美国国家公共电台 NPR This New Program Aims To Train The Growing Freelance Workforce

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

New York City has started a new kind of program aimed at supporting and training and expanding freelance workforce¹. The Freelancers² Hub is what it's called. It offers classes and shared office space, along with tax and legal advice for free - skills that freelancers say they don't get from a traditional education. Here's NPR's Yuki Noguchi.

YUKI NOGUCHI, BYLINE³: Nicholas Mc Millian (ph) was a successful firefighter with a secure job in Trinidad and Tobago, but his passion was moviemaking. So he left it behind to study film production in New York City. Then when he started freelancing three years ago, Mc Millian found his education left lots of practical gaps.

NICHOLAS MC MILLIAN: They don't really prepare you for a career. They don't really say, all right, this is how you go out there and make money and support yourself.

NOGUCHI: Film school didn't teach Mc Millian how to create websites, set prices or write and negotiate contracts. Therein lies a growing disconnect between today's education system and the training freelancers actually need. The labor⁴ market is rapidly changing, thanks in part to growth in apps that make gig work easy to find. But workers on contract also don't have employer-provided benefits or on-the-job training. And this is of particular concern to New York City, which estimates freelancers make up nearly 40 percent of its workforce. Julie Menin is New York City Commissioner⁵ for Media and Entertainment.

JULIE MENIN: That's a number that's going to continue to rise with the growth and advent⁶ of on-demand apps and other structural⁷ changes in the economy.

NOGUCHI: To address this training shortfall, in October, the city partnered with the Freelancers Union to open the Freelancers Hub. It's targeted primarily at those in creative fields, where work is especially competitive - design, film, photography and writing. The hub is located in Brooklyn, alongside the Independent Filmmaker Project. About two-dozen workers sit at rows of desks, couches and small tables. Members can also access a small theater and classrooms. Its classes explain benefits, or stress management, its most popular. All of it, free of charge.

Caitlin Pearce is executive director of the Freelancers Union. She says freelancers need to know how to do it all - budget for taxes and health insurance, and manage workflow and attract clients. And that's not all.

CAITLIN PEARCE: How do I brand myself? What business structure should look like. How do I actually plan for success? How much income do I need to earn?

NOGUCHI: Since it opened in October, 4,000 people have joined the hub. Its regulars include software engineer Lupe Canaviri Maydana, a Bolivian native who hopes to start freelancing next month. Maydana has sought advice on work visas, legal contracts and business cards. More critically, she says the hub has helped combat her fears of working solo. She's made contacts with other freelancers, from artists to musicians and fashion models.

LUPE CANAVIRI MAYDANA: Getting to know that kind of people and the way they do their freelancing. So it's kind of a new world.

NOGUCHI: Pearce says the Freelancers Union wants to make its lectures available online, but it also wants the physical space to foster networking and friendship among freelancers.

PEARCE: Because the concept is really about finding the expertise⁸ and the resources that exist within the community already, and really tapping into it and bringing it into one central place.

NOGUCHI: All of the training classes, for example, are taught by other freelancers. That includes Brian Lee, who taught a digital marketing⁹ workshop one recent evening.

BRIAN LEE: Both of them, they used to be freelancers. One...

NOGUCHI: The room is packed with people from a huge demographic range. Lee begins by telling them, start thinking of yourself as a business.

LEE: Freelancers don't want to spend money, even if it's software or tech that can help them grow their business. I think that's a fundamental shift that we have to make because businesses grow by investing.

NOGUCHI: New York is not alone in identifying the need for workforce training targeted at freelancers and gig workers. The city of San Francisco offers online training courses for freelancers. Several companies, including General Assembly, LinkedIn and Skillshare, offer similar courses for far cheaper than a conventional college course. But members say the main benefits of the Freelancers Hub have been social. Wendy Zhao, a film producer, says being around other freelancers helps her navigate¹⁰ the stress of lean times when paid work isn't available.

WENDY ZHAO: I could do so much during this time instead of just being sad and lonely and desperate and depressed¹¹. Like, I can learn more things. I can write. I can practice.

NOGUCHI: And that, she says, will hopefully lead to more work. Yuki Noguchi, NPR News, New York.

1 workforce   

n.劳动大军，劳动力

参考例句：

• A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
• A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。

2 freelancers   

n.自由作家，自由记者( freelancer的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• A lot of proof-reading is put out to freelancers. 校对工作有很多是请外人做的。 来自辞典例句
• Its benefits plan for freelancers is highly competitive in the industry. 在本行业内它的福利方案是很有竞争力的。 来自互联网

3 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

4 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

5 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

6 advent   

n.(重要事件等的)到来，来临

参考例句：

• Swallows come by groups at the advent of spring. 春天来临时燕子成群飞来。
• The advent of the Euro will redefine Europe.欧元的出现将重新定义欧洲。

7 structural   

adj.构造的，组织的，建筑（用）的

参考例句：

• The storm caused no structural damage.风暴没有造成建筑结构方面的破坏。
• The North American continent is made up of three great structural entities.北美大陆是由三个构造单元组成的。

8 expertise   

n.专门知识(或技能等)，专长

参考例句：

• We were amazed at his expertise on the ski slopes.他斜坡滑雪的技能使我们赞叹不已。
• You really have the technical expertise in a new breakthrough.让你真正在专业技术上有一个全新的突破。

9 marketing   

n.行销，在市场的买卖，买东西

参考例句：

• They are developing marketing network.他们正在发展销售网络。
• He often goes marketing.他经常去市场做生意。

10 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

11 depressed   

adj.沮丧的，抑郁的，不景气的，萧条的

参考例句：

• When he was depressed,he felt utterly divorced from reality.他心情沮丧时就感到完全脱离了现实。
• His mother was depressed by the sad news.这个坏消息使他的母亲意志消沉。