Михаил Попов - Working Day Reduction as the Ground of Modern Economic Development

At the noted prerequisites corresponding mainly to social economic equality of members of the society, even in the case of increasing in general working time duration by 2007, as it is shown at table 27, employees could have much longer nonworking time than employees occupied in only one of the spheres of the economy.

The main thing is that increasing in working time due to longer duration of labour in the services sphere would go with reduction of working time in production by much higher tempos than it happens in respect of present industrial employees. In that way, economic development would be more consistent.

With further increasing in labour productivity in production, leading to decreasing in the general working time fund in it, decreasing in the value and part of production labour in activities of each employee and increasing in working time in rendering services, at least relative, would continue. Conditions for development of all members of the society would become more and more favorable.

The analysis supposed consecutive realization of the regularity of working time fund reduction in production. However, circumstances (natural disasters, bad harvests, etc.) demanding to fast increase the volume of applied labour at its present productivity appear. Obviously, at different distribution of main kinds of labour among members of the society working time duration will increase differently.

In conditions when production labour is fulfilled by a special social group of employees, their working time will have to be increased. As in the present economy they make the minority in labour resources, then growth of working time will be more serious than in the situation of universal participation in production. Undoubtedly, the first variant is fraught with significant worsening of the social economic state of employees and with a lower productive effect.

It is not excluded that in this critical situation a part of employees from the services sphere will have to be involved in production. Certainly, such redistribution of labour resources is connected to additional difficulties that do not occur at increasing in production work of employees combining labour in the production and nonproduction spheres.

Thereby, from the point of view of ensuring additional labour resources (at fixed able-bodied population) combination of production work and rendering services by members of the society is the most effective variant.

At the key significance of labour oriented to satisfaction of social needs it does not exhaust the whole volume of labour activities. As noted above, production labour in housekeeping is so large-scaled that it exceeds in its volume the working time fund of people occupied in social production. To characterize the social economic state of modern employees it is necessary to take into account this component of labour activities. Then the rate of free time is the measure of social activities of members of the society (according to the character of the previous examination it is the annual rate).

The Annual Rate of Free Time of Employees Occupied in Production, the Nonproduction Sphere, and Combining Labour in the Main Spheres of the Economy

The value of the free time rate of the society, reflecting the ratio of the working time fund in production and the free time fund of the society, makes a prerequisite for the identical ratio of forms of social activities of each individual. Actually, the funds are made out of respective kinds of individuals’ activities. Social functions are realized in activities of social individuals. That is why the tendency of the free time rate of the society for increase determines the direction of changes of the individual free time rates.

The identity of the social and individual rates supposes differences between them. Not all members of the society equally fulfil basic social functions. Because of age-related reasons a certain part of the society is not able to work within normal duration of working time, though this part of the society can fulfil some labour functions in housekeeping and certain kinds of nonproduction social activities. Then, differences between the free time rate of the society and individuals will show in the deviation from the first index of, on one hand, the value of this rate at able-bodied people and, on the other hand, at disabled people: at able-bodied people this rate will be higher than the social rate, at disabled people it will be lower.

For the purposes of our research it is essential to fix the individual rate of free time as average (typical, in this sense) for industrial employees, people occupied in the nonproduction sphere, and employees combining these kinds of labour.

Table 28

The Annual Rate of Free Time of Industrial Employees

Thus, industrial employees’ labour time in social production exceeds time of production labour in housekeeping more than two times. Total time of such labour activities remains so significant that in most of the examined countries it absorbs more than 50% of the whole time of social activities of individuals. Certainly, such employees are objectively short of time for free all-round development.

At the same time, during the examined period progress of social labour productivity was partially used for reduction of working time duration in social production what assisted in increasing in the average rate of employees’ free time in several countries.

We should notice that the level and dynamics of the free time rate of industrial employees are independent of the level and changing in the social rate, in certain degree, the data of table 29 show it.

As it follows from the data, the free time rate of employees was the highest in the FRG both in 1993 and 2007. Meanwhile, this country was not the leader in the level of the free time rate of the society in both cases. Italy being behind Canada in the level of the social rate had almost similar indices of this rate for employees.

Consequently, improvement of the social economic state of industrial employees, owing to redistribution of labour saving from increasing in its productivity in their favor, is possible. On the other hand, increasing in social labour productivity, reflected by growth of the free time rate of the society, does not guarantee in itself increasing in the free time rate of employees: focused actions of social forces interested in it are required. It is indicative that the highest level of the free time rate of employees was seen in France, the FRG and Sweden – the countries where trade union movement of industrial workers was traditionally developed.

Table 29

The Free Time Rates of the Society and Industrial Employees

The free time rate of services sphere employees (table 30) has the specificity that at its calculation working time duration of employees is included into nonproduction social activities what naturally increases the significance of this index, as compared to the analogous index for industrial employees. As the value of domestic labour expenditures (of the production modification) is taken as the constant during the examined period, then the free time rates would coincide in 1993 and 2007.

Table 30

The Annual Free Time Rate of Nonproduction Sphere Employees