Labor Productivity

Although labor productivity is logically part of production, it is a specialized area requiring fairly extensive treatment using ENL's core components. In this section the environment is ignored, and the population level is assumed to be constant.

The sphere of production cannot assume responsibility for consumption. For this reason, the present section addresses potential value exclusively, thus ignoring effectual value.

Labor productivity is significant for several reasons. A change in labor productivity can alter working conditions, thereby modifying labor cost. It also has a strong bearing on the division of labor, it can increase output quantities, and it is closely associated with a society’s choice of technological complexity.

As well, labor productivity is significant because of its ideological role. Standard economics repeatedly goes beyond its proper sphere of functional analysis by encouraging a society to increase its labor productivity. Because such prodding is often persuasive, it can strongly influence public attitudes, even after a contractionary revolution.

ENL must therefore distinguish between situations where health actually is improved by rising labor productivity, and situations where this is not the case. As we will see, ENL treats labor productivity as a delicate optimization challenge, not as the crude maximization supported by standard thinkers.

Although several factors have been cited in the economics literature to account for higher labor productivity, the most straightforward and generally accepted explanation is technological change. In ENL, this is assumed to be the sole factor underlying labor productivity changes.

Contents of this section:

Definition of Labor Productivity ENL uses the conventional definition of labor productivity: the quantity of an intermediate or final output produced per unit of labor time expended in its production. Read on…
Division of Labor Division of labor refers to the reduction in the number of economic tasks assigned to individual workers — that is, to the increased specialization and fragmentation of labor. Read on…
Economic Effects of Labor Productivity An increase in labor productivity potentially has two direct economic effects, based on its definition: an increase in output quantity and a decrease in labor time. Read on…
Luddism Reconsidered Luddism was a 19th-century British working class movement whose members occasionally destroyed automated looms and other machines. Their grievance was that the machines were replacing workers, thereby depriving them of income and laying waste to a traditional and highly valued mode of independent life. Read on…
Optimizing Productivity In order to understand what happens to health when productivity rises over time, it is useful to compare a final output at two stages of productivity: an extremely low level and the optimum level. Read on…
Productivity for Intermediate Outputs As with final outputs, productivity for intermediate outputs should be optimized, but the task is simpler because fewer variables apply. The target quantity for an intermediate output is the minimum quantity required for the target quantities of all associated final outputs. Read on…
Technological Intensity Technological intensity refers to the degree to which machines, and technology generally, substitute for autonomous human action in a production task. A distinct term is needed here because the technology used in a labor process frequently curtails human autonomy, which can significantly impact the worker's health. Read on…
Two Perspectives on Labor Productivity Here we compare the standard perspective on labor productivity with that of ENL. This serves two purposes: it underscores the need for ENL to take an independent stance on the subject, and it introduces the elements that must be taken into account in ENL's technical treatment of labor productivity. Read on…

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