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English nannies face the risk of losing jobs
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Watch out Mary Poppins, the hurricane howling through the world's financial markets is starting to be felt in the rarefied world of the British nanny.
As bankers and money dealers fall like flies to a credit crunch that has seen three major US investment banks disappear in a puff of smoke, so the nannies they have employed on salaries of up to 40,000 pounds ($73,000) have suddenly become expensive luxuries.
"The problems are just starting. In the last week or two I have started getting calls from nannies saying one or both of their employers have lost their jobs and so they have too," said Kate Baker of Abbeville Nannies in south London.
"The past 12 to 18 months have been a golden era for nannies in London but we have noticed that in recent months pay rates have started to come down a bit, and now the jobs are going too," she added.
Thousands in the London financial district known as the City are either already out of a job or expected to be unemployed in the near future amid predictions that the global economic woes which began last year with the sub-prime shakeout will continue for many more months.
London, with its world financial hub, is the centre of the nanny trade in Britain, employing thousands of the surrogate mothers to care for their infants while they earn megabucks in the City.
The British nanny, epitomized by the fictional but magisterial Mary Poppins, has always been in demand around the world, and that is unlikely to change despite stiff competition from Eastern Europe.
"The market changed three or four years ago. The newly rich with eye-watering mortgages didn't come shopping for nannies in this country, they went to Eastern Europe," said Julie Bremner, owner of Knightsbridge Nannies.
"The nannies from there are cheaper but not nearly as good as ours," she added. "The whole world still comes to Britain shopping for the Great British Nanny."
But while she said she had not yet seen a flood of nannies looking for work, she too expected it come in the near future.
For Stacey Copeland, an administrator at Eden Nannies, the first whisperings of the gathering storm in the nanny state were already being felt.
"Normally at this time of the year we get a rush of people looking for nannies. But it hasn't happened yet," she said. "Pay rates have also started to come down in recent months."
"Nannies are among the first to be hit when times start to get tough. It has been a boom time for nannies in recent years, but that looks to be ending. Many of the people who employ nannies are bankers and they are suffering now," she added.
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(Agencies)
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小心了，瑪麗?波賓斯阿姨！全球的金融颶風(fēng)已開(kāi)始殃及英國(guó)的保姆市場(chǎng)！
猛烈的金融風(fēng)暴使美國(guó)三大投行頃刻間灰飛煙滅，而很多銀行家和貨幣經(jīng)紀(jì)人也因此丟掉了工作，他們每年花4萬(wàn)英鎊（7.3萬(wàn)美元）雇來(lái)的保姆一時(shí)間也成了昂貴的奢侈品。
位于倫敦南部的阿布維爾保姆中介結(jié)構(gòu)的凱特?貝克說(shuō)：“問(wèn)題才剛剛開(kāi)始。從上一兩周開(kāi)始，就有保姆打電話來(lái)說(shuō)他們的一個(gè)雇主或者男女雇主都失業(yè)了，所以他們也失業(yè)了。”
她說(shuō)：“過(guò)去的12至18個(gè)月是英國(guó)保姆業(yè)的黃金期，但我們注意到，最近幾個(gè)月，保姆的薪水開(kāi)始有所下降，而現(xiàn)在他們連工作也沒(méi)了。”
全球金融風(fēng)暴已導(dǎo)致倫敦“金融城”的數(shù)千人失業(yè)或者即將失業(yè)，有預(yù)測(cè)稱(chēng)，從去年開(kāi)始由次貸危機(jī)引發(fā)的全球經(jīng)濟(jì)低迷還將持續(xù)較長(zhǎng)一段時(shí)間。
作為全球金融中心的倫敦同時(shí)也是英國(guó)保姆交易的中心，許多忙著掙錢(qián)的金融界人士都雇傭保姆幫助他們照看孩子。
一直以來(lái)，英國(guó)保姆在世界各地都頗為搶手，即使面臨東歐保姆的激烈競(jìng)爭(zhēng)，這一點(diǎn)也不會(huì)改變。 小說(shuō)（《歡樂(lè)瑪麗》）中“專(zhuān)橫”愛(ài)做主的瑪麗?波賓斯阿姨就是英國(guó)保姆的一個(gè)縮影。
騎士橋保姆中介公司老板茱莉?布萊姆納說(shuō)：“保姆市場(chǎng)在三、四年前發(fā)生了變化，成為‘房奴’的新富階層開(kāi)始聘用東歐保姆。”
“他們的價(jià)格的確便宜，但遠(yuǎn)不如我們本國(guó)的保姆。目前世界各地還是對(duì)‘英國(guó)保姆’情有獨(dú)鐘。”
據(jù)她介紹，目前并沒(méi)有很多保姆來(lái)她公司登記找工作，不過(guò)她預(yù)計(jì)不久后就會(huì)出現(xiàn)一陣保姆求職潮。
而伊甸園保姆中介公司的管理人員斯特茜?科普蘭德則已經(jīng)感受到了保姆市場(chǎng)上的風(fēng)暴。
她說(shuō)：“往年這個(gè)時(shí)候，都會(huì)有很多人來(lái)找保姆，而今年卻是門(mén)可羅雀。近幾個(gè)月來(lái)，保姆的工資也開(kāi)始下降。”
“在經(jīng)濟(jì)不景氣時(shí)期，保姆是首當(dāng)其沖的受害者。近幾年保姆業(yè)的興盛局面似乎就要結(jié)束。很多用保姆的人都是銀行從業(yè)者，而現(xiàn)在，他們已經(jīng)自身難保。”
（英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津姍姍編輯）
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