Population ageing has economists worried about everything from soaring pension costs to chronically weak economic growth.

人口老齡化讓經(jīng)濟(jì)學(xué)家在各方面都很擔(dān)憂，從激增的養(yǎng)老金到長(zhǎng)期疲軟的經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)。

The trend slows growth in several ways. One is that there are fewer new workers to boost output. Workforces in many countries are already shrinking because of demographic change.

老齡化趨勢(shì)從幾個(gè)方面會(huì)減緩經(jīng)濟(jì)的增長(zhǎng)。第一，增加產(chǎn)出的新工人更少了。許多國(guó)家的勞動(dòng)力已經(jīng)在減少，由于人口結(jié)構(gòu)的變化。

As the number of elderly people increases, governments may neglect growth-boosting public investment in education and infrastructure in favour of spending on pensions and health care. People in work, required to support ever more pensioners, must pay higher taxes.

隨著老年人數(shù)量的增加，政府可能會(huì)忽略對(duì)教育和基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施的經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)刺激性公共投資，而是投資養(yǎng)老金和醫(yī)療保障。工作的人必須要承擔(dān)更高的稅來(lái)支持更多的養(yǎng)老金領(lǐng)取者。

But the biggest hit to growth comes from weakening productivity because some capabilities, notably physical ones, deteriorate with age.

但是對(duì)經(jīng)濟(jì)增加最大的打擊源于降低生產(chǎn)力，因?yàn)橐恍┠芰Γ绕涫巧眢w上的，會(huì)隨著年齡的增長(zhǎng)而退化。

There are some measures that could help. It would make sense to focus policy efforts on keeping people in work longer—by raising retirement ages, for example. Companies can tweak employees’ roles as they get older in order to make best use of the advantages of age, such as extensive experience and professional connections.

一些措施可能有所幫助。將政策重點(diǎn)放在延長(zhǎng)工作時(shí)間上是有意義的，比如提高退休年齡。隨著年齡的增長(zhǎng)，公司可以調(diào)整員工的職位，以充分利用年齡的優(yōu)勢(shì)，比如豐富的經(jīng)驗(yàn)和人脈關(guān)系。

Best of all would be more immigration. An influx of young foreign workers would address nearly all the ways in which population ageing depresses growth. It would not only expand the labour force and create new taxpayers, but would mean more and younger companies, and greater openness to new technologies.

最好的辦法是移民。外國(guó)年輕勞動(dòng)力的流入幾乎能解決老齡化抑制經(jīng)濟(jì)增長(zhǎng)的所有問(wèn)題。移民不僅能增加勞動(dòng)力和新的納稅人，還意味著更多和更年輕的公司，和對(duì)新科技更開(kāi)放的態(tài)度。

Technology may at some point overcome the stifling effect of ageing. When young workers are sufficiently scarce, manufacturers invest in more automation, and experience faster productivity growth as a result.

科技在某些情況下也能戰(zhàn)勝老齡化帶來(lái)的抑制作用。當(dāng)年輕勞動(dòng)力稀缺時(shí)，制造商投資于自動(dòng)化，從而收獲更快速的生產(chǎn)力增長(zhǎng)。