After 30 years at a factory making truck parts, Jeffrey Evans was earning $14.55 an hour in what he called "one of the better-paying jobs in Colum-bus, Ohio." Wearing a Harley-David-son cap, a bittersweet reminder of crushed dreams, he recently described how astonished and betrayed he felt when the plant was shut down in Au-gust after a labor dispute. Despite spo-radic construction work, Evans has seen his income reduced by half. So he was astonished yet again to find him-self, at age 49, selling off his cherished Harley and most of his apartment fur-niture and moving in with his mother.

伊凡斯在一家卡車零件廠工作30年後，每小時賺14.55美元，他自稱「這算是俄亥俄州哥倫布市待遇差強人意的工作。」他頭上戴的哈雷機車帽，讓人想起苦樂參半的破碎夢想。當工廠八月在一場勞資糾紛後關門，他最近吐苦水說他很震驚和覺得被出賣。儘管伊凡斯偶爾到工地打零工，他的收入減半，在49歲之年，他不敢相信自己還得賣掉哈雷機車及公寓大半家當，搬回去和老媽同住。

Middle-aged men moving in with parents, wives taking two jobs, veter-an workers taking overnight shifts at half their former pay, families moving West — these are signs of the turmoil and stresses emerging in the little towns and backwoods mobile homes of southeast Ohio, where dozens of factories and several coal mines have closed over the last decade, and small businesses are giving way to big-box retailers and fast-food outlets. The so-called Rust Belt region presents an acute example of trends affecting O-hio, Michigan and other pockets of the Midwest.

中年男子搬去和父母同住，老婆兼兩份差，年長的勞工上大夜班只拿半薪，舉家搬到美西。這些都是俄亥俄州東南部小鎮和偏遠地區活動房屋出現混亂和壓力的跡象，當地已有數十家工廠和幾家煤礦十年來陸陸續續關門，中小企業也被大賣場和速食連鎖店取代。美國所謂「鐵鏽帶」地區呈現一種明顯的趨勢，影響俄州、密西根州和中西部其他地區。

Slammed by the continued decline in the automobile and steel businesses, Ohio never recovered from the re-cession of 2001-2, and blue-collar families who had made it partway up the economic ladder find themselves slipping back, with chaotic effects on families and dreams. Throughout the state, the percentage of families living below the poverty line — just over $20,000 for a family of four last year — rose slightly from 14 percent in 2005 to 16 percent in 2007. But the numbers are more dismal in the southeastern Appalachian part of the state, where 32 percent of families lived below the poverty line in 2007, and 56 percent lived with incomes less than $40,000 for a family of four.

受汽車業和鋼鐵業持續衰退衝擊，俄州一直未能從2001至2002年的經濟衰退中復甦，原本在經濟階梯上略微向上攀升的藍領家庭，再跌回原點，對他們的家庭和夢想都造成慘痛影響。綜觀俄州，生活在貧窮線以下的家庭，也就是四口之家去年收入在兩萬美元出頭的家庭，從2005年的14%小幅增加至2007年的16%。但在俄州阿帕拉契山東南部數字更糟，當地2007年有32%家庭生活在貧窮線以下，四口之家年收入不到四萬美元的更高達56%。

"These younger workers should be the backbone of the economy," said Shiloh Turner, study director for the Health Foundation of Greater Cincinnati, which conducted the sur-veys. But in parts of Ohio, Ms. Turner said, half or more "are barely making ends meet." One consequence is an upending of the traditional pat-tern, in which middle-aged children take in an elderly parent. As $15-an-hour factory jobs are re-placed by $7- or $8-an-hour retail jobs, more men in their 30s and 40s are moving in with their parents or grandparents. Other unemployed or low-wage workers, some with fami-lies, find themselves staying with one relative after another, serially wearing out their welcome.

「這些年輕的勞動人口本應是經濟主力，」進行這項研究的大辛辛那提健康照護基金會研究主任希洛．透納說。但她指出，在俄州部分地區至少有一半人口「幾乎入不敷出」。後遺症之一是傳統上由中年子女收容照顧年邁父母的模式被推翻。時薪15美元的工作被每小時只有七、八美元的零工取代，越來越多三、四十歲的男子搬去和父母或祖父母同住。其他失業或低薪勞工，有些只好攜家帶眷，挨家挨戶投靠親戚，不斷引人反感厭煩。

Shari Joos, 45, a married mother of four boys in nearby Wellston, said, "If you don't work at Wal-Mart, the only job you can get around here is in fast food." They made $30,000 a year in the best of times, she said. Since last fall, when her husband was laid off by the Merillat cabinet factory, which downsized to one shift a day from three, keeping anywhere near that income required Mrs. Joos to take a second job.

45歲的夏莉．朱斯已婚、有四個兒子。她說：「在這裡如果不到沃爾瑪工作，就只能到速食店打工了。」她表示，在好年冬，他們每年賺三萬美元不成問題，但去年秋天她丈夫上班的廚櫃製造商Merillat把一天三班縮減為一天一班，他因而被裁員，要維持三萬美元年薪，朱斯太太就得再兼個差。

Her 20-year-old son went to col-lege for two years, earning an associ-ate degree in information science, but cannot find any jobs nearby. He still works at McDonald's and lives at home as he ponders whether to move to a distant city, as most local college graduates must. Her 22-year-old son works at Burger King and lives with his grandparents.

她20歲的兒子上了兩年大學，拿到修滿兩年資訊科技課程的準學士學位，但附近根本找不到任何工作，他還在麥當勞上班，同時住在家裡，雖然他也和大部分大學畢業生一樣，考慮是否要搬到較遠的城市。她22歲的兒子則在「漢堡王」工作，並和祖父母同住。

Mr. Evans said that moving back into the home where he grew up, af-ter decades of independence, was a stinging reminder that "I lost every-thing I worked for all my life." His mother, Shirley Sheline, 73, had worked 28 years at the same auto parts plant, and shares his dismay. Seeing his desperation last year, she added a room to her house with a separate door. "I don't know what I'd have done without my mom," Mr. Evans said. But selling his Harley, which he would have paid off this year, was pure torture. He had owned a Harley since he was 20, and week-end cruising with pals was his favorite recreation. "Instead I drove it to the buyer's house, threw him the keys, came home and got drunk."

伊凡斯說，在自立更生數十年後搬回自幼成長的家，回想起「這輩子全力打拚的一切全部付諸流水」實在令人心痛。他老媽雪莉．席藍已73歲，她在同一家汽車零件廠工作了28年，她和他一樣沮喪。眼看他去年走投無路，她在住處旁加蓋一個房間，獨門獨戶。伊凡斯說：「如果不是老媽，我真不知該怎麼辦。」但要賣掉他今年就可付清貸款的哈雷機車實是一大酷刑。他從20歲開始就擁有哈雷機車，周末和同好出去飆車是他最愛的消遣。「結果我騎著哈雷到買家家裡，把鑰匙丟給他，回家後喝個爛醉。」

（取材自「紐約時報」）