巴西全力避免经济陷阱

    国际能源机构( International Energy Agency )预测称，巴西的石油产量在未来20年将增加两倍，增至日产600万桶，从而成为世界第六大原油生产商。要实现如此乐观的前景，需要巴西在未来5年内投入数千亿美元开发油田和炼油厂。如果没有开发这些项目所需的劳动力，这一幕根本无从实现。

    人力资源服务公司万宝盛华( Manpower)2013年的一项调查显示，巴西是全球第二大最缺乏技术工人的国家。68%的巴西雇主声称，他们面临人才短缺问题，严重程度仅次于日本（85%）。汽车制造商，建筑公司和能源企业越来越依赖其他国家的工人（巴西与9个国家接壤）。过去5年来，巴西劳工部颁发的外国技术工人临时工作签证一直在稳步增长。

    为了应对不断累积的人才短缺压力，巴西总统迪尔玛•罗塞夫已经设定了提升合格工人数量的目标，以推动雇主和州及地方政府领导人就预测和协调各自的劳动力需求展开合作。

    就伯南布哥州（巴西增长最快的州之一）而言，这项战略看上去很有前景。巴西首屈一指的医药研究企业诺华公司(Novartis)在这个州建造的南美首家生物制药厂将于2017年正式投产，这家公司现在已经开始为这家工厂吸引和培训工人。诺华生物制药公司(Novartis Biociencias S.A.)巴西法律事务主管伊莎贝拉•马西埃尔•德萨说，我们知道，如果不尽早着手，“我们就招不到人才了。”这家公司将斥资数百万美元，与州政府和联邦大学(Federal University，巴西顶尖大学之一)合作开发一个专业课程在线学习平台以及一个面向巴西残障人士的学习管道，培训能够胜任实验室、生物安全和呼叫中心工作的合格工人。

    此外，罗塞夫还抱定决心要击退地方主义，并为只会说葡萄牙语的国民打破就业障碍。她打算在2015年之前派遣10.1万名巴西学生赴英语国家学习科学和数学（只有5%的巴西人讲英语，政府把英语视为有竞争力的劳动力必须具备的能力之一）。罗塞夫特意选择安德拉德帮助政府寻求外部帮助。安德拉德在总部位于丹佛的非政府组织“美国巴西连接中心”(U.S.-Brazil Connect)的帮助下已经与数家美国社区学院结成合作关系，其中包括得克萨斯州的休斯敦社区学院(Houston Community College)、科罗拉多州的红岩社区学院(Rock Community College)和密歇根州的杰克逊社区学院(Jackson Community College)等。这些学院开设的以拓宽就业渠道为宗旨的英语培训项目对巴西年轻人颇具吸引力。

    17岁的韦斯利•梅洛就是其中一位。这位来自萨尔瓦多市（位于巴西东北部的巴伊亚州）的年轻人去年秋天在科罗拉多州参观了几所学校。梅洛说：“这个计划的真实意图在于，让学生沉浸在英语环境之中，然后回巴西工作，帮助祖国发展壮大。”他正在巴伊亚州攻读一个为期两年的机电一体化学位。他说，将来回国后，“应该能够很容易找到一份工作。巴西需要大量的技术、工业自动化，以及具备许多其他技能的人才。”

    但梅洛并不确定他能在巴西待足够长的时间，以“帮助这个国家改变。”他说，他受够了几乎每天都会碰到的安全和公共交通难题。“我住在距离技校大约10分钟车程的地方，学校在马路边，附近有一个贫民窟，”梅洛说。他要花两个小时才能到家。“经过的公交车实在太拥挤了，还经常严重误点。有一回等车时，我还被一帮暴徒抢走了背包。我的化学书就是在那里弄丢的。”

    梅洛争辩说，要是公共交通能更好一些，小偷也不至于如此猖狂。要是穷人没有被排挤得这么厉害，犯罪现象就会少得多。

    萨尔瓦多的地铁系统堪称巴西政府转移财政支出重点的象征。自1997年以来，这套地铁系统的建设一直停滞不前，目前只是一些不知通往何处的混凝土柱和锈迹斑斑的铁轨。

    巴西政府承诺要赶在世界杯开幕前及时改善公共交通系统。近几个月以来，出于对政府斥巨资建造体育场馆、接待中心和其他服务于赛事的公共设施的强烈不满，已有上百万巴西人走上街头，举行声势浩大的抗议活动。他们声称，这些投入转移了政府对铺面道路、邮件传送和饮用水等方面的投资资金。

    梅洛说，这些服务对于数量迅速增长、生活在贫民窟或棚户区、缺乏熟练技术的下层阶级来说依然遥不可及。正在抗议的不仅仅是穷人和年轻人，“如果我妈妈同意我去，我也会去参加这些示威活动。”

    The International Energy Agency forecasts Brazil will triple its oil output in the next 20 years, with 6 million barrels per day, to become the sixth largest producer in the world. This optimistic outlook requires hundreds of billions of dollars to develop fields and refineries in the next five years. This cannot happen without the workforce to develop it.

    Brazil ranks second among the world's nations suffering from acute skills shortages, according to a 2013 survey by Manpower. Sixty-eight percent of the nation's employers reported that they have a talent problem, just behind Japan's 85%. Bordering nine countries, Brazil's automakers, construction firms, and energy concerns are increasingly reliant on workers from other countries. For the past five years, Brazil's Ministry of Labor has steadily increased temporary work visas for foreign technical workers.

    Responding to mounting pressures, Brazil's President Dilma Rousseff has set goals to boost the number of work-ready Brazilians, pushing both employers and local and state leaders to collaborate to anticipate and coordinate their staffing needs.

    The strategy looks promising for Pernambuco, one of Brazil's fastest growing states. Brazil's leading pharmaceutical research firm, Novartis, will open the continent's first biotech plant there in 2017 and it's already scrambling to attract and train the workers to staff it. Short of this early and sustained effort, says Isabella Maciel de Sa, country legal head at Novartis Biociencias S.A., "we know we would not find the talent." Along with the state government and Federal University [one of Brazil's top universities], the company is developing a million-dollar online platform of specialized courses and a pipeline for the Brazil's disabled population to train for work in labs, biosecurity, and call centers.

    Intent on beating back provincialism and breaking barriers for Portuguese-only speakers, Rousseff has also set a 2015 deadline for sending 101,000 Brazilian students abroad to study science and math in English (only 5% of Brazilians speak the language, which the government has deemed necessary for a competitive workforce). Rousseff tapped Andrade to advance the government's hunt for outside help. Working with Denver-based U.S.-Brazil Connect, Andrade has teamed up with U.S. community colleges -- including Texas' Houston Community College, Colorado's Red Rock Community College, and Michigan's Jackson Community College, where expanding career-based and English proficiency programs attract young Brazilians.

    Among them is Wesley Melo, a 17-year-old from Salvador, in the northeastern Brazilian state of Bahia, who visited Colorado schools this past fall. "The real idea of the program is to send students to get immersion and then to return to Brazil and work in industry and help the country to grow," says Melo, who is pursuing a two-year mechatronics (mechanical and electronics) degree in Bahia. Back home, he says, "it should be easy to get a job…. In Brazil, we need technical, industrial automation, and so many other skills."

    But Melo is not sure he'll stay in Brazil long enough to "help the country change." He says he is fed up with the daily safety and public transportation difficulties. "I live about 10 minutes from technical school, which is on a road near a favela," says Melo. It takes him two hours to get home. "The busses pass and they are really crowded. And there are big delays. Waiting for the bus, I was robbed by thugs who took my backpack. My chemistry book was in there."

    Melo contends that if there were better public transportation, he would not have been so vulnerable to thieves. And if the poor were not so marginalized, there would be less crime.

    Emblematic of the Brazilian government's shifting fiscal priorities, Salvador's subway system, under construction and stalled since 1997, offers concrete pillars to nowhere and rusting rails.

    The government promises to improve mobility in time for the World Cup. Upward of a million Brazilian protestors have taken to the streets in recent months, seething over the government's commitment to build stadiums, hospitality centers, and an array of other public facilities for the games, which, they contend, diverts investments for paved roads, mail delivery, and potable water.

    Melo says that basics remain out of reach for the burgeoning unskilled underclass living in favelas, or shantytowns. It's not just the poor or the young who are demonstrating, he says: "If my mother had let me go, I would have joined the demonstrations."