For all the jobs that machines can now do — whether performing surgery, driving cars or serving food — they still lack one distinctly human trait. They have no social skills.

尽管机器现在可以从事各种工作，如手术、驾车、上菜，但无疑它们还缺少一个独特的人类特征，那就是社交技巧。

Yet skills like cooperation, empathy and flexibility¹ have become increasingly vital in modern-day work. Occupations that require strong social skills have grown much more than others since 1980, according to new research. And the only occupations that have shown consistent wage growth since 2000 require both cognitive² and social skills.

然而，合作、同理心和灵活性等能力，在现代工作环境里已变得越来越重要。新的研究显示，1980年以来，需要很强社交能力的职位大幅增加，远远超出了其他职位。而且自2000年来，仅有的一些工资有持续增长的职业种类，都要求良好的认知和社交能力。

The findings help explain a mystery that has been puzzling economists³: the slowdown in the growth even of high-skill jobs. The jobs hit hardest seem to be those that don't require social skills, throughout the wage spectrum⁵.

这些研究结果有助于让经济学家揭开一个一直让他们很困惑的谜题：为什么尽管是高技能职位，也会有工资增长缓慢的情况。从各个工资水平来看，工资最难增长的职业都是不需要社交能力的。

"As I'm speaking with you, I need to think about what's going on in your head — ‘Is she bored? Am I giving her too much information?' — and I have to adjust my behavior all the time," said David Deming, associate professor of education and economics at Harvard University and author of a new study. "That's a really hard thing to program, so it's growing as a share of jobs."

"我们对话时，我要想着你头脑里是怎么想的──‘她是觉得无聊吗？我说的信息太多了吗？'──所以我还要随时调整自己的行为，"哈佛大学教育和经济学副教授、一项新研究的作者戴维·戴明说。"这真的很难通过编程办到，所以社交技巧在工作中越来越重要了。"

Some economists and technologists see this trend as cause for optimism: Even as technology eliminates some jobs, it generally creates others. Yet to prepare students for the change in the way we work, the skills that schools teach may need to change. Social skills are rarely emphasized in traditional education.

一些经济学家和科技专家以乐观的态度看待这个趋势：尽管科技会淘汰某些职位，但一般还会创造其他的。为了让学生对现在的工作情况做好准备，学校所教的技能也应该改变。传统教育模式很少会注重社交技巧。

Despite the emphasis on teaching computer science, learning math and science is not enough. Jobs that involve those skills but not social skills, like those held by bookkeepers, bank tellers⁶ and certain types of engineers, have performed worst in employment growth in recent years for all but the highest-paying jobs. In the tech industry, for instance, it's the jobs that combine technical and interpersonal skills that are booming, like being a computer scientist working on a group project.

尽管如今强调计算机科学的教育，但只学数学和科学是不够的。涉及这些技能但不涉及社交技巧的工作，像会计、银行柜员和某些类别的工程师，近年来的就业增长是最低的，这些领域中薪酬最高的岗位除外。举例来说，在科技产业里，技术和社交技能相结合的工作岗位数量激增，如在小组项目里工作的计算机科学家。

"If it's just technical skill, there's a reasonable chance it can be automated⁷, and if it's just being empathetic or flexible, there's an infinite supply of people, so a job won't be well paid," said David Autor, an economist⁴ at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "It's the interaction of both that is virtuous⁸."

"如果只是技术性技能，就有理由认为它可能会被自动化。而如果只要求有同理心和灵活性，社会也有无限的人力供应，所以这种工作的工资也不会高，"麻省理工学院经济学家戴维·奥托尔说。"只有结合两者的职业才最好。"

Someday, nearly all work could be automated, leaving humans to revel⁹ in never-ending leisure time. But in the meantime, this research argues, students should be prepared for the actual world of work. Maybe high schools and colleges should evaluate students the way preschools do — whether they "play well with others."

总有一天，差不多所有工作都可以自动化完成，人类将享有无穷无尽的闲暇时间。但是目前，这份研究的论点是，学生应该为现实的职场做好准备。或许，高中和大学应该用幼儿园的标准来评估学生——那就是他们能否和别人"玩到一起"。