Abstract
The labour force of industrialized nations is subject to a constant process of restructuring. This is true for Western industrialized societies as well as for the Soviet Union. The origins of this process are to be found in two interrelated developments:
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(1)
Technological progress leads to an increase in labour productivity. This means that the same quantity of goods is produced with fewer workers because the output capacity of capital equipment is increased, or certain jobs are no longer needed due to mechanization and automation.
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(2)
The increasing national product brought about mostly by rising labour productivity is, as a rule, not used in the same way as the national product generated in the past. As individual and collective prosperity of the nation increases, the structure of demand for goods and services changes likewise.
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Notes
D. M Gallik et al., ‘The 1972 input-output table and the changing structure of the Soviet economy’, in Soviet Economy in a Time of Change (Washington, 1979) pp. 423–71.
N. A. Aitov, Tekhnicheskii progress i dvizhenie rabochikh kadrov (Moscow, 1972) p. 21.
T. A. Baranenkova, Vysvobozhdenie rabochei sily i uluchshenie ee ispol’zovaniia pri sotsialisme (Moscow, 1974) p. 105.
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A. J. Pietsch, in W. Gumpel (ed.), Arbeits-und Sozialpolitik in der Sowjetunion (Munich, 1976) p. 102.
E. Mueller et al., Technological Advance in an Expanding Economy: its Impact on a Cross Section of the Labour Force (Ann Arbor, 1969) p. 10.
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Cf. A. I. Stavceva, Pravovye voprosy pereraspredeleniia trudovykh resursov (Moscow, 1974) p. 17.
Reallocation plans’ are developed on the basis of plans for the introduction of labour-saving measures into the enterprises and from individual interviews with the workers liable to displacement (cf. B. D. Breev, Methods of Planning Employment in the USSR (Moscow, 1979) pp. 57–9).
Already in 1975 the proportion of charges against displacement in the total number of legal cases because of termination of employment before the respective courts was 16.9 per cent (cf. O. Luchterhandt, UN-Menschenrechtskonventionen, Sowjetrecht — Sowjetwirklichkeit (Baden-Baden, 1980) p. 43).
A. E. Kotliar and V. V. Trubin, Problemy regulirovaniia pereraspredeleniia rabochei sily (Moscow, 1978) pp. 38–40.
P. Stiller, ‘Probleme and Methoden der Arbeitskraftelenkung’ (unpublished manuscript, Munich, 1980).
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J. Delamotte, Shchekino, entreprise sovietique pilote (Paris, 1973).
For example, R. Blauner, Alienation and Freedom (Chicago/London, 1964)
A. Touraine, L’evolution du travail ouvrieur aux usines Renault (Paris, 1955).
H. Kern and M. Schumann, Industriearbeit und Arbeiterbewusstsein (Frankfurt/Main, 1970).
For example, S. Ia. Batushev, Sovetskaia pedagogica, no. 8 (1971) pp. 11 et seq.
W. N. Turtshenko, Sowjetwissenschaft, Gesellschaftswissenschaftliche Beitrage, no. 8 (1973) pp. 11 et seq.
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H. Wiegmann, Die Entwicklung der sowjetischen Berufsstruktur, Research paper of the Osteuropa-Institut, Munchen (1975).
Cf. e. g. G. M. Safranov, Trudovye reservy (Kisinev, 1972) p. 56.
M. Baethge et al., Produktion und Qualifikation (Hannover, 1976) p. 112.
V. A. Jadov, in M. Yanowitch (ed.), Soviet Work Attitudes (New York, 1979) p. 8.
V. G. Aseev, Preodelenie monotonnosti truda v promysh’lennosti (Moscow, 1974) p. 7.
M. Feshbach, ‘The structure and composition of the Soviet industrial labour force’, The USSR in the 1980’s (Brussels: NATO, 1978) p. 59.
A. J. Pietsch, Die Interdependenz von Qualifikationsbedarf und Arbeitsorganisation, Research paper from Osteuropa-Institut, Munchen, no. 63 (1980).
Studies carried out in Leningrad have already shown that graduates of intermediate vocational schools in jobs that are not commensurate with their qualifications have a poorer performance record than the less highly qualified graduates from the traditional type of vocational-technical schools (cf. O. O. Shkaratan, O. V. Stakanova and O. V. Filipovna, Sotsiologicheskie isledovaniia no. 4 (1977) pp. 39 et seq.).
Cf. M. Tatur, ‘Vergleich der Politiken zur Modernisierung der Arbeitsorganisation in der UdSSR, Polen und der CSSR’ (unpublished manuscript, 1980).
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© 1982 Jan Adam
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Pietsch, AJ., Vogel, H. (1982). Displacement by Technological Progress in the USSR (Social and Educational Problems and their Treatment). In: Adam, J. (eds) Employment Policies in the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-05834-1_7
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