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English nannies face the risk of losing jobs

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)

小心了，瑪麗?波賓斯阿姨！全球的金融颶風已開始殃及英國的保姆市場！

猛烈的金融風暴使美國三大投行頃刻間灰飛煙滅，而很多銀行家和貨幣經紀人也因此丟掉了工作，他們每年花4萬英鎊（7.3萬美元）雇來的保姆一時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構的凱特?貝克說：“問題才剛剛開始。從上一兩周開始，就有保姆打電話來說他們的一個雇主或者男女雇主都失業了，所以他們也失業了。”

她說：“過去的12至18個月是英國保姆業的黃金期，但我們注意到，最近幾個月，保姆的薪水開始有所下降，而現在他們連工作也沒了。”

全球金融風暴已導致倫敦“金融城”的數千人失業或者即將失業，有預測稱，從去年開始由次貸危機引發的全球經濟低迷還將持續較長一段時間。

作為全球金融中心的倫敦同時也是英國保姆交易的中心，許多忙著掙錢的金融界人士都雇傭保姆幫助他們照看孩子。

一直以來，英國保姆在世界各地都頗為搶手，即使面臨東歐保姆的激烈競爭，這一點也不會改變。小說（《歡樂瑪麗》）中“專橫”愛做主的瑪麗?波賓斯阿姨就是英國保姆的一個縮影。

騎士橋保姆中介公司老板茱莉?布萊姆納說：“保姆市場在三、四年前發生了變化，成為‘房奴’的新富階層開始聘用東歐保姆。”

“他們的價格的確便宜，但遠不如我們本國的保姆。目前世界各地還是對‘英國保姆’情有獨鐘。”

據她介紹，目前并沒有很多保姆來她公司登記找工作，不過她預計不久后就會出現一陣保姆求職潮。

而伊甸園保姆中介公司的管理人員斯特茜?科普蘭德則已經感受到了保姆市場上的風暴。

她說：“往年這個時候，都會有很多人來找保姆，而今年卻是門可羅雀。近幾個月來，保姆的工資也開始下降。”

“在經濟不景氣時期，保姆是首當其沖的受害者。近幾年保姆業的興盛局面似乎就要結束。很多用保姆的人都是銀行從業者，而現在，他們已經自身難保。”

（英語點津姍姍編輯）

Vocabulary:

Mary Poppins: Mary Poppins is a series of children's books written by P.L. Travers and originally illustrated by Mary Shepard. The books centre on a mysterious, vain and acerbic magical English nanny, Mary Poppins.（《歡樂瑪麗》）

like flies:大量；大批