中国重工业之困 China's rust belt looks to slash jobs

Memories of the 1990s are haunting China’s rust-belt cities as strapped state-owned employers look at cutting jobs, with Wuhan Iron & Steel the latest company said to be laying off thousands of workers.

上世纪90年代的记忆正在困扰中国的铁锈地带（rust-belt，指衰落的老工业地带——译者注）城市。资金拮据的国有雇主考虑采取裁员行动，据悉武汉钢铁(Wuhan Iron & Steel)是最新一家裁减大批工人的国企（编者注：据武钢官方微信“幸福武钢”消息，武钢集团表示，目前并没有“裁员”）。

The dismantling of market pricing reforms and the “iron rice bowl” system of life-long jobs in the 1990s eliminated thousands of state-owned small or medium-sized enterprises, which specialised in everything from industrial boilers to wedding photographs. SOEs now account for about a third of China’s productive capacity and an even smaller portion of urban employment, even though in some smaller cities they still dominate.

90年代，市场化定价改革和“铁饭碗”终身就业制度使数以万计的国有中小企业倒闭，此前这些企业经营着从工业锅炉到婚纱照的各行各业。如今国企占中国生产力的大约三分之一，占城镇就业的比例更小，即便国企在某些较小城市仍占主导地位。

Since then, years of precipitous growth and cheap state-backed credit have left many sectors of the Chinese economy bloated on debt and unprepared for a downturn. Heavy industry has been particularly hard hit by the sharp drop in prices for coal, energy, iron ore and steel.

自90年代以来，多年迅猛增长和国家支持的廉价信贷使中国经济中的很多部门积累沉重债务，并且对低迷没有准备。近期，随着煤炭、能源、铁矿石和钢材价格大幅下滑，重工业受到格外沉重的打击。

The biggest SOEs typically employed hundreds of thousands of workers until a debt crisis and economic slowdown in the late 1990s forced millions of workers into early retirement on meagre pensions. Twenty years later, many remain the largest employers and taxpayers in their cities, still employing tens or even hundreds of thousands despite mounting debt burdens and collapsing prices.

曾几何时，最大型的国有企业往往雇用数十万工人——直到90年代后期的一场债务危机和经济放缓迫使数以百万计的工人提前退休，领取微薄的养老金。20年后，这些国企仍是所在城市最大的雇主和纳税人，仍然雇用数万甚至数十万工人，尽管债务负担越来越重，尽管产品价格不断下降。

Chinese media this week said Wuhan Iron & Steel, one of China’s largest mills, would lay off up to 11,000 workers, although the producer has denied the plans. The reports follow an announcement in October of 100,000 lay-offs at Longmay, a state-owned coal miner near the Siberian border.

中国媒体本周报道称，中国最大钢厂之一武汉钢铁将裁员多达1.1万，尽管该企业否认了裁员之说。有关武钢裁员的报道发表之前，靠近西伯利亚边境的国有煤炭企业龙煤(Longmay)今年10月宣布裁员10万。

While small SOEs have mostly vanished, the biggest have bulked up on state-backed loans as Beijing tried to create national champions . The Rmb4tn stimulus unleashed after the global financial crisis resulted in “blind investment” by the SOEs, according to Hu Xingdou, a professor at the Beijing Institute of Technology.

尽管小型国有企业大多消失了，但在北京方面创建国家冠军企业的努力推动下，最大的国企近年借助国家支持的贷款发展壮大。据北京理工大学(Beijing Institute of Technology)教授胡星斗介绍，全球金融危机爆发后北京方面释放的4万亿元人民币刺激资金导致了国有企业的“盲目投资”。

Beijing has orchestrated mergers of big, centrally owned state groups but local governments are reluctant to take the next step of slashing employment rolls or shutting down excess capacity that could trigger debt defaults.

北京策划了大型央企的合并，但地方政府不愿迈出可能引发债务违约的步子，进行大举裁员或关停过剩产能。

The talk of downsizing at Wuhan Steel comes after a decade in which it consolidated smaller mills in central China, built a state-of-the art new mill in southern China and fought off attempts by state-owned Baosteel in Shanghai to dominate its market. But now steel prices have dropped and China’s anti-corruption campaign has claimed Deng Qilin, the irascible former chairman who in happier times enjoyed chain-smoking his way through long interviews with journalists.

过去10年期间，武钢兼并了华中地区一些规模较小的钢厂，在中国南方打造了一家先进的新钢厂，并挫败了位于上海的国企宝钢(Baosteel)主导市场的企图。但现在钢材价格已经下降，武钢的前董事长邓崎琳也已在中国的反腐败斗争中落马；在经营较好的时期，脾气暴躁的邓崎琳在接受记者们的长时间采访时一根接一根地抽烟。

Reports of lay-offs at Wuhan Steel recall steps perfected in the 1990s such as forcing “early retirement” of older or female workers, or spinning off non-core businesses to local governments. Sporadic protests have hit some depressed cities but the country has so far avoided the mass demonstrations that roiled the industrial north-east two decades ago.

有关武钢裁员的报道让人联想起90年代就已相当完善的措施，如强迫年龄较大的职工或女职工“提前退休”，或者剥离非核心业务，由地方政府接手。一些经济不景气的城市出现了零星抗议活动，但中国迄今避免了20年前东北重工业地带爆发的大规模示威。