旧金山市反"科技怪杰"移民示威 高学历移民应受欢迎

Tom Perkins, the Silicon Valley venture capitalist, made a terrible mistake by comparing criticism of rich Americans – the “1 per cent” – to the Kristallnacht attack on Jews in Germany in 1938. Mr Perkins, co-founder of Kleiner Perkins Caufield Byers, has since apologised.

美国硅谷(Silicon Valley)风险投资家汤姆•珀金斯(Tom Perkins)犯了一个严重的错误，他竟将人们对美国富豪（也就是那“1%”）的批评，与1938年德国“碎玻璃之夜”(Kristallnacht)那场对犹太人的袭击相提并论。后来，这位KPCB公司(Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers)的联合创始人，就此作出了道歉。

He ought not to eulogise millionaires, let alone invoke the Nazis, but to focus on those who deserve a defence: employees of Google and other technology companies who commute to Silicon Valley on company buses from the city of San Francisco. His outburst was partly prompted by demonstrations in the city against the “technogeek” migrants.

珀金斯不该大肆赞美百万富翁，更不该拿纳粹来类比此事。他的重点应该落在那些搭乘公司班车往返于旧金山与硅谷之间的谷歌(Google)等科技公司的员工身上，那些人才值得他为之辩护。珀金斯此次大发议论，部分起因在于旧金山市反“科技怪杰”移民的示威。

Pete Seeger, the singer who died this week, was a fervent supporter of California’s migrant workers – he met Woody Guthrie at a “Grapes of Wrath”[??] benefit concert in 1940. But today’s migrants are more likely to have degrees than to pick crops –30 per cent of immigrants to advanced economies between 2000 and 2010 had tertiary qualifications.

美国歌手皮特•西格（Pete Seeger，今年1月27日去世）曾是加利福尼亚州外来工作移民的狂热支持者。1940年，西格在“愤怒的葡萄”(Grapes of Wrath)慈善音乐会上结识了伍迪•格思里(Woody Guthrie)。不过，今天的移民更有可能拥有较高的学历，而不是只会采摘作物。2000年到2010年，移居发达经济体的人中，有30%拥有高等教育学历。

What Mr Perkins should have said in support of the world’s educated migrants is this. Yes, they may raise property prices in cities such as London, San Francisco and Berlin, and change the culture in ways that upset some “long-time residents” in whose name the bus protests are held. But they bring many more benefits than costs.

如果想表达对全世界受过良好教育的移民的支持，珀金斯当时应该这么说：是的，他们或许抬高了伦敦、旧金山、柏林等城市的房价，改变了当地的文化氛围，从而令一些“长期居民”感到不舒服，但移民带来的好处远远多于这些负面影响。

Most of the bus-riders are not millionaires, although they are ambitious. Many come from other parts of the US or overseas – 64 per cent of Silicon Valley engineers are foreign-born – because IT offers economic opportunity. In return, they work very hard, start businesses and help the place to flourish. The cities that should worry are the ones they ignore.

大多数班车乘客虽说怀揣远大的抱负，但他们毕竟不是百万富翁。许多人从美国其他地区或海外（64%的硅谷工程师出生在海外）来到这里，因为IT业向他们提供了赚钱的机会。反过来，他们勤奋工作、创办企业，推动当地经济繁荣发展。那些不被科技移民考虑的城市才该感到担忧。

“Some cities manage to draw in higher skills and more talent continuously,” says Orly Lobel, a law professor at San Diego university and author of Talent Wants to be Free. “Once you put all of these ingredients together, you get into a virtuous circle of opportunity and innovation.”

“有些城市在不断引入具有较高技能和才华的移民方面取得了成功。”美国圣迭戈大学(San Diego university)法学教授、《有才华的人向往自由》(Talent Wants to be Free)一书的作者奥利•洛贝尔(Orly Lobel)说，“一旦凑齐各种人才，你就进入了机遇和创新的良性循环。”

London is a prime example of a city that draws both immigrants and educated migrants. A report by the Centre for Cities this week found that 35 per cent of London’s jobs are graduate level, and a third of UK residents who relocate in their twenties move to London. This inflow of the young and foreign immigrants more than offsets an outflow of older people.

在吸引移民和高学历外来务工者方面，伦敦为其他城市作出了榜样。智库“城市中心”(Centre for Cities)近日的一份调查报告称，伦敦有35%的工作需要大学学历，三分之一的英国居民在二十几岁时迁往伦敦定居，年轻人和外国移民的流入要多于年长者的流出。

“The influx of people with graduate qualifications means that employers can select from a very deep pool of skills,” says Paul Swinney, a senior economist at the Centre for Cities, who is from northeast England. “Housing is expensive for young people but they have the potential of big returns.”

“有大学学历的人流入这里，意味着雇主们可从极为丰富的技术人才储备里进行选择。”城市中心高级经济学家、老家在英格兰东北部的保罗•斯温尼(Paul Swinney)表示，“对年轻人来说，虽然这里居住成本不菲，但他们有机会获得较高的收入。”

Like other such cities, London is in a constant state of churn and renewal as longer-term residents leave, in search of a gentler life or because they have been priced out. About 1.1m people left New York City for other US states between 2000 and 2010 but the city is growing, thanks to immigration.

像其他城市一样，伦敦处在不断的“搅动”和“换血”当中，长期居民逐渐流出，他们或是为了寻求轻松一点的生活，或是被过高的生活成本逼走。2000年到2010年，约有110万人离开纽约市移居美国其他州，但由于移民不断涌入，这座城市的人口正在增长。

This churn lies behind the San Francisco protests. Heart of the City, one protest group, accuses “big tech” of inflating rents by drawing thousands of migrants to the area. “To long-time residents and merchants facing eviction, San Francisco is not a ‘perk’. It is their life, livelihood, family . . . and safety net,” it says indignantly.

这种“搅动”正是旧金山抗议活动背后的原因。抗议组织“城市之心”(Heart of the City)指责“科技业巨头”引来成千上万的外来务工者，导致本地房租上涨。“对那些面临房东逐客令的长期居民和商户来说，旧金山可不是什么额外的福利，而是他们的生活、生计、家庭……以及安全网，”该组织愤怒地表示。

A flow of professional migrants into vibrant cities can be disruptive, especially for those accustomed to low rents and a quiet life. Living in Berlin, for example, is a lot more expensive than it used to be. But it is better than the opposite – the draining effect on cities such as Detroit when people leave.

技术移民流入充满活力的城市，可能会造成冲击，尤其是对那些习惯了低房租和平静生活的人。比如，柏林的生活成本就比过去高出许多。但这总好过它的反例——比如底特律等城市，当人们离开后，它们也像泄了气的气球。

Furthermore, many of the spillover effects on locals are positive. Those who bought property before prices rose gain from a windfall effect when they sell. Nostalgia for the era before gentrification ignores the fact that inner cities were often blighted. Immigrants can raise educational standards by sending motivated children to local schools.

而且，这种流入还能产生许多积极的溢出作用。那些在房价上涨前购入房产的人可以在售房时发笔横财。怀念当地中产阶层化之前时代的人忽视了一个事实，市中心的旧城区以前往往较为衰败。移民的到来能够提升当地的教育水准，因为他们会把自己上进的孩子送入当地的学校。

Above all, skilled migrants boost their host cities by encouraging economic activity and job creation. They attract new employers – as San Francisco found when companies such as Twitter based themselves there rather than in Silicon Valley. Four-fifths of the new UK private sector jobs since 2010 have been created in London.

最重要的是，技术移民为他们移居的城市注入经济活力、创造工作机会，推动当地兴旺发展。他们还能引来新的雇主——从Twitter等公司将总部设在旧金山而不是硅谷就可看出这点。从2010年到现在，英国五分之四的新增私企就业岗位都在伦敦。

They are also a wellspring of new companies. One US academic study found that graduate migrants were not only more likely than natives to start businesses but also that they made locals more enterprising. Their presence created a critical mass of innovation.

他们还是新公司诞生的源泉。美国一项学术研究发现，高学历移民不仅较本地居民更有可能创业，而且还能激发当地人的进取心。他们的出现引发了大量创新。

The number of highly skilled immigrants has increased sharply in this century. About 27m university-educated migrants lived in advanced economies in 2011, according to the OECD, a rise of 70 per cent in a decade. Many of them emigrated from India, China and the Philippines.

高级技术移民的人数在本世纪急剧攀升。经合组织(OECD)数据显示，2011年约有2700万受过大学教育的移民定居发达经济体，比十年前增长了70%。许多移民来自印度、中国和菲律宾。

On the face of it, the San Francisco demonstrations are about geeks squeezing out locals – a community that Heart of the City romantically describes as “long-time residents, the dispossessed, the disenfranchised, the undocumented, the indigenous, queers, artists, immigrants, refugees, dreamers, and folks of all backgrounds”.

表面上看，旧金山抗议活动与科技怪才挤压当地居民生存空间有关。“城市之心”情感丰富地将旧金山社会描述为“长期居民、被逐出家园的人、被剥夺公民权利的人、非法居民、土著、同性恋、艺术家、移民、难民、梦想家以及各种背景的人们。”

This makes it sound like a contest of rich versus poor. Here is another way to frame it: migrant workers are being told by Californian citizens to go back where they came from. That does not sound quite so idealistic, does it? Nor, for its own good, is it the attitude that a thriving city ought to adopt.

这让此事听起来像是一场富人与穷人之间的较量。这里还有另一种表达方法：加州公民正在叫外来务工者哪儿来就回哪儿去。听起来不怎么符合理想主义，对吗？从一座繁荣城市自身的利益出发，这也不是它应该采取的态度。