There is a man who works, and toils, and presses on, but is so much the more in want: The writer is imagining a situation here, not talking of an actual person. This is the reason why Good News Translation begins with “For instance, here is someone who….” New Jerusalem Bible has a good way of approaching this whole verse:

• Some people work very hard at top speed,
only to find themselves falling further behind.

Contemporary English Version is similar with “Some people work all day long as hard as they can, but they keep getting poorer.” Another imaginary situation will be discussed in verse 12.

Works, and toils, and presses on means to work, and work, and work, and keep on working. The translator may well find an idiomatic way of saying this. Good News Translation uses such an idiom, saying “never stops working like a slave,” and New English Bible has “slaves and strains and hurries.” Neither of these translations implies that the person our author is imagining is actually a slave. Is so much the more in want means in this context to keep getting poorer. An American Translation translates “is all the worse off.”

Quoted with permission from Bullard, Roger A. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Sirach. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2008. For this and other handbooks for translators see here.