In a recent paper Ben Broadbent,a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy .

题目

In a recent paper Ben Broadbent,a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy .
In a recent paper Ben Broadbent,a member of the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee,explains that it takes time for hard-hit sectors to shed labour and capital following a shock.It also takes time for new,fast-growing sectors to mop up these resources.During this period of flux,people and capital are concentrated in declining sectors,and economic output will be less than it could be.i
请问句子中mop up 的意思是什么啊?我查的是扫除,但用在句子觉得不通顺.
请问句子最后的than it could be中it是指代什么?该怎么理解它的意思?

答案

mop up直译:擦去； 消灭； 结束
这里转译为,消化(因其它行业受挫而产生的剩余人员)
economic output will be less than it could be= 经济产出比它应该的量大大减少.