Real Jobs From Fake Businesses
At 9:30 a.m. one weekday, the phones at Candelia, a purveyor of sleek office furniture in Lille, France, rang steadily with orders from customers across the country and from Switzerland and Germany. A dozen workers processed sales, dealt with suppliers and arranged for desks and chairs to be shipped.
一個上班日的早上9點半，法國里爾市的時尚辦公室家具經銷商Candelia公司電話響個不停，是來自法國全國各地，以及瑞士和德國客戶的訂單。十幾名員工處理銷售業務、接洽供應商，並安排運送桌椅。
Sabine de Buyzer leaned into her computer and scanned a row of numbers. Candelia was doing well. “We have to be profitable,” she said. “Everyone’s working all out to make sure we succeed.”
薩賓娜．德畢澤靠向她的電腦，掃描一排數字。Candelia生意很好。她說：「我們必須賺錢。每個人都拚全力工作，確保我們成功。」
This was a sentiment any boss would like to hear, but in this case the entire business is fake. So are Candelia’s customers and suppliers. Even the bank where Candelia gets its loans is not real.
這是所有老闆求之不得的工作氣氛，但這個案例是，整個生意都是假的。Candelia的客戶和供應商也是假的。連貸款給Candelia的銀行也不存在。
And there are thousands more fake businesses like this across Europe. These companies are all part of an elaborate training network that effectively operates as a parallel economic universe. For years, the aim was to train students and unemployed workers looking to make a transition to different industries. Now they are being used to combat the alarming rise in long-term unemployment, one of Europe’s most pressing problems.
而在全歐洲，有數以千計這樣的假商家。這些公司都屬於一個精心設計的訓練網，如同一個並行的經濟體般有效運作。多年來，假公司的目標是訓練學生，以及想轉到不同產業的失業員工。現在這些假公司被用來對抗令人憂心的長期失業人口上升，這也是歐洲最迫切的問題之一。
Ms. de Buyzer, 41, lost her job as a secretary two years ago and has been unable to find steady work. Since January, though, she arrives by 9 a.m. at the small office in a low-income neighborhood of Lille, where joblessness is among the highest in the country.
41歲的德畢澤兩年前丟掉秘書工作，之後一直找不到穩定的工作。不過，自今年1月開始，她早上9點之前抵達里爾市低收入區的一間小辦公室，里爾市的失業率是全法國最高的。
“It’s been very difficult to find a job,” said Ms. de Buyzer, who like most of the trainees has been collecting unemployment benefits. “When you look for a long time and don’t find anything, it’s so hard. You can get depressed,” she said. “I just want to work.”
德畢澤說：「找工作一直很困難。」她就像大部分接受職業訓練的學員一樣，領失業津貼。她說：「當你找了很長一段時間，什麼差事也沒找到，真的很不好受。你會很沮喪，我只是想要工作。」
Five years after Europe descended into crisis, there are signs that a recovery may finally be taking hold. Yet long-term unemployment – the kind that Ms. de Buyzer and nearly 10 million others in the eurozone are experiencing – has become a defining reality. Last year, a staggering 52.6 percent of unemployed people in the eurozone were without work for a year or more, the highest on record, according to the statistical agency Eurostat.
在歐洲陷入危機的5年後，有跡象顯示復甦也許終於穩住了。但長期的失業－類似德畢澤和歐元區其他近一千萬人的遭遇－已成為清楚的現實。根據統計機關「歐盟統計局」的資料，去年，歐元區失業人口中，至少已失業一年者高達百分之五十二點六，比率驚人，是有紀錄以來最高的。
“If you have a significant part of the population that’s not integrated, they won’t increase their spending, which dampens a possible recovery,” said Paul de Grauwe, of the London School of Economics.
倫敦政經學院的保羅．德格羅韋說：「人口中若有相當一部分人被排除在外，他們不會增加支出，削弱了可能的復甦。」
The concept of virtual companies, also known as practice firms, traces its roots to Germany after World War II, when large numbers of people needed to reorient their skills. Intended to supplement vocational training, the centers spread rapidly in the last two decades. Today about 5,000 practice firms operate on the Continent, supported by government funds, with at least 2,500 elsewhere in the world.
虛擬公司也稱為練習公司，這個觀念可追溯到二次大戰後的德國，當時有為數眾多的人需要學習新的職業技能。這些中心的用意是輔助職業訓練，在過去廿年快速擴展。今天，大約有5000家由政府經費支持的練習公司在歐洲大陸營運，全球其他地方至少還有2500家。
Within France, 12 new centers have sprung up since 2013, said Pierre Troton of Euro Ent’Ent, which oversees the nation’s network of 110 virtual companies.
監管全法國110家虛擬公司網絡的Euro Ent’Ent機構的皮耶．特侯頓說，自2013年以來法國出現了12個新中心。
In the companies, workers rotate through payroll, accounting and other departments. They receive virtual salaries to spend in the make-believe economy.
在這些公司內，員工輪流在薪資、會計和其他部門工作。他們拿虛擬薪水，在虛構的經濟體內花費。
Some of the faux companies even hold strikes – a common occurrence in France. Axisco, a virtual payment processing center in Val d’Oise, recently staged a fake protest, with slogans and painted banners, to teach workers’ rights and to train human resources staff members to calm tensions.
部分假公司甚至也搞罷工－這在法國常發生。瓦茲河谷省的虛擬支付處理中心Axisco，最近發動假抗議，口號和標語俱全，用以讓員工知道應有的權利，並訓練人力資源幹部如何緩解緊張。
“The products and the money are fake, but you call a virtual firm in Switzerland and a person answers,” said Helene Dereuddre, 19, who was receiving administrative training at Candelia. “People see that they are capable of learning and working.”
19歲、在Candelia接受行政工作訓練的海倫．德洛伊德耶說：「產品和錢都是假的，但你打電話給瑞士的虛擬公司，會有人接聽。人們明白，他們能學習和工作。」
At Candelia, Ms. Dereuddre spent a week compiling a catalog of discounted furniture and a spring sales brochure to move inventory that hadn’t been selling well. To do so, she studied real market prices.
在Candelia，德洛伊德耶花一周時間編輯折價家具的目錄和春季大減價的宣傳冊子，出清銷路不好的存貨。為此，她研究真正的市場價格。
Several of the firms slid into virtual bankruptcy when they became unprofitable. When that happened, the staff members took steps to shut down the company. They also learned how to open a new one, including applying for loans at a fake bank.
幾家公司不賺錢，淪入虛擬破產狀態。這種情況發生時，工作人員採取關閉公司的步驟。他們也學習如何開一家新公司，包括向一家假銀行申請貸款。
About 60 to 70 percent of those who go through France’s practice firms find jobs, Mr. Troton said.
特侯頓說，法國練習公司訓練出來的人，約有六成到七成找到工作。
Most are low-paying and last for short stints, sometimes only up to six months. Today, more than half of all new jobs in the European Union are temporary contracts, Eurostat said.
大部分是低薪和短期的工作，有時只有六個月。歐盟統計局說，今天，歐盟內的新工作一半以上是臨時約聘員工。
Armed with university degrees in literature and art, Bryan Scoth, 23, had searched seven months for work. After training at Candelia, he landed a one-year contract this spring as an administrator at an unemployment office in Lille. While the position was not what he had hoped for, it was a triumph after a string of rejections.
23歲的布萊恩．史考特擁有文學和藝術的大學文憑，工作已經找了七個月。在Candelia受訓後，他今春得到為期一年的約聘工作，在里爾一間失業輔導辦公室當行政人員。雖然這個職務不是他原先期望的，卻是在遭到一連串拒絕後的勝利。
“I’ve gotten my head above water,” Mr. Scoth said.
史考特說：「我不再舉債度日了。」
（田思怡譯）
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