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Interconnected dynamics of duration, productivity and bullshit of labor (branch aspect on the example of the USA)
 
PIIS086904990025284-4-1
DOI10.31857/S086904990025284-4
Publication type Article
Status Approved
Authors
Valery Minat 
Occupation: Associate Professor of the Department of Economics and Management
Affiliation: Ryazan State Agrotechnological University named after P.A. Kostychev
Address: Ryazan, 390026, Russia, Ryazan, Stroykova street, 25, apartment 133
Abstract

Within the framework of the generally accepted concept of increasing the role of materialized labor in productivity, a constant but slowing growth in the rate of labor productivity and a reduction in working hours, some paradoxes of labor productivity have been formed and developed in the past few decades. One of the paradoxical phenomena characteristic of industries with a traditionally high share of human labor is the increase in working hours due to additionally created jobs, assessed by D. Graeber as completely or partially meaningless (“crazy”) labor. A variety of such labor does not create value, but only participates in its redistribution, and, moreover, in favor of the least valuable types of activity for society, as a rule, serving the creation of a real product or socially significant service, which actualizes the problem of the relationship between productivity, duration and meaninglessness of labor, not only as socio-economic, but also value cultural. Based on data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the results of factor analysis using a mathematical correlation-regression apparatus, the indicated relationships in the performance dynamics of two sectors of the American economy over a long period of time were modeled. The result was an empirical confirmation of the hypothesis that in the context of a long-term increase in labor productivity, leading to a general reduction in working hours, a contradiction with the ethical principle of “purchasing” labor by the employer is gradually formed and develops, leading to stagnation and a subsequent increase in working hours due to the creation and diversification of different forms of meaningless labor. It is shown that the increase in the cost of living labor, expressed, in particular, in the need to allocate additional working time for socially meaningless work, objectively slows down productivity in construction and healthcare in the United States. 

Keywordslabor productivity, working hours, meaningless labor, factorial productivity, living labor, correlation-regression analysis, USA
Received18.04.2023
Number of characters47931
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1 Взаимосвязанная динамика продолжительности, производительности и «бессмысленности» труда (отраслевой аспект на примере США)
2 © В.Н. МИНАТ
3 Минат Валерий Николаевич, Рязанский государственный агротехнологический университет имени П.А. Костычева (Рязань, Россия), minat.valera@yandex.ru . ORCID: 0000-0002-8787-4274
4 В рамках общепринятой концепции повышения роли овеществленного труда в производительности, постоянного, но замедляющегося, роста темпов производительности труда и сокращения продолжительности рабочего времени, в последние несколько десятилетий сформировались и получили развитие некоторые парадоксы производительности труда. Одним из парадоксальных явлений, характерным для отраслей, с традиционно высокой долей живого труда, является увеличение рабочего времени за счет дополнительно создаваемых работ, оцененных Д. Гребером в качестве полностью либо частично бессмысленного («бредового») труда. Разновидность такого труда не создает стоимости, а только участвует в перераспределении ее, причем, в пользу наименее ценных для общества видов деятельности, как правило, обслуживающих создание реального продукта или социально значимой услуги, что актуализирует проблему взаимосвязи производительности, продолжительности и бессмысленности труда не только как социально-экономическую, но и ценностную культурологическую. На основе данных Бюро трудовой статистики США и результатов факторного анализа, использующего математический корреляционно-регрессионный аппарат, произведено моделирование указанных взаимосвязей в динамике производительности двух отраслей американской экономики за длительный период времени. Результатом стало эмпирическое подтверждение гипотезы о том, что в условиях долгосрочного повышения производительности труда, приводящего к общему сокращению продолжительности рабочего времени, постепенно формируется и развивается противоречие с этическим принципом «покупки» труда работодателем, приводящим к стагнации и последующему увеличению рабочего времени за счет создания и диверсификации разных форм бессмысленного труда. Показано, что рост затрат живого труда, выраженный, в частности, в необходимости выделения дополнительного рабочего времени на общественно бессмысленные работы, объективно замедляет производительность, в строительстве и здравоохранении США. Ключевые слова: производительность труда, рабочее время, бессмысленный труд, факторная производительность, живой труд, корреляционно-регрессионный анализ, США.
5 Цитирование:
6 Interconnected dynamics of duration, productivity and bullshit of labor (branch aspect on the example of the USA)
7 © V. MINAT
8 Valery N. Minat, Ryazan State Agrotechnological University named after P.A. Kostycheva (Ryazan, Russia), minat.valera@yandex.ru . ORCID: 0000-0002-8787-4274
9 Abstract. Within the framework of the generally accepted concept of increasing the role of materialized labor in productivity, a constant but slowing growth in the rate of labor productivity and a reduction in working hours, some paradoxes of labor productivity have been formed and developed in the past few decades. One of the paradoxical phenomena characteristic of industries with a traditionally high share of human labor is the increase in working hours due to additionally created jobs, assessed by D. Graeber as completely or partially meaningless (“crazy”) labor. A variety of such labor does not create value, but only participates in its redistribution, and, moreover, in favor of the least valuable types of activity for society, as a rule, serving the creation of a real product or socially significant service, which actualizes the problem of the relationship between productivity, duration and meaninglessness of labor, not only as socio-economic, but also value cultural. Based on data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the results of factor analysis using a mathematical correlation-regression apparatus, the indicated relationships in the performance dynamics of two sectors of the American economy over a long period of time were modeled. The result was an empirical confirmation of the hypothesis that in the context of a long-term increase in labor productivity, leading to a general reduction in working hours, a contradiction with the ethical principle of “purchasing” labor by the employer is gradually formed and develops, leading to stagnation and a subsequent increase in working hours due to the creation and diversification of different forms of meaningless labor. It is shown that the increase in the cost of living labor, expressed, in particular, in the need to allocate additional working time for socially meaningless work, objectively slows down productivity in construction and healthcare in the United States. 
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