skills-led training. Sadly such systems were largely eliminated in the intervening years in the UK, but have now started to make a comeback as realisation dawns again that they provide an excellent route into the world of work for many young people. This is why the UK government’s recent decision to launch T-Levels (the planned overhaul of technical education) is so important: it signals a real commitment to developing talented young people into the skilled workers we will all need to hire tomorrow. A country doesn’t need to invent something from scratch however. There’s nothing wrong in copying someone else’s good idea and we could all do far worse than look at Germany’s longstanding and successful apprenticeship model. There, most apprentices join a three year programme, combining employer training with education learning. Germany still has its own skills gap but it would be far, far worse with out the benefit of its systems that make technical education crucial to its economic success. 

然而，仅依靠提高本土劳动力的技术水平无法解决技术缺口的迫切问题。

But, the upskilling of local workforces alone won’t solve the immediate skills-gap problem.

集中全部精力发展如T-level和广义学徒制这样的本土计划是有弊端的，这些体系无法解决当今企业领导者面对的迫切问题——技术缺口愈发扩大，随之当今各产业创造的岗位无法填满。教育我们的年轻一代是种绝佳的长期办法，但是这无法填补已存在的技术缺口，这一缺口对与想要雇佣技术劳动力的众多企业已十分明显。为未来建设一条人才管道是件需要时间的事，无法短期内完成。如果教育是技术缺口问题的长期解决方案，那技术移民似乎是现在唯一的短期解决办法。遗憾的是，越来越多的国家正反其道而行之。不过，还是有一些头脑更清醒的国家允许技术移民，以填补本土无法填补的技术缺口。例如，贾斯廷·特鲁多领导下的加拿大政府近期推出了一项新的“全球人才”计划，让获取技术移民签证变得更容易，显示了加拿大认可技术移民为国家带来的价值。

The problem with focusing entirely on local initiatives such as T-Levels and wider apprenticeships is that they do not solve the immediate problems that sit in front of business leaders today – the widening skills gap and consequent inability to staff all the roles that industry is creating today. Educating our young people is an excellent long-term approach, but it doesn’t plug the gap that is already apparent to many businesses currently trying to hire skilled workers. Establishing a talent pipeline for the future is something that takes time and can’t simply happen overnight. If education is the long-term solution to the skills gap, then skilled migration seems to be the only shorter-term solution. Sadly, more and more countries are taking the opposite approach. However, some seem more enlightened, allowing skilled immigrants to fill the gaps that targeted local investment cannot yet fill. For example, Justin Trudeau’s government in Canada has recently launched a new ‘Global Talent’ scheme that will make it easier for people to obtain skilled worker visas, acknowledging the value that these people can bring to the nation.

技术移民保障长期繁荣

SKILLED MIGRATION WILL SECURE OUR LONGER-TERM PROSPERITY

最终，我必须要陈述一个关键论点，人才是繁荣和发展的基础，如果没有合适的人才和技术，企业乃至社会都会水深火热，而不是百花齐放。再次举英国为例。英国国内的适龄工作人口增长率不够高，如果生产力没有获得显著提升，就无法驱动长期、可持续、增长率高于2%的经济发展。若不实现进一步的移民，我们不可能立即突破生产力难题，英国应当要做好准备，未来最理想的情况下经济增长也会陷入一潭死水。这将抑制未来投资，导致经济增速更加缓慢，经济创造的工作岗位变得更少，与鼓励移民带来的效果相反。毋庸再议，人人皆输。面临这个问题的国家不止英国一个。所以，世界各国都应当有渠道从尽可能广泛的多元经验人才群体汲取劳动力，因为这些劳动力会为本国经济增长出一份力。

Ultimately, one of the key points that must be made is that prosperity and growth depend on people, and that without the right talent and skills, businesses and therefore societies can flounder rather than flourish. Take the UK again for example. Domestic working age population growth is simply not high enough to drive long-term sustainable economic growth above around 2% without a significant boost in productivity. I see no imminent breakthrough on the productivity conundrum so without further immigration, the UK should start to prepare for an era of anaemic economic growth at best. That will starve further investment, leading to even slower growth and fewer jobs being created than would otherwise be the case. Net net, everyone loses. The UK is not alone with this equation. It is therefore vital that businesses across the world can access the broadest possible group of candidates with diverse sets of experience, as these are the individuals that will help to generate local economic growth. 

遗憾的是，我们企业界做的还不够好，未能让政府听到我们因边境关闭导致人才缺口而产生的忧虑心声。开放接触全球各地顶尖人才的渠道，应该是所有政府最重要的议程之一。作为企业的领导者，我希望最顶尖的人才来为我工作，这样我才能在全球市场上竞争并取胜。领导国家也理所应当要这样吸引人才，不是吗？

Unfortunately, I don’t think we in business have done a good enough job to make sure our respective governments hear our concerns about the lack of access to talent that closing borders brings. Having access to the very best people, regardless of their origination, should be an issue near the very top of any government’s agenda. Running a business, I want the very best people working for me so that I can compete and win in a global market. Surely running a country warrants the same approach to attracting talent?

然而，我们不能忽视一个事实，从移民中获益的不仅仅是企业。允许技术移民进入我们的边境（无论边境在何处），能让企业发挥最大潜力。这反过来又创造了更多的工作岗位和机会，造福所有技术水平的本土民众。企业繁荣了，税收也会增加。税收的增加可为公共服务、教育和基础设施买单，创造出更好的商业环境。所有人都获益。然而，要让所有人都同意这一观点，我们似乎还有很长的路要走。

However, we must not lose sight of the fact that it is not just business that stands to benefit from this. Allowing skilled migrants onto our shores (wherever those shores are) will allow companies to run to their full potential. That in turn creates more jobs and more opportunities for local people at all skill levels. It increases tax revenues as firms prosper. That pays for more public services, education and infrastructure, creating an even better commercial environment. We all win. But we seem to have a long way to go before everyone agrees on that.

往期ALISTAIR COX（瀚纳仕执行总监 ）博客：

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