Попов Михаил Васильевич

Золотов Александр Владимирович

Бузмакова Марина Валерьевна

Былинская Алла Александровна

Глушич Наталья Григорьевна

Демичева Татьяна Николаевна

Лядова Елена Владимировна

Малявина Марина Юрьевна

Полушкина Ирина Николаевна

Удалова Наталия Александровна

Working Day Reduction as the Ground of Modern Economic Development

WORKING DAY REDUCTION AS THE GROUND OF MODERN ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

Translated from Russian to English

from the following issue:

Сокращение рабочего дня как основание современного экономического развития

СПб.: Издательство Политехнического университета, 2016

2021

R e v i e w e r s:

A. S. Kazyonnov, Doctor of Philosophy., Professor of the SPbPU

O. A. Mazur, Doctor of Economics, Rector of the NIEML

A u t h o r s:

A. V. Zolotov, M. V. Popov, M. V. Buzmakova,

A. A. Bylinskaya, N. G. Glushich, T. N. Demicheva,

E. V. Lyadova, I. Y. Malyavina, I.N. Polushkina, N. A. Udalova

T r a n s l a t o r:

A. M. Podjidaev

Сокращение рабочего дня как основание современного экономического развития / под. ред. А. В. Золотова. – СПб. : Изд-во Политехн. ун-та, 2016. – 198 с. (Working Day Reduction as the Ground of Modern Economic Development / edited by A. V. Zolotov. – SPb. : Polytech Institute publishing house, 2016. – 198 p.).

In this monograph the role of working day reduction in ensuring such a direction of modern economic development as overcoming significant social and economic inequality, depending on kinds of fulfilled labour – in the production or nonproduction sphere, is studied. The necessity of priority of working day reduction of employees, occupied in production, over reduction of employment in this sphere what will bring closer introduction of a six-hour working day and then – realization of the broadcast of J. M. Keynes about introduction of three-hour shifts is substantiated.

This monograph is for students, post-graduates, scientists, officers of state and municipal authority, participants of trade union movement.

© Zolotov A. V., scientific editing,

2016

© Peter the Great St. Petersburg

Polytechnic University, 2016

Contents

Introduction 4

1. Reduction of the General Working Time Fund in Production and Increasing in Time of Nonproduction Activities as a Prerequisite of Economic Development 6

1.1. Economic Development as Resolution of the Contradiction between Formation of Prerequisites for Development of all People and Utilization of these Prerequisites by a Part of the Society 6

1.2. Decreasing in the General Working Time Fund at Increasing in the Output Volume as One of Appearances of Labour Productivity Growth 24

1.3. Saving of Labour in Production is the Basis of Progress in the Nonproduction Sphere 45

2. Reduction of Working Time and Increasing in Free Time of Employees as the Regularity of Economic Development 66

2.1. The Value and Dynamics of the Average Number of Working Hours per One Employee per Year 66

2.2. Working Day Duration and its Dynamics 90

2.3. Seniority Duration and its Dynamics 101

3. The Effect and Prospects of Working Day Reduction for Economic Development 117

Conclusion 136

References 137

Introduction

The problem of economic development, initially related to overcoming social and economic backwardness of countries which became politically independent, has a universal character in reality. The economies of countries, leading in volumes of industrial production, in generation and realization of innovations, are in constant development too what ensures their leadership. Moreover, their progress is exactly an example to follow, it creates prerequisites for rapid development of countries which are behind nowadays.

Economic development is a many-sided process that does not come to growth of the level of material benefits consumption only. That is why theoretical approaches, connected to studies of the dynamics of the social product, touch upon only some aspects of the process.

Within analysis of economic development studies of not only material conditions of the life but ways of people’s activities – and economic activities, first of all, – become more and more relevant. The way labour in production, in the nonproduction sphere, and activities in the sphere of free time correlate in the life of members of the society, determines formation of individuals’ abilities.

The authors proceed from the statement that the correlation of these forms of activities is determined, in the end, by the level of social labour productivity that grows naturally releasing time for activities immediately connected to development of people’s abilities from production. Along with this decisive factor there is another one – the modification of distribution of different social functions among people. Interaction of these factors conditions normal working time in production, in the nonproduction sphere, and, consequently, the magnitude of nonworking time. In the monograph the main attention is paid to the studying this interaction determining prospects of modern economic development.

In accordance with the subject matter the authors make the detailed quantitative analysis of the dynamics of joint working time funds in production and the nonproduction sphere, duration of different periods of working activities of workers beginning with the magnitude of a workday. It allows to present modern tendencies of economic development specifically and to characterize its prospects.

Factual material to be analyzed is restricted with data of several advanced economies and does not touch upon the situation in the Russian economy. There is no doubt that general regularities of economic development spread on Russia too. However, to identify them it is better to draw on the experience of the countries that have not been experiencing sudden social-economic changes, like in Russia, in recent decades. Specifics of economic development of our country will be a subject of future studies.

The authors express their appreciation to Yury Markin for valuable help in formation of the idea of the monograph and its edition.

1. Reduction of the General Working Time Fund in Production and Increasing in Time of Nonproduction Activities as a Prerequisite of Economic Development

1.1. Economic Development as Resolution of the Contradiction between Formation of Prerequisites for Development of all People and Utilization of these Prerequisites by a Part of the Society

Economic Growth and Economic Development

Development as a movement from the simple to the complex is inherent in the all objective actuality including the economy, so that appearance and utilization of the term “economic development” has its ground.

As it is known, development has been frequently coming and comes to increasing in the quantitative determinateness of a studied object. This determinateness is very important but it is referred to the categories of the sphere of being, while deeper understanding of a subject demands comprehension of its essence. The concept of development coming through resolution of contradictions, through struggle of positive and negative tendencies corresponds to knowledge comprehending the essence.

The ambiguity of understanding development could not help showing in the economic theory.

For a long time economic progress has been evidently or not evidently identified with economic growth, i.e. with increasing in volumes of social product production (including social product production per capita) in a particular period. This approach is right because the produced social product is not only a result of item-transforming activities of the society but it is a prerequisite of social life reproduction.

The problems of economic growth became one of the central problems in the theories originated in Keynesian economics and the neo-classical teaching. Giving this significance to the problem of growth reflects, in our opinion, understanding development as an increase in some feature of an object.

Indeed, economic growth is fixed according to the dynamics of one parameter, an increase in which is interpreted as a positive appearance and a decrease is interpreted as negative. Consequently, the problem of the assessment of the mixed dynamics of several parameters, the problem reflecting, though not adequately, a simultaneous action of opposite tendencies in the economy falls away.

Negative consequences – for example, pollution of the environment – and also a possibility of keeping and even worsening social problems (poverty, inequality, etc.) are marked in researches of economic growth. But still these circumstances act as external ones with respect to growth.

Economic growth characterizes the dynamics of a product. It is true that the GDP includes the money assessment of not only produced goods but services, but as it is the money assessment so in its limits differences in results of item-transforming activities and activities connected immediately to development of a human disappear. To measure in relation, the commensurable needs to be brought to one quality, however, in this case it is reached by means of economically heterogeneous results.

Certainly, progress of the economic theory could not stop at the stage when development of the economy as the sphere of the social life was brought to the dynamics of a social product. Usage of the notion “economic development” became a reflection of the transition to a more substantial theory.

According to its appearance – from the theory of economic growth – economic development is viewed in a close connection to such growth. The mentioned notions are, by the essence, identified at times. For example, H.-J. Chung determines economic development as “a process of economic growth that is based on the increase in economy’s productive capabilities: its capabilities to organize – and, more importantly, transform – its production activities”[1]. It is obvious that it is written about realization of the potential of economic growth, so the usage of a new term becomes unnecessary, the problem of going outside the limits of understanding development as a quantitative change remains unsettled.

In the modern science the tendency to overcoming this limitation is traced. According to Marcelo M. Giugale “economic development is a process by means of which the society creates material wealth and uses it to increase welfare of its members”[2]. Thus, the mentioned notion is shown as including economic growth but it is not brought to it only. It means an increase in public welfare too,

Welfare may be determined as an availability of prerequisites for development of a human.

Consumer items are most often viewed as prerequisites for development of a person. Actually, without satisfaction of material needs of this kind a human’s life is not possible, so appropriation of consumer items is a necessary element of welfare.

At the same time, a person asserts himself as a human not in personal consumption connected to his biological needs but, first of all, in labour as specifically human’s activities. A possibility to work is a prerequisite of a human’s development and, as being realized, forms an element of his welfare.

Time in which a person’s development becomes an end in itself – free time – is needed to realize many-sided person’s abilities. Possession of such time is included in welfare too.

Consequently, welfare is formed by means of appropriation of a complex of conditions for a person’s development what must be taken into consideration when studying economic development. The latter is rightly characterized as “a process where increases in real per capita output and incomes are accompanied by improvements in standards of living of the population and reductions in poverty, increased access to goods and services that satisfy basic needs (including food, shelter, health care, education, sanitation and others), increasing employment opportunities and reduction of unemployment, and reductions of serious inequalities in incomes and wealth”[3].

Each person is individual. It is often treated as if social welfare cannot be literally understood, welfare can be only individual. Then economic development is rightly assessed from the individual point of view only, what, for example, F. Nixson writes about: “…I can only assert it – my definition of development is merely different from, not better than, yours”[4].

Meanwhile, the social essence of a human means that his specifically human needs (in labour, artistic creativity, etc.) are socially conditioned and satisfaction of biological needs are adjusted with social norms. In this quality prerequisites for human development are not purely individual, incommensurable with such prerequisites for others. Consequently, “social welfare” is a rightful characteristic of joint welfare of all members of the society what, in its turn, makes consideration of economic development, as an objective appearance not depending on subjective assessments of individuals, well-grounded.

Moreover, with respect to social and individual welfare the first one is a priority. In what volume material needs of individuals can be satisfied depends, in the end, on the level of social labour productivity, and at its present level it depends on the quantity of labour spent in the social scale. The quantity of the working time fund sets limits for time that the society can spend on fulfilment of nonproductive social activities. That is why the dynamics of individual welfare can be explained according to the dynamics of social welfare, and not vice versa.

At the same time, social welfare does not exist out of welfare of members of the society, so the first cannot be fully understood without taking into account the other.

Belonging to the society serves as the objective ground for everyone’s participation in appropriation of conditions for self-development, but the specificity of life circumstances excludes a full coincidence of conditions for everyone’s development. There is a contradiction making a source of economic development.

The progressive tendency in it is connected to approaching to social economic equality of all members of the society in appropriation of conditions of their development, the negative one is connected to intensification of social economic inequality with respect to such conditions.

Then, economic growth does not indicate economic development if it is not combined with intensification of social economic inequality. For example, F. Nixson considers to be well-grounded the idea that “if economic growth did not lead to a reduction in poverty, inequality and unemployment, then economic development could not be said to be occurring”[5]. But continuous economic growth without economic development meets problems.

Approaching to social economic equality is possible by means of redistribution of produced products, changing in their structure in favor of increasing in production of elements of the social infrastructure without increasing the social product. That is why E. Tragakes truthfully assumes a situation of economic development without economic growth[6].

All of it proves that economic development is a process of a higher level than economic growth, and it demands understanding the contradiction resolution of which forms such development.

The general contradiction of economic development gets a special appearance in different economic epochs.

In class societies social welfare increases by means of priority appropriation of conditions for development by ruling classes to other classes’ detriment. This situation corresponds to progress of productive forces in conditions of predominance of manual work.

At the same time, transition from slave-owing to feudalism is undoubtedly connected to enlargement of possibilities for development of peasantry as a class of immediate producers of material benefits. The position of serfs is more preferable than the position of slaves not only in respect of the personal consumption level but in consequence of less working time, availability of free time, a possibility to utilize a part of produced products and so on.

Establishment of large-scale machine industry domination makes it objectively possible to combine social welfare growth with ensuring full well-being and free all-round development for all members of the society. Already at the turn of 1870s-1880s it was well-grounded marked: “The possibility of securing for every member of society, by means of socialised production, an existence not only fully sufficient materially, and becoming day by day more full, but an existence guaranteeing to all the free development and exercise of their physical and mental faculties – this possibility is now for the first time here, but it is here”[7]. Respectively, the progressive tendency of modern economic development consists in approaching to social economic equality of all members of the society, concerning conditions of their development.

For deeper understanding of modern economic development it is advantageous to view components of social welfare more specifically.

The Rate of Free Time as the Index of Social Welfare

As social welfare supposes ensuring members of the society with consumer goods, so the dynamics of the consumption level per capita can be an index of the potential of economic development.

At the same time, as it was shown before, social welfare is not exhausted with personal consumption. The relation between time that the society spends on labour and time of nonproductive social activities is essential for its assessment.

The idea about labour, as an activity with a useful result, is widely spread. Of course, labour has a useful result but not any activity with a useful result is labour. For example, taking meals is useful but it is not a basis to consider eating identical to labour. Walking before going to sleep, still remaining an element of a rest, including a rest from labour, is useful and so on. That is why to understand labour it is necessary to imagine its result more definitely to characterize the quality of labour that is in itself.

From this point of view the frequently met judgement about labour as an expedient activity resulting in a material or mental benefit is more preferable. Indeed, this activity differs from the process of consumption or a rest because it is characterized by creation.

At the same time, in the judgement written before there is an indication of not one but two kinds of results of labour. These kinds have fundamental differences. A material benefit – a useful thing (energy) – relates to the objective world. A mental benefit, though having a material carrier, is an appearance of a human’s mind.

This heterogeneity of results does not allow contenting us with the viewed judgement about labour. It is necessary to determine each kind of labour taking into account the specificity of its result. Respectively, it is required to reflect this specificity in the name of the notions being determined, having differentiated productive and nonproductive labour.

So, productive labour is an expedient activity the main and immediate result of which is things, energy or their movement satisfying people’s needs.

Nonproductive labour is an expedient activity the main and immediate result of which is ideas, images or services to a human[8].

Such a differentiation does not question the useful modification of any kind of labour activities, it reflects only the difference of their results.

With that said, it is not possible to get the determination of labour having combined the statement about two economically heterogeneous kinds of labour into one judgement. In fact, two determinations, each of which corresponds to a particular kind of human activities, are needed.

Combination of productive and nonproductive labour under “labour” is quite reasonable for differentiation of the labour sphere and consumption sphere what is the ground for using one term “labour”. But it does not cancel heterogeneity of the kinds of labour.

A society cannot exist without having ensured its needs in means of life and means of production. It is exactly productive labour, as item-transforming human activities, that forms the material ground of the social life.

Not exhausting the grounded, the ground is in the grounded. The matter is not just that such labour creates prerequisites for mental activities in a form of material carriers of social knowledge, instruments used in the artistic work, etc.

Productive labour is initially so effective that it ensures material needs of the society without consuming all time of social activities. Time for nonproductive activities appears to be saved productive labour, the latter forms the substance of the first.

Release of a part of social activities from the production sphere supposes satisfaction of growing material needs of the society. If redistribution of labour between two spheres goes to social needs’ detriment, if it is caused by violating a normal course of social reproduction then we see supposed saving of labour, there is no real release of it.

A social necessary volume of productive labour in general determines the amount being left for the part of nonproductive labour, and not vice versa. Progress of productive labour, showing in growth of its productivity, extends scales of its saving, i.e., releasing time for nonproductive social activities. Regress called by crises, natural disasters, and the like leads to shortening scales of the nonproduction sphere.

According to its content productive labour is production of things, though it supposes realization of creative potentials of a human. Where the aim is to produce an item the way of people’s actions has a subordinate meaning what inevitably sets its limits on pithiness and attraction of labour, brings monotony to it, can demand substantial exertions.

Productive labour utilizing a system of machines demands strict maintenance of technologies, coherence of workers’ actions. “Factory discipline” is a synonym for subordination of will of many people to one directing will. Formation of a capability for joint actions, discipline makes an element of worker’s development. H.-J. Chung marks rightly: “It is well understood that factory work, compared to work in shops or even agricultural work, makes workers more politically aware…”[9]. But the tempo and rhythm of such labour is necessarily standardized when a labour potential of each worker is individual.

In productive labour a human utilizes forces and laws of the nature what influences on a human’s organism with adverse factors one way or another. Mistakes peculiar to any kind of purposeful activities threaten the health and life of a worker here.

Unlike productive labour nonproductive labour significantly represents realization of intellectual abilities, inclinations for artistic work, moved by an inspiration and bringing deep satisfaction, as with its content so a possibility of social recognition of the author, its benefits not only by contemporaries but by all next generations.

Fulfilment of administrative labour demands intellectual efforts, gives a feeling of being admitted to decide people’s fates, and that is why it is considered to be an honorable social function.

Teaching, medical assistance are quite substantial kinds of activities, they are immediately connected with a grateful response of pupils and patients.

More generally, providing a service supposes a contact of its executor with another human – working “face to face” – realizes a need for communication, allows showing individuality.

Having social modification, nonproductive labour has a need for social regulation, supposes performing definite duties. But, even if it is performed in the production sphere (labour of engineers, technologists, managers and so on), then it does not objectively demand such regulation of actions, as it is for immediate producers, it leaves more opportunities for individual utilization of time. Many kinds of such labour represent applying “abstract knowledge to specific problems”[10], i.e. they possess an essential element of intellectual creative work.

Nonproductive labour does not exclude routine functions of little substance. Particular kinds of it are not very attractive, connected to higher tension of attention or performed in negative conditions for human health.

And yet, in general, labour, not being immediately productive, makes a sphere for realization of many-sided human abilities, it is characterized with an essential range of actions at employees’ own discretion. It makes it more favorable from the point of view of possibilities for human development, as compared to production labour.

Working demands corresponding education. When production turned into technological application of science, learning of fundamentals of scientific knowledge became a necessity for all members of the society. The immediate goal of education is formation and development of human abilities. Accordingly, saving of production labour in a growing volume started to be used for ensuring such development.

A human’s development, as learning achievements of all spheres of the social life by him, becomes his own need. Comprehensiveness of development is ensured with availability of leisure – the time out of fulfilling obligatory social functions, the time for realization of intellectual and other needs for development on an independent choice.

A human life does not come to realization and development of specifically human abilities. Time of satisfaction of physical needs is also an element of a life but it relates neither to time of labour nor to time when human development becomes an end in itself. It does not act as an element of production labour saving. If the whole life of animals is time for satisfaction of physical needs then human’s life comes to those necessary limits that are compatible with domination of specifically social activities. But little children, elderly persons and persons with disabilities are mostly in the hands of physical needs but these needs do not determine the way of life of a social human.

Thus, the activity of the society is objectively divided into time of production labour and time, released from material production for nonproduction labour and other kinds of social activities, immediately directed to development of human abilities. Differentiation of working and free time of the society is adequate in this quality.

Working time is time that the society spends on production of means of production and consumer goods, utilizing forces and laws of the nature in its goals, and, consequently, conforms to the natural necessity.

Free time of the society is time free from productive labour that is intended on formation and realization of creative human abilities, satisfaction of specifically social needs for communication and recognition, it is time that can be generally called free all-round development.

Free time is commonly apprehended as leisure when a person is on his own and doing what he wants. Obviously, this apprehension covers only a part of actual free time – beyond creative labour – and if a person does something promoting his development and not damaging him.

Free time, understood as time for free development of a human when human activities do not have only an instrumental value but are turned into an end in itself, does not actually coincide with leisure. For example, labour of an artist, actor, teacher, etc. is realization and development of creative human abilities and is included into free time of the society according to this criterion. At the same time, at leisure we can see idleness, passivity, realization of bad habits preventing from free development of a human and denying the role of leisure as free time. Paying attention to this side of the matter R. Skidelsky and E. Skidelsky write: “In contemporary parlance, leisure is synonymous with relaxation and rest. Leisure in our sense has no very close connection to leisure as it is generally understood. Paid work could be leisure in our sense if undertaken not primarily as a means to money but for its own sake”[11].

It is obvious that the authors, quoted before, identify, by the essence, leisure with any activities developing human abilities. In our opinion, this understanding of leisure, on one hand, is beyond its understanding as time when a person is on his own, and, on the other hand, it denies unreasonably belonging activities connected to pastime, for example watching TV, to leisure. That is why, in our opinion, it is better not to correlate activity time immediately connected to human development with leisure but to include it into free time of the society. Then free time of the society covers corresponding activities both in the sphere of nonproduction labour and in the sphere of leisure.

Rightness of pooling such labour and leisure into one category of free time of the society, without refusing their differentiation in the frames of the latter, is especially obvious when speaking about the same kind of activities. J. Sallaz, comparing playing basketball by a professional and amateur, notes rightfully: “What is work for one is leisure for the other… One conclusion that we may draw from this comparison is that there is no essential characteristic of any activity that determines its status as “employment”. Rather, it depends on the larger context and processes through which the activity acquires meaning”[12].

The nonproduction sphere of work includes rendering services what usually leads to its identification with the services sphere. In reality, a research officer’s new idea is not a service rendered to somebody. “Servants of the muses” create not services but images exciting hearts and minds of people. Data processing labour is not related to services too. That is why the notion “nonproduction sphere”, to our mind, is more exact than “services sphere” though utilization of the second term dominates in statistics.

Free time of the society is not exhausted by time of labour in the nonproduction sphere. Kinds of activities connected to human development are not limited by fulfilment of creative labour. For example, studies at school or institutes of higher education undoubtedly ensure development of human abilities (if someone does not unreasonably consider labour as any labourious activity). Physical training is very useful for a person but, not becoming a profession, it remains a form of leisure.

When we properly speak about services, i.e., about activities with a positive effect for others, we should take into account all time of reception of respective services by subjects because the time of rendering services by a nonproduction sphere worker does not coincide with all time of reception of a service.

For example, two hours of teaching are equal to two hours of studies for only one pupil (student); total time assigned for studies by the society depends on the quantity of pupils (students). That is why two hours of teaching can ensure 40 hours of studies (if there are 20 pupils (students) in a group). Consequently, time of rendering this service does not fully characterize its quantitative effect; it is necessary to consider the whole volume of time for free development of members of the society thanks to a rendered service.

For example, it would equally be wrong to assess the volume of passenger transport services only on working time of drivers. It is necessary to take into account the time passengers spend on rides. From this point of view, today it is right to calculate transported passengers. However, assessment of the transportation sphere is limited in statistics to either employment in it or to general labour inputs; time that passengers spend on rides is not considered. Drawbacks of the shown methods are overcome with the help of summarizing time of passenger transport workers’ labour and time of passengers’ rides.

Saving of the required quality of a service limits increasing in the quantity of subjects simultaneously consuming it. That is why it is quite reasonable, for example, to use norms of the ratio between the number of teachers and students, between the quantity of coaches and sportsmen, restrictions of the quantity of passengers in a bus and the like. In such conditions an increase, in the social scale, in time of consumption of a service supposes an increase in total time of rendering the service what is connected to an increase in employment of a respective kind.

Growth of total volumes of consumption time of any service beyond certain limits can prevent from human development and that is why it ceases to be the measure of progress. For example, an increase in time of standing in queues in shops because of deficits does not characterize progress of the sphere of trade. An increase in time spent in transport because of congestion, a long distance between a place of work and a place of living also does not prove development of transportation services. But such hypertrophied growth in certain sectors of the services sphere does not change the volume of free time of the society, it leads only to redistribution of this time in favor of such spheres to the detriment of ensuring other essential conditions for human development.

There is a right conclusion that the general volume of free time of the society shows in itself possibilities of development of members of the society, thanks to rendering services too, but it does not show the way these possibilities are realized. The degree of their realization is determined by the ratio between components of free time of the society: this ration must correspond to the criterion of free development of all members of the society. In practice it more or less deviates from the necessary correspondence.

Of course, there cannot be a full coincidence of the dynamics of time of providing, on one hand, and consumption, on the other hand, of services in the social scale. For example, utilization of information technologies is able to widen audience of training courses sharply. At the same time, there is remaining a need for decreasing in kindergarten teachers’ exertion to improve conditions in which children stay at pre-school institutions. Development of the public health system leads to decreasing in time of patients’ staying at hospitals but it is connected to increasing in time for preventive examinations. By and large, ensuring favorable conditions for development of all members of the society supposes a direct dependence between total time of rendering services and time of their consumption.

Consumption of services can be realized as within socially regulated activities, for example, studying at schools or institutes of higher education, so beyond them. Time connected to going to work and returning from it, shopping, etc., is not related to working or studying time but it is not usually included in leisure, though without being regulated, it bears similarities to it.

In the leisure sphere people can utilize services of organizations (stadiums, museums, and the like) by means of visiting them or staying home, as it happens when watching television broadcasts and surfing the Internet. Consumption of services of some kind takes the main part of a modern human’s leisure (of course, this conclusion is made on the well-grounder prerequisite that domestic labour is not an element of leisure).

It follows that the quantity of free time of the society, summarizing time of labour in the nonproduction sphere, time of socially regulated consumption of services, and time of leisure, gives a quite strict quantitative characteristic of time scales for free development of members of the society.

At the same time, the volume in itself of free time of the society does not allow to judge the level of social welfare. For example, two countries may have equal magnitudes of free time but different volumes of total time of production labour. Then free time per capita will be different in these countries. That is why for the adequate assessment of social welfare of the services sphere it is necessary to take into account the ratio of free time of the society to its total working time – the rate of free time of the society.

V.Y. Yelmeev advanced the idea to use this index[13].

The rate of free time of the society is determined as follows[14].

where N is the rate of free time during a period; Tw1 is total working time in public production during a period (hours); Tw2 is total working time in housekeeping during a period (hours); Tf1 is total time of free activities directed immediately towards satisfaction of social needs, during a period (hours); Tf2 is total time of free activities directed towards satisfaction of personal (family) needs, during a period (hours).

It is essential that this index takes into account working time in housekeeping fulfilled by women mostly. It allows to assess volumes of working activities in the social scale adequately, while since the 19th century “male government officials made the decision to reclassify housewifery from a legitimate occupation into a general state of idleness; with the removal of a checkbox on a census form, the work of millions of women was “disappeared””[15].

Utilization of hours as a measurement unit allows to give the most accurate assessment to the duration of different kinds of social activities. It is reasonable to determine the meaning of this index, as applied to a year period (though other variants are not excluded). The formula does not take into account time being spent on satisfaction of physiological needs because this time is not related to social activities, by its essence.

The higher the rate of free time of the society is the higher the level of social welfare is, at equal other conditions. Indeed, a higher level of this rate means that if the society satisfies its needs for consumer goods and means of production, it has more significant opportunities for activities immediately connected to development of its members. This conclusion is true as for comparing different countries so for researching economic development of a particular country.

The dynamics of this rate is accordingly a key index of changing in social welfare.

The level of social labour productivity increases logically. With growth of labour effectiveness per a unit of time less working time is needed to satisfy a fixed social need, saving of labour takes place.

Saving of working time of the society can be divided into relative and absolute. The relative one means reduction of working time for production of a certain volume of output while general expenditures of production labour do not decrease. The result of such saving is either growth of output in the sphere where labour productivity has increased or redistribution of labour in the social working time fund. The absolute saving supposes such reduction of working time that is transformed into growing of free time of the society.

Saving of production labour, based on development of production forces, enlarges the sphere of nonproduction social activities what corresponds to progress of the society. That is why saving of working time appears to be the law of social production development.

A correspondence between expenditures of specific kinds of nonproduction labour and the quantity of needs satisfied by them is also necessary in the nonproduction sphere. A redundancy of specific kinds of nonproduction labour is possible, for example, in case of weathering away of some needs, improvement in the material and technical basis of rendering services, etc. Then reduction of volumes of the activities noted before is needed what, by analogy with processes in the production sphere, can be called relative saving.

Absolute saving of nonproduction labour would reduce human development, lead to social economic regress. Such saving is irregular for the nonproduction sphere. Extended reproduction of free time of the society, as an expression of the law of working time saving, is regular.

With progress of material production not only productivity grows, but social needs grow, population increases. As a result, saving of labour depends on how growing social needs for material benefits can be satisfied at the expense of increasing in productivity and, accordingly, how the general working time fund has to be increased if growth of consumption is not fully ensured by increasing in productivity.

Historically, relative scales of free time of the society, measured by the rate of free time of the society, have not been remaining unchanged because of increasing in social labour productivity.

In the period of machine industry growth of labour productivity was restrained by the fact that means of labour were set in motion by a worker who operated instruments of labour immediately. Scales of saved labour depended directly on scales of spent productive labour. That was why despite progress of labour productivity the rate of free time of the society remained less than 1.

In conditions of large-scale machine industry increasing in social labour productivity was released from such restrictions and accelerated, so that growth of the social product began many times outpacing increasing in the society working time fund. As a result, growth of free time of the society began outpacing increasing in the working time fund. The regular result of outpacing growth of free time is the situation when time of nonproduction social activities, by the absolute value, prevails over the working time fund in social production. It happened in all industrialized countries.

Growth of the rate of free time of the society, meaning an increase in social welfare, makes an objective prerequisite of economic development. Realization of this prerequisite is determined by the measure the combination of working and free time in social activities of each member of the society is ensured.

Economic Development as Overcoming of Essential Inequality in Distribution of Working and Free Time of the Society

Components of the rate of free time of the society are formed as total time of corresponding kinds of activities of all its members. However, it does not follow that the correlation of free and working time of each individual – the individual rate of free time – coincides with the social rate of free time.

Differences in their values can be connected to ages, for example. Children are not objectively able to fulfil productive labour at the same volume as adults can. Elderly people lose their ability to work too. Existence of such differences is not denied by the fact that “throughout the majority of human history, for example, the elderly were expected to engage in productive activities”[16] and at a family farm “all members of the household (including children) would engage in productive activity”[17]. One should not identify a duty or necessity to work with an equality of volumes of fulfilled labour.

There are age particularities in distribution of nonworking time between free time and time of satisfaction of physical needs. In particular, with a loss of health of elderly people duration and a part of the second component increase.

Such disagreements of individual rates of free time cannot be eliminated and are peculiar to all historical economic epochs. Not social reasons, but sex-age differences lie in the basis of these disagreements. In consequence of domination of social origins in people the noted before divergences of individual rates of free time are not essential from the social economic point of view and, as a whole, are matched with equality of appropriation of conditions for development.

Inessential differences in individual rates of free time were typical for members of primitive communal collectives what indicated social economic equality in appropriation of living conditions along with equal distribution of consumer goods. Such equality allowed the mankind to survive under historically inevitable elementary underdeveloped productive forces during many thousands of years.

This equality did not mean a high level of economic development because equality of all members of a commune did not ensure their actual development over limited content of labour functions and nonproduction activities. Formation of objective conditions for development demanded social division of labour meaning social economic fixation of big groups of people in economically heterogeneous kinds of activities. Accordingly, in class societies deviations of individual rates from the rate of free time of the society are crucially conditioned on different states of big social groups in the system of social production.

Unequal distribution of working and free time between opposite classes made a condition of productive force development under predominance of manual work. By virtue of the insufficiently high level of social labour productivity there was a need for fixation of production labour in the majority of members of the society and monopolization of free time by the minority of the society, so that representatives of this minority could have a material opportunity to be occupied with mental work, forming basis of sciences, education, and arts. The statement is true: “So long as the total social labour only yields a produce which but slightly exceeds that barely necessary for the existence of all; so long, therefore, as labour engages all or almost all the time of the great majority of the members of society — so long, of necessity, this society is divided into classes. Side by side with the great majority, exclusively bond slaves to labour, arises a class freed from directly productive labour, which looks after the general affairs of society: the direction of labour, state business, law, science, art, etc. It is, therefore, the law of division of labour that lies at the basis of the division into classes”[18].

In conditions of predominance of manual work an increase in scales of free time of the society supposed an increase in its working time fund because the proportion between spent and saved labour remained fixed or changed in favor of the latter with insignificant tempos. Consequently, at the pre-industrial epoch an objective possibility of social economic equality expressed in close values of individual rates of free time was missing.

For example, in slave-owning society the main mass of slaves was socially and economically fixed in productive labour that was in the form of manual work. Such labour absorbed almost all time of slaves’ life, less minimized time for satisfaction of physical needs. Typical day’s rate of free time of a slave went to zero.

On the contrary, slaveholders were divided from productive labour, all time of their social activities was related to free time of the society. Their individual time rate cannot be calculated because the denominator of this index is zero.

The services sphere of that period headed for needs of the privileged minority.

Without taking into account such distribution of free and working time between slaves and slaveholders, the notion about possibilities for development of members of the slave-owning society would be not full. For example, daily food ration of a slave, considering the calorie content, was equal to food ration of a Roman legionary what was objectively necessary for fulfilment of hard manual labour.

Under slavery economic development was connected to the tendency for overcoming full alienation of slaves from free time. Some slaves were allowed to start a family what supposed a certain possibility to dispose of their time.

The noted tendency had a limited modification. It was resisted by the tendency for monopolization of saved labour by free citizens while a part of this saving was appropriated by a growing group of lumpen-proletarians, without turning into actual free time as time for development of human abilities. This ratio of the noted tendencies led to the crisis of the slave-owning economy.

In conditions of feudalism unequal distribution of working and free time between opposite classes was reproduced. Agricultural labour, as a dominating form of productive labour, was fixed in serfs. Administrative labour, military service, etc., were fulfilled by the feudal class.

At the same time, serfs, unlike slaves, were not fully alienated from free time. In the period of religious holidays, for example, working was prohibited. Home ownership also gave an opportunity to dispose of time at discretion not only for work. Within joint labour of members of peasant’s family the head of a family fulfilled administrative functions. Accordingly, day’s rate of a peasant’s free time – more over the annual rate – was above zero.

Transition from corvée to the rent-system and from the rent-system to the money-rent enlarged peasants’ possibilities to dispose of themselves what assisted in increasing in their free time and, consequently, in economic development under feudalism. Despite this, opposition of main classes of the feudal society, concerning distribution of working and free time, was reproduced.

Thus, predominance of manual work sets insuperable limits on the way of economic development, in the end.

With establishment of domination of large-scale machine industry, increasing in free time of the society has been going on the basis of limitless increasing in social labour productivity what opens an opportunity for predominance of volumes of free time of the society over its working time at increasing in the social product, including calculations per capita. In such conditions an objective need for increasing in expenditures of social labour for increasing in a volume of produced benefits and scales of saved labour making the substance of free time of the society falls away. Consequently, social economic fixation of the majority of members of the society in productive labour and monopolization of the main part of free time of the society by the privileged minority get excessive, division of labour of this kind begins slowing economic development down.

In conditions of growing predominance of volumes of free time over a volume of working time a possibility of equal distribution of working and free time between able-bodied members of the society is formed. It means that an individual rate of free time of each able-bodied person will exceed one. Because of disabled people or people with reduced working capacity a typical individual rate must be lower than a social rate, but this deviation is not connected to essential social economic inequality in appropriation of conditions for everyone’s development.

Accordingly, the contradiction, resolution of which ensures economic development, is modified. Its positive tendency is in approaching equality of individual rates of free time of each person within predominance of free time over working time. The negative tendency is connected to distribution of labour saving, originated in the period of predominance of manual work, in favor of social groups socially and economically fixed in nonproductive activities.

It is obvious that the first tendency supposes participation of ever wider groups of able-bodied people in production labour. Speaking in Keynes’ words, “we shall endeavour to spread the bread thin on the butter to make what work there is still to be done to be as widely shared as possible”[19]. This enlargement assists to increasing in an individual rate of free time of people occupied in productive labour and possibilities ensured by increasing in social labour productivity. The increasing part of free time of the society is appropriated by those who fulfil production labour (though in decreasing volumes). Accordingly, the rate of growth of an individual rate of free time of members of this social group is higher than the rate of growth of a rate of free time of the society. As a result, the services sphere increasingly heads for needs of development of the majority of members of the society, people occupied in this sphere begin combining their labour with production labour.

In conditions of a relative increase in free time of the society the negative tendency of economic development consists in conserving an individual rate of free time of immediate producers at the level below 1 and in utilization of labour saving to increase the amount of groups occupied in nonproduction activities. Then people, occupied in productive labour, get a decreasing part of free time of the society and their individual rate of free time, remaining below 1, keeps similar to such a rate of immediate producers of the epoch of manual work – slaves and serfs. Needs of the privileged minority remain a priority for the nonproduction sphere, in this sphere fixation of considerable groups of employees in fulfilling unattractive labour is reproduced what prevents from their own development.

It is necessary to notice that keeping essential inequality between members of the society, depending on their occupation in the production or nonproduction spheres, may be not reflected in the level of their incomes. Consequently, equality of incomes is not a sufficient ground for the conclusion about equality of conditions for development of members of the society. That is why in the analysis of economic development it is necessary to pay primary attention to researching the dynamics of working and free time.

It is obvious that during economic development both positive and negative tendencies become apparent. The way they relate in practice demands special researching.

1.2. Decreasing in the General Working Time Fund at Increasing in the Output Volume as One of Appearances of Labour Productivity Growth

Growth of social labour productivity in conditions of predominance of large-scale machine industry is determined by potential of scientific advances that is limitless by its nature. It makes a prerequisite for increasing in the social product at reduction of general expenditures of working time.

To understand laws of economic development it is necessary to analyze the experience of countries leading in STP (scientific and technological progress) because exactly these countries show prospects of movement of the world economy as a whole.

Today 15-16% of world’s inhabitants live on the territory of developed countries, but they produce ¾ of the gross world product and create 90% of the whole high-tech production of the world. These countries distinguish themselves with a high level of inhabitants’ life.

Expenditures of labour in industry, as a dominating sector of the production sphere, play the determining role in the dynamics of the social working time fund of these countries. For example, according to the data of the research of the McKinsey Global Institute, the share of the industrial sphere is about 70% of the export of large developed countries and about 90% of costs of private companies for R&D (research and development). At that, contribution of industry to growth of social labour productivity is more than twice as high the part of inhabitants occupied in this sector[20].

Manufacturing industries with a relatively small part of “primary industries” – agriculture and extractive industry – prevail in the production sphere of these countries. In all the examined countries increasing in the specific weight of occupation in agriculture, extractive industry and manufacturing industry was observed. For example, in 1993 the level of occupation in agriculture was on average 5.6% and in 2009 it was 3.3%. This index in extracting industry decreased thus that it was less than 1% in all the countries both in 1993 and 2009. Occupation in power engineering fluctuated around 1% of all workers in 1993, and it decreased mainly by 2009. If in 1993 the level of occupation in manufacturing industries fluctuated from 14% in the USA to 24.6% in Korea, then in 2009 it fluctuated from 8.9% in the USA to 19.3% in Italy. Only a part of employees occupied in building grew insignificantly having reached on average 6-7% in 2009.

Predominance of manufactures in the industry of developed countries makes a special analysis of the dynamics of the working time fund in this sector of the economy reasonable.

The Dynamics of Expenditures of Labour in Manufacturing Industries of Economically Developed Countries

First of all, let us analyze such the dynamics at a long time interval.

The data at table 1 show regular reduction of the working time fund in the material production sphere in most presented countries since the second half of the 20th century. Undoubtedly, the countries being analyzed differ according to the level of economic development what confirms universality of this tendency’s modification.

At the same time tempos of decreasing in general expenditures of labour in manufacturing industries are not the same in different countries.

Table 1

Tempos of Changing in the Working Time Fund Index in Manufacturing Industries in Several Countries, % [21], [22]

[23]

Figure 1. The labour expenditures dynamics in manufacturing industries in several countries for the period 1970-2010.

As it follows from the data at figure 1, the highest tempos of decreasing in the analyzed index are in Denmark, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy, Norway, Slovenia. General expenditures of labour in Sweden and Austria reduce quite stably.

The content of figure 2 shows that in Finland, Estonia, Greece the tendency of decreasing in general labour expenditures in manufacturing industries is seen too, though it is not so consistently as it is in the countries shown in figure 1.

Figure 2. The labour expenditures dynamics in manufacturing industries in several countries for the period 1975-2010.

It is essential that among leaders in labour expenditures reduction in manufacturing industries there are countries – Germany, France – in which the absolute value of the working time fund in this sector many times exceeded the similar index of the countries where these tempos were lower. Taking into consideration internalization of the modern economy, the tendency additionally confirms the regularity of decreasing in costs in material production.

Figure 3. The labour expenditures level in manufacturing industries in several countries of the OECD in 1970-2009.

The tendency for decreasing in general labour expenditures, as in relative so in absolute terms, is seen not only in a long-term period but for the last 10-15 years, the data at figures 4 and 5 show it.

Figure 4. The labour expenditures dynamics in manufacturing industries in several countries for the period 1995-2009.

Figure 5. Changing in labour expenditures in manufacturing industries for the period 1995-2009 (in absolute terms).

Reduction of time of labour expenditures specifically reflects in decreasing in a part of labour in value added that is produced in industry. As M. Lawless and K. Whelan mark there is decreasing in a part of labour in almost all the countries of the EU-15 – by 4.6% for the period 1980-2010. According to calculations of the researches even if there was no changing in the economic structure, that decrease would take place anyway, though the tempo would be lower – by about 3.63%[24]. But one should not fully identify the dynamics of working time and dynamics of the part of wages in value added.

According to our calculations based on the data of the Eurostat, for the period 2000-2013 general expenditures of labour in the analyzed sector of industry decreased in Belgium (about 15%), Bulgaria (more than 15%), the Czech Republic (about 12%), Denmark (more than 50% since 1995), Ireland (about 30%), Spain (more than 30%), Croatia (more than 15%), Luxembourg (about 10%), the Netherlands (more than 20%), Poland (7%), Portugal (a bit less than 50%), Slovakia (about 13%), Finland (about 30%), Rumania (about 50%), Norway (about 10%), Cyprus (about 20%), and Malta (more than 90%)[25]. For the period among countries of Europe there was no decreasing in general labour expenditures only in Turkey.

The tendency for decreasing in the working time fund in manufacturing industries was seen even after the latest economic crisis. So, since 2010 till 2013 this fund decreased in Spain by 14%, in Croatia by 10.9%, in Italy by 6.55%, in Portugal by 5.8%, in France by 3.83%, in Bulgaria by 3.3%, in the Netherlands by 3.26%, in Denmark by 2.76%, in Finland by 1.75%[26].

Of course, the effect of this tendency is not restricted with Europe. Its universal modification is confirmed by the experience of the USA where the working time fund value in this sphere decreased by 19.6%[27]. For the period 1995-2000 in South Korea the general quantity of working hours in manufacturing industries per year decreased by 13%, and for 2002-2007 it decreased by 9.9% more[28].

Taking into consideration the difference in tempos of decreasing in the general working time fund, the following classification of economically developed countries is regular.

Table 2

The Classification of Countries, Depending on the Dynamics of the Working Time Fund in Manufacturing Industries

As economically developed countries with the most large-scale output volume are included in the group with high tempos of general working time fund reduction, so it confirms the regular modification of this tendency. Exclusions represented by the dynamics of such an index in Canada and the Czech Republic certainly do not refute the noted regularity. Meanwhile, the total output volume of manufacturing industries in economically developed countries forms a predominant part of world’s production in this key sector of industry. Consequently, the main part of the world industrial product is produced in conditions of reduction of total labour expenditures for its output.

Once again, all of it confirms existence of the economic regularity of absolute reduction of the social production labour fund.

This reduction is one of the forms of increasing in labour productivity. This form is realized in combination with increasing in total output ensuring satisfaction of growing material needs of members of the society what table 3 shows.

Table 3

Tempos of Changing in Real Output Volume in Manufacturing Industries, %[29]

[30][31]

For the period 1995-2010 the output volume in manufacturing industry also increased in Hungary by 63.7%, in Israel by 37.8%, in the Netherlands by 22.3[32]%. Some decreasing in the output volume in particular countries for the period 2005-2009 is explained by a negative influence of the world economic crisis.

The tendency for output volume increasing is graphically shown at the figure below.

Figure 6. Tendencies of growth of the real output volume in manufacturing industries of several countries for the period 1975-2009.

Of course, the 2008 crisis influenced the economic dynamics negatively. In Denmark, Greece, Finland, the FRG, and Slovenia output decreased, however, it does not deny the general tendency for increasing in volumes of manufacturing industries.

What lies in the basis of this tendency? It is increasing in labour productivity what the data at table 4 show.

Table 4

The Dynamics of Labour Productivity and the Real Output Volume in Manufacturing Industries for the Period 1970-2010[33]

Thus, during 40 years in most of the countries at the table tempos of increasing in hour’s labour productivity outstripped tempos of growth of output volumes. Actually, even Austria was not exclusion because, when calculating the dynamics of productivity, the basic year was not 1970, but 1976.

Such outstripping is explained with parallel decreasing in general labour expenditures. As long as the latter went slower than increasing in productivity, then the output volume grew, though not matching increasing in labour productivity.

Four decades are a long enough period of time. To make sure of the current modification of the ratio of the dynamics of labour productivity and output let us examine the period since 1995 till 2010. The data at table 5 show it.

So, the superiority of tempos of increasing in hour’s labour productivity over the dynamics of output was seen during the examined fifteen years. Moreover, the difference between tempos of increasing in productivity, on one hand, and output tempos, on the other hand, increased during the examined period more significantly than it would take place at uniform changing of the examined indices during 40 years. We see consequences of accelerated decreasing in general expenditures of labour, caused mainly by the economic crisis that took place in the end of the examined fifteen years.

Table 5

The Dynamics of Labour Productivity and Real Output in Manufacturing Industries for the Period 1995-2010

Thus, absolute reduction in the general working time fund in manufacturing industries, as the key sector of the production sphere of modern economically developed countries, goes, on the whole, with increasing in output volumes in this sector what is a regular result of increasing in social labour productivity.

Decreasing in total expenditures of labour with increasing in output of manufacturing industries does not guarantee growth in ensuring the society with material benefits yet. The dynamics of population must be taken into account (table 6).

Table 6

The Dynamics of General Expenditures of Labour, Volumes of Output in Manufacturing Industries, and Population in Several Economically Developed Countries for the Examined Period

In most of the countries at table 6, excluding England and Canada, growth of output in manufacturing industries was higher than tempos of growth of population. It created an objective prerequisite for increasing in material well-being of an average member of the society. As for England and Canada, in this case standards of life could increase due to import of corresponding benefits secured by, for example, increasing in volumes of export of financial services.

The regular conclusion is that the modern society does not need to grow expenditures of living labour, i.e., to increase the general working time fund in the production sphere to satisfy its growing material needs. Moreover, the tendency for its reduction is becoming dominating. Accordingly, the economic ground for decreasing in the value of working time per one able-bodied member of the society forms and develops what is an objective demand of economic development of the modern society.

Factors Modifying the Dynamics of Labour Expenditures in Production of Economically Developed Countries

It should be mentioned that in economically developed countries reduction of the general working time fund is conditioned not only by increasing in social labour productivity but also by the practice of bringing several enterprises out to countries where labour force is cheaper. It is obvious that in the second case saving of labour can have a relative character: in a country where an enterprise closes, less labour is used, however, labour expenditures increase where a similar enterprise is built. Moreover, the value of working time may even increase because of a lower level of organization of production and workers’ qualification.

If industrial output produced inside an economically developed country before comes from abroad now, then, strictly speaking, time spent by workers of an exporting country must be added to working time of the developed country. A factor resisting reduction of the general working time fund in countries leading in STP takes place.

At the same time, leading countries are big exporters of manufacturing industry production to developing countries. Accordingly, the general working time fund is formed counting on not only satisfaction of inner needs of developed economics but on needs of importers of their production. In this meaning it appears to be too high.

In light of the above, there is a need for comparison of working time expenditures for production of industrial output exported by developed countries to other states and working time expenditures for production of output imported by developed countries. It is obvious that an approximate picture of this ratio can be got according to the value of the trade balance.

The fact that the balance of the USA is negative says that this country attracts additional labour expenditures of foreign producers to satisfy its material needs. In 2015 import exceeded export by approximately $500 bn. This quantity is less than 20% of the volume of industrial production of the USA. Consequently, a predominant part of consumed industrial production in the country is made by labour of American workers, so, it is exactly the dynamics of social labour productivity that decidedly influences the working time fund in production of the USA.

As for Germany, in 2014 it had positive net exports at the level of $160 bn. It made 17% of the industrial production volume of this country. Accordingly, the working time fund in Germany’s production sphere, to a certain extent, is formed counting on satisfaction of not only inner needs but other countries’ needs.

The Chinese People’s Republic is the biggest world exporter of industrial commodities, so that satisfaction of a certain part of developed countries’ needs is ensured thanks to labour of Chinese workers. Fast increasing in labour productivity of the CPR’s industry means that expenditures of labour per the fixed volume of exported commodities decrease in China. The fact that tempos of economic growth essentially exceeded tempos of increasing in employment in Chinese industry showed a relative slowdown in the general working time fund in industrial production. As the total part of the employees in agriculture and industry began decreasing in this country, then with a slowdown in tempos of growth of population prospects of an absolute decrease in the working time fund in the production sphere of China became real. No doubt, the transition to this dynamics will be a factor of reduction of the working time fund of world’s production in general.

In the modern economy there is a factor of increasing in labour expenditures in the production sphere, immediately not connected to increasing in social welfare: it is production of armaments, maintenance of military personnel. Of course, the amount of such expenditures essentially differs depending on whether we speak about an aggressive policy, interference in internal affairs of other countries or such expenditures are caused by care for defensive capacity facing danger of external aggression.

The USA have the highest expenses on armed forces in the world: about $600 bn a year. An approximate assessment of the general value of working time in production for these purposes can be given. In the USA the output volume of manufacturing industries is about $1800 bn. If a half of the total sum of military costs is spent on purchase of armaments – $300 bn – then corresponding output makes 16.7% of production of manufacturing industries. This is an approximate part of working time spent on armament production in the general working time fund in manufacturing industries.

It is obvious that military costs of the USA are a factor inducing other countries to spend on armaments. Total financial costs on armaments of other countries are lower than the USA’s costs for these purposes. At the same time, owing to supremacy of the USA in labour productivity, general labour expenditures on military production lag possibly behind American costs, at least less significantly than financial costs in other countries.

If the economy of the USA did not have a militarist component, then the sixth part of the general working time fund in the country’s manufacturing industry would be saved without any harm for social welfare. Similar saving would take place in other countries too, though in less significant scales. All of it would lead to reduction of working time in the production sphere per one able-bodied member of the society and, accordingly, assist in formation of prerequisites for free development of everyone.

Expenditures of Labour in the Production Sphere, Taking into Account Expenditures of Labour in Housekeeping

The described above dynamics of labour expenditures characterize time of paid labour in production. Meanwhile, in the society there is a sector of material benefits production that does not suppose payment of labour: we are speaking about housekeeping. To make an adequate notion about volumes of time in productive activities at the social scale it is necessary to take into consideration expenditures of domestic labour too.

According to its content domestic labour duplicates paid labour, to some extent. Cooking, washing dishes, cleaning, etc., can be referred to identical kinds of working activities. At the same time, the role of production of means of production is less significant in domestic labour: most of tools – kitchen-ranges, electric appliances, garden tools, etc. – are produced in the production sphere oriented at satisfaction of social needs.

It follows that opportunities for saving of domestic labour are determined by progress of social production. For example, building of the water-supply system let release members of the society from labour in transportation of water. Utilization of electric and gas stoves sharply reduced time for cooking, and growing production of semi-finished products assisted in it too. In modern apartments labour time for their heating came to naught. Perhaps, one would not find any kind of activities in housekeeping which would not experience a positive influence of scientific and technological progress having caused decreasing in working time expenditures per a unit of a positive effect.

Certainly, with respect to the sphere of domestic labour the determinative part belongs to social production because the latter supplies the first with the main mass of means of production and ensures technical progress in it.

However, this ratio does not predetermine superiority of the total volume of labour time in social production. Corresponding calculations are required to fix the quantitative ratio between these two sectors of production.

Necessary data for such calculations are anyway present in modern statistics.

General expenditures of labour in the economy and total wastes of labour in the services sphere are given in statistics of the OECD. Then, by means of subtraction the second index from the first value total expenditures of labour in social production can be determined.

Statistics of labour expenditures in housekeeping are reflected in time budgets made, for example, in the USA. Though these budgets characterize individuals’ activities, but if we know the total population, we can get the corresponding total value.

Of course, the quality of statistics for the examined kinds of production is not equal. In respect of social production macroeconomic data are present. Such indices are annually determined according to the comparable method for several of countries.

As for time budgets, they are made in respect of individuals what conditions the problem of aggregated data. This kind of statistics has not that detailed and universal modification as calculation of time of paid labour what complicates international comparisons in this sphere.

In these conditions to determine the total value of labour time in housekeeping we have to use extrapolation, spreading of conditions typical for one country to other countries close to it in economic development and so on.

So, in the source used for our calculations indices of labour expenditures in housekeeping for inhabitants of several European countries, aged 20-74, are present[34]. Meanwhile, both younger and older members of the society participate in domestic labour. In statistics of the USA the similar index is determined for inhabitants aged 15 and older. In our research we admit that data for members of the society, included into the age groups, are spread to all persons aging over 15, at the same time, a part of population of this age group peculiar to each country is taken into account. It is supposed that this part, both in 1993 and 2007, coincides with the part as of the 1st of January 2016. Total domestic labour expenditures in the examined countries are determined this way.

Canada’s time budgets are considered to be identical to the similar data in statistics of the USA.

We believe that using such methods that make the results approximate does not cancel theoretical significance of the latter.

Using this approach, first of all, it is appropriate to compare volumes of labour expenditures in social production to domestic labour.

Table 7

The Ratio of Expenditures of Domestic Labour, Labour in Social Production and General Expenditures of Paid Labour in Several Countries in 2007

It follows from the data above that expenditures of labour in “domestic” production, as a rule, many times surpass the working time fund of people occupied in the production sphere and exceed 50% of general labour expenditures of all people occupied in the economy. Certainly, it would be unjustifiably to ignore this sphere of economic activities.

What is this significant volume of domestic labour expenditures conditioned with in the modern economy? First of all, it is conditioned with the fact that the part of population fulfilling such labour is higher than the part of economically active population. Along with able-bodied members of the society both the rising generation and retired people participate in domestic labour. At the same time, people’s participation in domestic labour is quite stable and does not change radically what is characteristic for employment in the production sphere.

In spite of broad utilization of scientific and technological progress in domestic labour, saving of labour in this sector has lower tempos than in production for social needs. The reason is in an impossibility of adequate realization of a positive effect of the scale. New tools used in domestic labour would save labour of many people if they would work continuously, but they are used for needs of one family and stand idle most of the time.

Because of large-scaled volumes of domestic labour it is not enough to judge the dynamics of expenditures of labour used in production of benefits in the scale of the whole society by expenditures of paid labour, it is necessary to take into account the first kind of productive activities too. Considering limited data on time budgets and low effect from using new tools in domestic labour we shall consider that total expenditures of such labour change only because of changing in population of the examined European countries and Korea during the analyzed period – 1993-2007.

Annual time budgets of population of the USA are available since 2003. It is supposed that indices of 1993 are equal to indices of 2003. As we noticed before, the data of time budgets of the USA are spread to Canada too.

Table 8

The Dynamics of Labour Expenditures in Production of Several Economically Developed Countries (1993-2007)

Thus, saving of labour in social production is seen in most of the countries above, at that, in France, the FRG, and Korea it goes with high rates. Canada with its essential increase in labour expenditures in this sphere is an exception.

At the prerequisite of absence of domestic labour saving growth of population leads to increasing in total values of this activity. As a result, total labour expenditures in most of the countries grow and if they decrease, then it goes much slower than in social production. In this context the regularity of absolute reduction of the working time fund in production appears not so regular, as it happens in manufacturing industries.

At the same time, growth of population in most cases (except for Canada) outstripped growth of total labour expenditures. Consequently, labour expenditures in production decreased per capita. Formation of prerequisites of economic development connected to enhancing abilities for free development of all members of the society goes on.

1.3. Saving of Labour in Production is the Basis of Progress in the Nonproduction Sphere

The Ratio of General Labour Expenditures in the Sphere of Production and Services

Decreasing in general labour expenditures in the production sphere along with increasing in output per capita represents releasing of labour for activities in the sphere of services and leisure. In process of this release total time spent on labour in the nonproduction sphere starts prevailing over the working time fund in production.

The fact of this prevalence can be fixed by means of comparing employment in different spheres of the economy supposing reasonably that working time in different spheres per one employee differs insignificantly.

All economically developed countries have high values of a part of employees in the services sphere – 68-70% and more. In other words, countries with a high level of labour productivity in manufacturing industries have an opportunity to spend the main part of their economic activities on rendering services and on other kinds of nonproductive activities.

Domination of the services sphere reflects the dynamics of the employment structure in the economy what the data at table 9 show.

Thus, for the period of 1993-2009 in all the countries given at table 9 employment in the nonproduction sphere, having already been prevailing over employment in production, went on increasing relative to the second. Tempos of such an increase were the higher the less significant prevalence of the first sphere was in 1993. That was why Korea and the FRG were leaders in tempos of increasing in the part of employment in the nonproductive sector and the highest level of employment was in the USA, France and Sweden.

These indices reflect changes in the ratio of the working time fund in the production and nonproduction spheres: the process of transforming saving of production labour into growth of labour volumes in the nonproduction sector continues.

Table 9

The Dynamics of Employment in the Main Spheres of the Economy in Particular Economically Developed Countries of the World during 1993-2009, %

Source: calculated on the basis of statistics of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)[Electronic resource]. – Access mode: http://stats.oecd.org/

Assessment of the absolute value of this transformation, based on the employment dynamics, is not fully correct. First, reduction of working time per one employee is not considered at that. For example, if there was reduction of its duration, then the absolute value of the working time fund in production would decrease more significantly than it can be judged according to decreasing in employment in it. Tempos of growth of employment in the services sphere would similarly be higher than tempos of increasing in total labour time in it.

Second, saving of labour in production can be used not only for increasing in employment in the nonproduction sphere but for expanding scales of noneconomic activities, for example, getting an education.

That is why to get a more accurate assessment of the ratio of working time volumes in the basic spheres of the economy it would be better to measure them in hours.

First of all, it is appropriate to examine the dynamics of the values reflected by the data at table 10.

As it follows from the data, in all the countries labour expenditures in the nonproduction sphere were increasing and, at the same time, total working time in production of the most countries (except for Canada and Sweden) was reducing. At the same time, in Canada and Sweden outpacing growth of labour expenditures in this sphere meant relative reduction of the working time fund of paid labour in production.

Working time in production was reducing in all the countries, except for Canada, and the similar value of labour in the nonproduction sphere was increasing per capita. In Korea, France, and the FRG time of economic development was decreasing per capita; at equal other conditions, it meant increasing in time of noneconomic social activities including education, leisure (in the narrow sense), etc. On the contrary, in Canada, Italy, and Sweden time of paid economic activities increased per capita and time of noneconomic activities decreased.

Table 10

The Dynamics of General Expenditures of Paid Labour in the Economy in General, in Production and the Nonproduction Sphere in Several Economically Developed Countries during the Period of 1993-2007

Economic activities, i.e., activities connected to production of goods and rendering services, are not restricted only with paid activities typical for the category “economically active population”. Labour in housekeeping and rendering services on the gratuitous basis exist. That is why to characterize processes of economic development more accurately calculation of the rate of free time of the society, taking into account all components of social activities, is needed.

The Rate of Free Time of the Society in Modern Conditions

Calculations of the rate of free time of the society suppose solving several problems as theoretical so problems connected to finding required statistics.

First of all, it is necessary to determine the total duration of social activities not connected to satisfaction of physical needs.

According to the data of time budgets of the USA, in 2007 all time of self-care (sleeping, washing, etc.) of persons aged 15 or over was 9.33 hours a day, and all time of eating was 1.24 hours what made 10.57 hours in total. Let us accept that these data are characteristic of not only 2007 but of 1993, and they are extended to the other examined countries. Thus, time of satisfaction of these needs is 44% of 24 hours, and the part of social activities time is 56%.

In principle, the ratio can be converted to the time fund of the society in general. According to it, total time of the social life activity is measured by means of multiplying the general annual time fund of the society’s life – the product of population by 8760 hours – by 0.56.

Still, it is not correct to identify the data for adult people and the time budget of children. New-born children are fully in the grip of physical needs until a definite period. Preschool aged children have longer sleeping time than adults and so on. To take into account this age specificity it is appropriate to use the following procedure: time additionally spent by children on satisfaction of physical needs is subtracted from total time of the social life activity measured the way above. Let us accept that the first time makes 3% of total time: from an approximate part of children no more than 1 year of population and specificities of preschool children’s life activity.

The total value of labour expenditures, directed toward satisfaction of social needs (in the modern context it is paid labour), and labour in housekeeping (unpaid labour) allows calculating total time of nonproduction activities: by means of subtracting the value from the time fund of social activities of the society.

There is a problem of differentiation of nonworking time and free time of the society. For example, in poor families children cannot work, but under pressure of want they hardly have free time what is also true for unemployed people in many ways. Elderly people’s social activities decrease what changes also the modification of their nonworking time. Nonworking time, by the essence, is wasted if a person is in the grip of bad habits, etc.

To our mind, when calculating the rate of free time of the society, first, general mass of nonworking time should be used. The value of this time is one of the expressions of social production progress. People can objectively dispose of this time. The way this possibility is realized is beyond the economic research.

Differentiation of the potential value of free time, an upper bound of which is nonworking time, and the value realized for goals of free development gives the basis for distinguishing the nominal and actual rate of free time of the society. The nominal index will be used in our research.

The rate of free time for one of another country is determined by correlating total values of nonproduction and production activities. The value of this rate for several countries is at table 11.

As it follows from the table, the rate of free time of the society many times exceeds 1 in all the examined countries. In other words, with the achieved labour productivity the modern society is able to spend the main part of its time on fulfilling activities not being immediately production, at that, the level of material well-being per capita increases. It means expansion for free development of all members of the society.

Table 11

The Rate of Free Time of the Society in Several Economically Developed Countries (in 1993 and 2007)

Though in all the cases the rate of free time is many times more than 1, at the same time, differentiation of the value of this index is seen too. So, France, the FRG, Sweden, and the USA have rate 5 and more, Canada has a little bit less than 5.0, Italy has 4.30, and Korea has 3.84.

The sequence of countries reflects, on the whole, difference in levels of their social labour productivity. But France, leading in the level of this rate, yields to the USA in labour productivity, however, it should be taken into consideration that the difference in the value of the first index for these two countries is not significant, moreover, the volume of domestic labour in the European country was calculated approximately.

Changing in the level of the rate of free time of the society was mainly explained by the dynamics of the paid labour volumes (it was supposed that saving of labour in housekeeping did not take place). It corresponds to the key role of social production in realization of this saving.

It should be mentioned that during the analyzed fifteen years changing in the rate of free time was less significant in percentage terms than, for example, the volume of the social product. Perhaps, if saving of working time in the sector of domestic labour could manage to be taken into account, tempos of this changing would be higher. Still, this period is not so long for large-scaled redistribution of social activities between the main spheres of the social life.

Tempos of changing of the rate of free time of the society significantly differed in the examined countries during the analyzed period. The highest tempos were in France, the FRG, Korea and the USA; in Italy and Sweden they were significantly lower; and Canada’s tempos were probably negative.

Owing to the differentiation of the tempos, the state of the countries, depending on the rate value of free time, changed. In 1993 Sweden was in the third place and Canada was in the fourth place. In 2007 Sweden took the fourth place and Canada took the fifth place, the FRG improved its positions. The irregularity in the dynamics of forming conditions for economic development is seen.

This irregularity is characteristic for tempos of economic growth too. Certainly, it acts as a regularity of development of the modern economy what questions the rectitude of the thesis “on lagging forever” of those countries which yield to leaders during one or another period.

Increasing in the nominal rate of free time of the society, expanding for development of abilities of all members of the society, is an objective prerequisite for reduction of essential inequality depending on volumes of available free time. The way this prerequisite is realized many times depends on the modification of nonproduction social activities.

Tendencies in Utilization of the Nonproduction Activities Fund of the Society

In the nonproduction sphere of the society there are several sectors that influence differently on formation of prerequisites for development of all members of the society. Trade (wholesale and retail) is one of the elements of the services sphere.

By means of trade produced benefits come to productive and personal consumption what makes a prerequisite for satisfaction of material needs of members of the society.

Strictly speaking, many processes that continue production in the circulation sphere (pre-packing, packaging, making semi-finished products, etc.) take place in trade. Labour expenditures of this kind are a sort of production labour expenditures. As the statistics do not mark them out, all labour in the trading sphere will be included in rendering services (actually, this supposition leads to the overrated rate of free time of the society).

Table 12 characterizing volumes and the dynamics of labour expenditures in the trading sphere is provided below.

During the studied period the tendency, general for all the countries, in the dynamics of labour expenditures in the trading sphere, calculated in total and per capita, is not seen. At the same time, cross-country comparison shows that in the countries with a high level of labour productivity a part of such expenditures in the general volume of nonproduction activities and their absolute per capita level is lower, as a rule, than in the case of lower productivity. In Korea that overcomes its lag from leaders of scientific and technological progress these expenditure indices decrease.

Table 12

Labour Expenditures in Wholesale and Retail Trade (1993-2007)

It is appropriate to suppose that economic development supposes reduction of labour expenditures in the trading sphere and redistribution of the released activities to those sectors of the nonproduction sphere that ensure development of a human immediately.

For a full notion about the scales of the activities in the trading sphere it is necessary to take into consideration time expenditures for purchasing goods. To determine them let us use the data of time budgets of the USA in 2003 and 2007 extending them to all the studied countries.

Table 13

General Time Spent in the Trading Sphere by the Society in Several Countries

In respect of general time of activities in the trading sphere the fact fixed regarding labour expenditures in it is confirmed: the more a country is developed the less, as a rule, the part of activities in this sphere in the general volume of nonproduction activities is. It is obvious that this dependence can partly be explained with utilization of the data of time budgets of only one country (the USA) in the calculation, but it is only partly, because total time of population, spent on purchasing, is comparable to labour expenditures of employees in the trading sphere, and the data of these expenditures are in the statistics of each of the countries.

The circulation sphere of modern developed countries includes also finances, insurance, real estate management, and services for business. The scales of this sector can be judged about according to the data of table 14.

Table 14

Labour Expenditures in Finances, Insurance, Real Estate Management, Services for Business

Unlike labour expenditures in the trading sphere, in the studied sector of services labour expenditures tend to increasing in all the examined countries. As a result, in France, the FRG, and the USA the part of this labour in the general volume of nonproduction activities and its duration per capita already exceeded similar indices for trade.

It is obvious that, on one hand, the tendencies mean growth of volumes of market transactions services what means substitution of the time that could immediately be used for ensuring development of all members of the society. On the other hand, without these kinds of activities progress of the capitalist economy that forms prerequisites for this development is not possible.

Functioning of the modern society supposes management fulfilled by a state body. A state also uses armed forces and other uniformed services.

The data at table 15 show that labour expenditures in government, defense, and implementation of public security decreased in all the countries. It is significant that the relative level of these expenditures is higher in more developed countries. It can partially be understood by processes of militarization. E.g., the armed forces of the USA are the main component of the NATO. France’s active role in several armed conflicts over the last decades is well-known.

In spite of opposing tendencies, reduction of scales of activities in this sphere also assists in redistribution of nonproduction social activities in favor of those kinds that can immediately ensure free time for all members of the society.

Table 15

Expenditures of Labour in Government, Defense and Implementation of Public Security

Among the noted kinds of activities a leading part undoubtedly belongs to education. Education assists in intellectual and physical development of members of the society, formation of their competencies, adoption of social norms, etc. Accordingly, specific weight of education in the general volume of nonproduction activities is an essential characteristic of prerequisites for overcoming inequality among members of the society.

Realization of the educational process presupposes teaching activities. Besides its instrumental significance, the latter is a form of realization and development of intellectual abilities itself. Its inclusion in the category “educational activities” (as activities connected to education and positively influencing the personality of its executer), in the wide sense, is true.

Table 16

Time Spent on Educational Activities by the Society in Several Economically Developed Countries

As it follows from the calculations, in economically developed countries time spent on educational activities by the society is from more than 8% to almost 11% of the whole nonproduction social activities fund. This value, quite stable during the examined fifteen years, is surely a result of giant social economic progress during the last century, taking into account that the relative part of nonproduction activities grew 2-3 times during this period.

From the point of view of ensuring all members of the society with a healthy and long life, health care and services rendered by social workers are significant. In this case, for example, concerning medical services, it is a question of not only ensuring a human’s development but keeping a potential for this development. Time spent on medical services is not related to free time of the society, it is, by the essence, a deduction from it, and that is why, unlike time of education, it does not indicate achievements of economic development.

Data of labour time spent in them are shown in the statistics (as for the USA, such expenditures are calculated using data of employment and time budgets of employees).

Professional activities do not exhaust all time of care about other people. Similar services are also rendered in housekeeping for free. Their value is reflected in time budgets and must be considered when calculating the whole volume of such activities in the society. The results of such calculations are shown at table 17.

It follows from the data that thanks to high labour productivity in the production sphere, the modern society is able to spend a significant part of its activities on health care and care about people who need help of other people.

Table 17

Time Spent on Health Care and Social Work by the Society in Several Economically Developed Countries

During the examined fifteen years expenditures of labour of employees in health care and social work increased what, owing to economies of scale, surely assisted in more comprehensive satisfaction of appropriate social needs.

Time expenditures of similar activities in housekeeping slightly decreased in most of the examined countries. It is wrong to draw ambitious conclusions from it because this reduction reflects some decrease in time of similar services in the USA in 2007 as compared to 2003 (in the calculations during the mentioned years in the USA the data of time budgets was spread to all the analyzed countries, at that, 2003 data were accepted similar to 1993 figures).

At the same time, if we take a sufficiently long-time retrospect, then a relative part of the appropriate services rendered professionally increased undoubtedly. That is why it is reasonable to compare the dynamics of labour expenditures spent on rendering these services to tempos of growth of population.

Table 18

The Dynamics of Population, Labour Expenditures in Education, Health Care, and Social Services (1993-2007)

As it follows from the data above, in all the examined countries labour expenditures in education increased much more rapidly than population did. Accordingly, more favorable prerequisites for development of abilities of each member of the society formed.

The fact that the highest tempos of growth of these expenditures were in Korea attracts attention, at that, the country did not lead in the dynamics of population. High tempos of growth of labour expenditures in education combined with the leadership in growth of population in the USA. The dynamics of labour expenditures in education significantly outstripped growth of population in the FRG. In this respect, progress of the rest of the countries was less impressive.

As for the dynamics of expenditures in health care and social services, their superiority over tempos of growth of population was not everywhere: Italy was a reverse case. But in such countries as France, the FRG, Sweden outstripping growth of labour expenditures in health care and social services, as compared to the dynamics of population, was more significant than in education.

Consequently, in the studied countries, in general, prerequisites for health maintenance of all members of the society, for ensuring them with necessary social services strengthen.

To confirm what has been said it is reasonable to study the dynamics of the appropriate indices per capita.

Table 19

The Dynamics of Labour Expenditures in Education per Capita and the Level of Education of Population

Taking into account the comparative dynamics of population and general labour expenditures in education, it is not surprising that labour expenditures per capita grew in all the countries.

Thanks to quite high tempos of growth of labour expenditures Sweden kept its leadership. The USA held their second position. Thanks to the highest tempos of growth of such expenditures Korea’s index exceeded Canada’s index and almost came up with the USA’s index. It is significant that Korea outstripped France, the FRG, and Italy in the absolute value of these expenditures already in 1993. At the same time, Korea’s rate of free time of the society was the lowest among the examined countries.

Consequently, the value of labour expenditures in education, to a certain degree, does not depend on social labour productivity, the total value of nonproduction social activities, and the rate of free time of the society. Within certain limits, redistribution of nonproduction social activities in favor of such a key sector as education is possible.

The value of labour expenditures in education is one of the factors influencing duration of education: with an increase in these expenditures it becomes possible to educate the younger generation for longer time, to extend scales of training and professional retraining of able-bodied people. It may be supposed that average duration of actual education typical for adult people reflects such expenditures in the past and the expected duration of education of the younger generation is connected to the rate of these expenditures at present.

In the beginning of 1990s Korea was at the fourth place in the level of labour expenditures in education per capita, so that in the average duration of education of population it was at the fifth place among the examined countries in 2010. Thanks to rapid growth of such expenditures the country became a leader in the upcoming duration of education in fifteen years.

The leadership of the FRG in the average duration of education seemed to be contrary to the fact that the country was at the last but one place in labour expenditures per capita in 1993. In our opinion, the high level of the first index is partially connected to achievements of the GDR in education.

The lag of Sweden in the studied indices, not corresponding to its leadership in labour expenditures, looks paradoxical. The situation may be explained by special attention to education of adults in this country. Professional training and retraining are specific kinds of education, they are more labour-intensive from the point of view of organization of the teaching process, they demand an individual approach, economies of scales are less realized in them (for example, owing to “streaming” lectures), and they are not so continuous as studying at schools or institutes of higher education.

Of course, there cannot be a full correspondence between the rate and dynamics of labour expenditures in education per capita and duration of education and, moreover, between ranks of these indices in cross-country comparison. Both the first and second indices have a qualitative determinateness complicating the connection between them. Yet, on the whole, the connection between increasing in labour expenditures in education and expanding opportunities for development of abilities of all members of the society owing to this increase is seen.

It should not be forgotten that the dynamics of labour expenditures in education has the economic basis because realization of teaching activities demands material prerequisites (buildings, equipment, edition of teaching literature, etc.). Consequently, it is reasonable to state re-orientation of social production towards needs of the progressing sphere of education and, thereby, towards needs of free development of all members of the society.

At the same time, the fact that the countries with a higher level of labour productivity than in Korea have less labour expenditures in education per capita shows existence of certain economic barriers to formation of prerequisites for progress of education.

First of all, at its starting levels, the sphere of education is financed at the expense of a state (municipal) budget what increases costs of entrepreneurs and decreases their income by means of taxation. A benefit of utilization of more educated labour resources has a mediate character for employers. As a result, orientation towards making of profit enters into a contradiction with needs for free development of all members of the society. That is why the level of labour expenditures in education remains lower than the objectively possible level: achievements of Korea exactly show opportunities if this kind.

In this regard, the experience of Sweden is representative where the level of redistribution of incomes by means of the budget system is one of the highest in the world. Socialization of a substantial part of incomes, as a characteristic of “Swedish socialism”, allows ensuring the highest volume of labour expenditures in education per capita among the studied countries. This volume can be taken for a model for modern conditions.

To our opinion, influence of the profitability factor explains, to a great extent, the differentiation of labour expenditures per capita in the examined countries. For example, in the USA higher education is paid what, on one hand, complicates access to get it and, on the other hand, makes an appropriate for the market economy incentive of development of teaching activities. The contradiction resolves itself mostly by means of attracting solvent students from abroad: as it is known, the USA lead in the world in the number of foreign students studying there. Inter alia, it means that the index of the labour expenditures level in education per capita overrates the measure of conditions for development of an average American.

In such European countries as France, the FRG, and Italy studying at institutes of higher education is free. Accordingly, a restrictive influence of budget savings for the sphere of education, dictated, in the end, by interests of entrepreneur’s income, unlike it is in the USA, is not softened by commercialization of functioning of institutes of higher education here. At the same time, these countries are not as consistent in redistribution of incomes by means of the budget system as Sweden. All of it conditions their lag in the labour expenditures level in education per capita.

The tendencies typical for development of teaching activities repeat, to a certain degree, in the sphere of health care and social work too.

Table 20

The Dynamics of Labour Expenditures in Health Care and Social Work and Lifespan of Population in Several Countries

*Human Development Report 2000. P. 186.

**Human Development Report 2009. P. 171.

As it follows from the above data, labour expenditures per capita in the analyzed sphere grew in all the countries except for Italy. At that, the highest growth was in Korea what allowed this country reducing the lag in this index significantly.

During the studied period the lifespan increased in all the countries what, on one hand, confirms the significance of the labour expenditures factor and, on the other hand, having in view the experience of Italy, shows that this factor in not the only one. The fastest increase in the lifespan corresponds to the highest growth of labour expenditures in health care and social work – like it is in Korea.

Just like in teaching activities, the USA and Sweden, mostly realizing an opposite approach to financing these kinds of activities, lead in the level of labour expenditures per capita in the researched sphere. Let us note that in conditions of commercialization of these services a high level of average labour expenditures in rendering them does not guarantee leadership in lifespan of population: inequality in availability to these vital services tells, among other things. On the contrary, in the countries where the volume of the services less depends on solvency of their consumers, lifespan is longer at relatively low labour expenditures in corresponding kinds of labour per capita.

Surely, impact of commercialization is inevitable in conditions of domination of orientation towards profit in the economy, moreover, the effect of this factor leads to increasing in inequality in availability to services significant for lifespan of all members of the society.

Thus, growth of the rate of free time of the society is accompanied by increasing in the scales of those kinds of social activities which are immediately connected to development of all members of the society. Those kinds of activities (trade, management) which have an instrumental significance from the point of view of economic development reduce relatively. A positive tendency of economic development is present.

This regular tendency is realized with obstacles, it is counteracted by several factors caused by growth of the financial services sector, commercialization of the social sphere of economically developed countries.

The movement of this contradiction is displayed more fully when the dynamics of the ratio of working and free time is considered not only at the level of the society in general but as applied to individuals.

2. Reduction of Working Time and Increasing in Free Time of Employees as the Regularity of Economic Development

2.1. The Value and Dynamics of the Average Number of Working Hours per One Employee per Year

Average Annual Working Time per One Employee in Social Production at the Present Level of Economic Development and in Conditions of Universal Participation in Production

The value of working time funds in social production and the nonproduction sphere determines duration of working time during which able-bodied members of the society have to work to ensure satisfaction of present social needs at present labour productivity – normal duration of working time.

Fulfilment of labour for satisfaction of social needs supposes ability to work, i.e., the complex of abilities necessary for fulfilment of labour functions. Age limits of ability to work depend on many factors including normal duration of working time for the society. Certainly, each person’s ability to work is specific, nevertheless, regulation of social economic processes demands establishment of a social rate of seniority for the lifetime.

At present volumes of production activities and activities in the services sphere normal duration of working time depends on the part of able-bodied people in the total number of population. The higher this part is the less enduring labour in the social economy must be fulfilled by workers and, vice versa, reduction of this part leads to distribution of the fixed volume of social labour between less members of the society.

From the point of view of economic development the way of distribution of production activities and fulfilment of services between able-bodied people, but not division of the society into able-bodied and not able-bodied people, is of principle. According to the first criterion differences are social-economical, and according to the second criterion they are age-related in their basis.

It is reasonable to compare the dynamics of working time per one employee, provided reproduction of significant differences between members of the society depending on fulfilled kinds of economic activities, to provided equality of members in fulfilled kinds of labour.

The first situation corresponds to the present state of affairs, the second is objectively possible, but it demands transition to universal participation in social production of able-bodied people.

As in the modern statistics average annual working time per one employee is given, as a rule, without taking into consideration the specificity of labour expenditures in the production and nonproduction spheres, let us determine present labour duration in production from general labour expenditures and employment in it.

As it follows from the data of table 21 during the studied period in most of the countries there was decreasing in duration of labour time of employees of the production sphere (except for Canada and Sweden). Decreasing in the general working time fund that was not seen only in Canada was the main factor of this decrease.

Table 21

The Dynamics of Average Annual Duration of Working Time per One Industrial Worker in the Present Conditions

At the same time, in these countries, except for the USA, tempos of working time decreasing were significantly lower than tempos of general labour expenditures decreasing in the production sphere. It was explained with decreasing in employment in it typical for all the countries, except for Canada and the USA.

Owing to increasing in the number of industrial employees, in the USA tempos of decreasing in working time per one employee turned to be higher than tempos of reduction of the general working time fund. As for Canada, growth of employment in the production sphere of this country practically graded increasing in the working time fund, so that growth of average duration of labour made only 1% per year.

In Sweden growth of duration of working time turned to be higher than increasing in the general working time fund what was a consequence of reduction of the number of employees in the production sphere.

In general, the given data confirm the regular for the modern economy character of increasing in duration of working time of employees in the production sphere. This tendency leads to equalization of the social economic state of able-bodied members of the society in fulfilled kinds of social activities.

Present working time duration in production and its dynamics do not fully correspond to possibilities caused by the achieved level of social labour productivity. By virtue of present social economic inequality, participation in fulfilment of labour in production is the lot of the minority of employees, and the part of such workers tends to decreasing. As a result, the general working time fund is formed by labour of a relatively small part of able-bodied people, so that duration of their labour remains higher than it is possible at universal participation in production, and it decreases slower than in conditions of social economic equality.

To confirm the stated theses let us see what labour duration in production could be and how it would change if the present working time fund in production would be formed by labour of all able-bodied people.

Let us suppose that ability to work is similar to economic activities and starts at age 20: this prerequisite is based on the fact of high average duration of education in modern countries. Let us also assume that retirement age is 60 – in other words, minimal age of retirement that was in Italy, for example, is taken as a norm. Absence of unemployment, coincidence of the number of able-bodied people and the number of population at the able to work age are also supposed.

From these prerequisites we can determine average annual working time duration per one employee at the present value of the general working time fund in social production (table 22).

Table 22

The Value and Dynamics of Average Annual Working Time Duration in Social Production per One Employee at Universal Participation in Production

It is obvious that in conditions of equal participation of members of the society in fulfilment of production labour both working time duration and its dynamics will differ from the present situation significantly. These differences can be more specifically judged by the data of table 23.

Table 23

Comparison of Working Time Duration and its Dynamics in Present Conditions with Similar Indices at Universal Participation in Production

So, if in 1993 all able-bodied people would participate in social production, then in all the examined countries at achieved labour productivity working time duration in the production sphere could many times be reduced, as compared to the existed level.

In 2007 the gap between this index reflecting actual employment in the production sphere, on one hand, and the index supposing participation of all able-bodied people in production, on the other hand, became more significant (except for Canada). It was explained by reduction of employment in production that took place in all the examined countries.

As a result, tempos of working time reduction at universal participation in production would be much higher than at the situation typical for the modern economy when employment in production is reduced relatively and absolutely. In Sweden, instead of increasing in working time duration, reduction of employment would take place because growth of the number of industrial workers would outstrip growth of the working time fund owing to increasing in population.

Thus, the objective opportunity of working time reduction, conditioned by ensuring growing social needs at decreasing in total expenditures in production, is realized in different ways depending on the rate of participation of able-bodied members of the society in fulfilment of production work.

Participation of all able-bodied people in social production determines such normal working time duration that is minimal at the achieved level of labour productivity. If participation in production is not universal, as it is in the present situation, then normal working time duration will approach to minimum possible duration in case of increasing in the number of employees in production, and it will increase at reduction of this number.

The effect from increasing in social labour productivity, leading to decreasing in the general working time fund, will be different. At universal participation of able-bodied members of the society in production achieved saving of labour will entirely be used for reduction of working time of people occupied in this sphere, while the dynamics of the number of employees will be determined by changing of population. At increasing in the latter, an additional factor of decreasing in normal working time duration of employees in the production sphere appears (taking into account that the output volume in the modern economy, and, consequently, the required working time fund, is not determined by the number of employees but by the level of social labour productivity).

If growth of social labour productivity is used not only for reduction of working time of people occupied in production but for reduction of their number, then decreasing in working time duration of employees slows down.

There is a possible situation when all saving of labour is realized in the form of reduction of employment in production. In case when remaining employees are enough to ensure required output at the same working time duration, the latter does not change. If decreasing in the number of employees outstrips growth of labour productivity, then decreasing in the general working time fund, because of a fall of employment, has to be made up by additional labour of employees remaining in production, the situation of working time extension contrary to increasing in effectiveness of production appears.

Obviously, in conditions of universal (and equal) participation of able-bodied people in social production tempos of reduction of normal working time duration will be higher than in the situation when a part of labour saving is realized in the form of removing a part of able-bodied people from the production sphere. In this respect, the higher an achieved level of economic development is, the higher potential tempos of working time reduction are.

Such tempos can exceed possible ones at universal participation in production if an increase in employment in production, outstripping growth of population, takes place. Obviously, superiority in tempos of working time reduction does not abolish its longer duration, as compared to the situation of universal participation in production. This factor of acceleration will work until the number of people occupied in production does not come up with the number of able-bodied people.

Universal participation of able-bodied people in social production supposes absence of social groups occupied in the nonproduction sphere only. Nonproduction activities, as well as production activities, must be distributed between able-bodied people. It is reasonable to study these prospects of economic development too.

Average Annual Working Time per One Employee in the Nonproduction Sphere at the Present Level of Economic Development and in Conditions of Universal Participation in Production

To calculate average annual working time per one employee in the nonproduction sphere let us use the method similar to the method we used when analyzing similar indices in the production sphere, comparing general labour expenditures to employment (table 24).

In all the examined countries both the number of people occupied in the nonproduction sphere and general labour expenditures in it increased. At that, in most of the countries growth of employment outstripped growth of labour expenditures (except for the USA and Sweden) what lead to decreasing in working time duration per one employee. Accordingly, the tendency to working time reduction is seen in this sphere too what creates prerequisites for a harmonious combination of different kinds of nonproduction activities by employees occupied in them.

Table 24

The Value and Dynamics of Average Annual Working Time per One Employee in the Services Sphere in Present Conditions

Let us consider the situation that would take place at universal participation of able-bodied people in rendering services.

Table 25

The Value and Dynamics of Average Annual Working Time Duration per One Employee in the Nonproduction Sphere at Universal Participation of Able-Bodied People in Rendering Services

As it follows from the data, at universal participation of able-bodied people in rendering services duration of time for their rendering per one employee would grow in all the countries, while in present conditions it reduced in most of the countries. The point is that in the second case the effect of growth of the working time fund was surpassed by outstripping growth of employment. At universal participation in rendering services the factor of redistribution of able-bodied people between the main spheres of the economy works no longer, the number of employees combining production and nonproduction activities is determined only by the dynamics of population. Obviously, increasing in this number was seriously behind the growth of volumes of rendered services.

Increasing in working time duration in the nonproduction sphere at its reduction in production means that employees are more and more occupied in those kinds of activities that assist in their free development. In this respect it would be unreasonable to connect economic development to reduction of nonproduction activities time. It is quite another matter that total time of labour in satisfaction of social needs, including labour in production and the services sphere, must not go beyond the scope determined by the need for leisure. That is why it is necessary to take into consideration the value and dynamics of general working time duration.

Average Annual Working Time per One Employee in Social Production and the Nonproduction Sphere at the Present Level of Economic Development and in Conditions of Universal Participation in Production

At existing social economic fixation of big social groups in economically heterogeneous kinds of labour the value and changing in working time duration in the production sphere, on one hand, and in the services sphere, on the other hand, affect different groups of employees. When labour in different spheres is fulfilled by the same employees, the dynamics of working time in each of these spheres influences the social economic state of all able-bodied people.

For the comparative analysis of the value and dynamics of general working time duration, first of all, it is necessary to fix certain indices for employees in conditions of prospects of labour combination in production and nonproduction activities (table 26).

So, if each able-bodied person would fulfil production activities and labour in rendering services in equal proportions, then duration of the latter per one employee would significantly exceed working time spent on production by everyone. It has been expected from the results of the analysis of the general working time ratio in production, on one hand, and the nonproduction sphere, on the other hand.

Table 26

Labour Duration in Social Production and in the Nonproduction Sphere per One Able-Bodied Person in Conditions of Combination of these Kinds of Activities by Everyone

In most of the countries, except for Canada, average duration of production activities of employees would reduce. In all the countries decreasing in the part of production activities expenditures in general labour activities duration of employees and increasing in the part of nonproduction activities would take place. Taking into account that conditions and contents of labour in the nonproduction sphere are more favorable than in production, in general, this changing in the labour activities structure would assist in development of employees.

It is significant that in several countries (France, the FRG, Korea) reduction of labour activities duration of employees in satisfaction of social needs would happen what should increase time of their leisure. In the rest of the countries decreasing in nonworking time of able-bodied people would take place. Certainly, a 15 year period is not long enough for identification of a dominating tendency of changing in the ratio between duration of labour and leisure.

It is reasonable to compare duration and the dynamics of working time at combination of different kinds of labour by all employees to similar indices for people occupied in the basic spheres of the economy (table 27).

It is notable that working time of industrial employees is longer, as a rule, than working time of nonproduction employees (Korea is an exception). At this differentiation of employees it gives the basis for viewing working time duration in production as the upper limit of the average working time value.

If all able-bodied people would combine production activities and rendering services, then general duration of their working time would be less than general working time duration of present employees occupied in different spheres of the economy. It is viewed that these prospects are conditioned on the supposition of absence of unemployment and on equal distribution of labour between employees.

Table 27

Working Time Duration of Employees of the Production, Nonproduction Spheres, and Combining Production Activities and Rendering Services (Calculated According to the Data of Labour Expenditures and Employment in 1993 and 2007)

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

Thus, the free time rate of nonproduction sphere employees, exceeding 1 many times, is close to the value of the free time rate of the society. First of all, it is connected to the fact that the whole volume of labour in social production is fulfilled by employees of the proper sphere what assists in increasing in the free time rate of employees rendering services. On the other hand, a part of disabled members of the society (little children, elderly people, people with restricted abilities), possessing time for nonproduction social activities, does not participate in fulfilling domestic labour what increases workload on people occupied in the nonproduction sphere.

It is essential that the free time rate of these employees does not depend on duration of their working time. The way time of their activities is distributed among labour and leisure is certainly significant for conditions of a human’s development. Still, social economic homogeneity is peculiar to such labour and leisure as types of nonproduction social activities, opposing to material production labour in this quality.

When calculating the free time rate of employees combining labour in production and the services sphere let us suppose that labour time in housekeeping coincides with its duration at modern employees. From these prerequisites and using the data on the funds of production and nonproduction activities of the society we can calculate the average quantity of the free time rate of such an employee (table 31).

As it follows from the data, at the existing in the modern countries ratio of the funds of production and nonproduction activities of the society the annual rate of free time per one employee exceeds 3 in most of the studied countries, and in case of Italy and Korea it approximates to this magnitude.

Thus, the achieved level of social labour productivity allows each able-bodied member of the society, provided distribution of production activities among all able-bodied people, spending the main part of their time on those kinds of activities which are either directly connected to development of human abilities or, in general, more favorable for a person, as compared to labour in production.

Table 31

The Annual Free Time Rate of Employees Combining Labour in Production and Rendering Services

As a rule, the free time rates of employees are higher in the countries with the higher free time rate of the society, accordingly, with higher labour productivity. Surely, at equality of members of the society in fulfilled kinds of labour a closer dependence of improvement of the social economic state of everyone from increasing in social labour productivity is viewed than in the situation of significant social economic inequality.

In all the countries, except for Canada, the average annual number of hours of production activities per one employee reduced during the examined 15 years. Undoubtedly, during a longer period this tendency would show in Canada too.

The viewed objectively possible situation is characterized by equality of able-bodied members of the society according to the criterion of combining production and nonproduction social activities. What is the source of economic development in this situation? – The contradiction between new needs for ensuring free development and existing prerequisites of their realization. As a result of increasing in the typical free time rate, equality of members of the society is supposed as guaranteeing more favorable opportunities for everyone’s development. In this sense the social economic state of employees in the beginning of a certain period and in its end is not identical. This moment of inequality forms the contradiction of economic development in this situation.

It is reasonable to compare the values of the annual free time rates of industrial employees, employees rendering services, and employees combining these kinds of labour (table 32).

Table 32

The Annual Free Time Rates of Industrial Employees, Nonproduction Sphere Employees, and Employees Combining these Kinds of Labour

As the data above show, the rank of the free time rates of industrial employees may not correspond to the rank of the similar rates at combination of economically heterogeneous kinds of labour. In 1993 in Italy this index for industrial employees was identical to Canada’s index, and in 2007 it exceeded it. Meanwhile, the rate possible at combination of labour in production and rendering services was significantly higher in Canada. The FRG and Sweden exceeded the USA in the value of this rate for industrial employees, yielding to the level possible at the noted combination. This difference shows that in the countries with a higher rank of the free time rate of industrial employees conditions for development of such employees are formed more consistently.

It is indicative that in 2007 in most cases (except for the USA) the lag between the value of the free time rate of industrial employees and the rate possible at combination of different kinds of labour increased. In other words, at the existing inter-country differentiation in formation of conditions for development of employees of the production sphere the general tendency to decreasing in the measure of utilization for them of the potential made by increasing in social labour productivity showed. What was said before does not mean absence of progress in the social economic state of employees: duration of their working time decreased in most of the countries, and the free time rate increased. The problem is that progress of prerequisites of development went slower than it was objectively possible.

The free time rate of nonproduction sphere employees was taken as constant what is, to a certain extent, consistent with the fact of slower reduction of domestic labour time, as compared to labour in social production. Anyway, there is an almost fivefold excess of the value of the studied rate for employees rendering services over the rate typical for industrial employees. Social economic inequality among big groups of employees, depending on predominance of production labour or rendering services in their activities, bringing about significant inequality in conditions for their development, is kept. At inadequate realization of the potential of increasing in the free time rate of industrial employees this inequality will reproduce itself in the future.

Though at combination of different kinds of labour the rate remains lower than the rate of nonproduction sphere employees, but it tends to faster approximation to it, and the main point is that it ensures each able-bodied person with multiple predominance of time of nonproduction social activities over working time in production.

Thus, modern economic development is characterized by, on one hand, formation of possibilities for free all-round development of each member of the society and, on the other hand, by inadequate realization of these possibilities.

The analysis is abstracted from the fact that average annual working time can be realized at different work-rest schedules during a working day, week, and month. Meanwhile, the specificity of these schedules influences possibilities of development of members of the society. That is why it is reasonable to view problems of the dynamics of working time, taking into account this specificity.

2.2. Working Day Duration and its Dynamics

Employees’ labour activities are a system of periods starting with a working day and finishing with seniority.

Working time duration is fixed in respect of each of these periods. Within more enduring elements of this system working time is a summed value of working time of less enduring elements: weekly working time is a sum of working hours during working days; monthly working time sums duration of working weeks up and so on.

That is why it is necessary to examine the value and dynamics of working day duration.

The Value and Dynamics of Average Work Shift Duration

Working day duration, as any period of labour activities, is determined by values of working time funds in social production and the services sphere necessary for satisfaction of social needs at the existing number of able-bodied people.

Let us study working day duration in production in several developed countries, taking into consideration total working time expenditures and the number of employees occupied in this sphere. This value much more corresponds to the actual value in manufacturing industries for which rhythmicity of the working process, its shift organization are typical. In other branches of production – agriculture, building, etc., – working time duration can significantly deviate from average duration because of the season factor. As manufacturing industries prevail in the production sphere of developed countries, we shall characterize a working day in it as a shift.

To fix average shift duration we shall use the above data on the average annual number of working hours per one employee. Let us take that the number of weekends and holidays is the same in the examined countries, and it is 110 days a year, and time of leaves is 30 days. Then there are 225 working days a year.

Table 33

Average Shift Duration in 1993 and 2007

So, at the supposition of the equal number of shifts per year average shift duration was between 7 and 11 hours in 1993. At that, the shortest shifts were in the European countries, and the longest ones were in Korea. Actually, taking into account less days of weekends and leaves in Korea, shifts in production were less enduring there. In 2007 the situation did not radically change, though 7 hours ceased to be the lowest limit of the working day value.

We have to state that, as in the situation of the dynamics of the average number of working hours per year, in conditions of reduction of the number of people occupied in production in most of the examined countries a decrease in the general working time fund did not lead to a corresponding decrease in shift duration. An 8-hour working day that was a strategic goal of workers’ movement in the end of the 19th century, legitimated in the first decades of the 20th century anyway, remains real for millions of industrial employees in the 21st century.

A question arises, what could duration of a typical shift be in the condition of universal participation of able-bodied people in production?

Table 34

Average Shift Duration of Employees Combining Labour in Production and Rendering Services

Thus, at universal participation of able-bodied people in fulfilling production work already by 1990s average shift duration would be less than 3 hours in most of the studied countries.

There is no doubt that at the present dynamics of such shift duration prospects of achievement of a 3-hour working day is not seen for a few following decades. The matter is that at reproduction of old division of labour among people any increase in social labour productivity is accompanied by a decrease in the number of people occupied in production, and that is why remaining employees have to work for a much longer working day than they could at universal participation in production.

The Value and Dynamics of Average Working Time Duration in the Nonproduction Sphere

Working time duration in the services sphere is also determined by the ratio of the general working time fund and employment in it. As it was mentioned before, though this fund tends to increasing, however, employment in this sphere grows even faster in most of the countries.

Let us calculate average working time duration of employees of the studied sphere, supposing that their number of annual working days is the same as industrial workers’ one – 225.

Working day of nonproduction sphere employees also tends to reduction (except for Sweden) what is explained by outstripping growth of employment at increasing in the general working time fund.

Table 35

Working Day of Nonproduction Sphere Employees

One should have in view that services sphere labour, even rich in its content and fulfilled in favorable conditions, has an optimal measure of its duration determined by the effectiveness level and influence on performers’ health. Ericsson found that “expert performers engaged in practice for 21-35 hours per week but no more than three to five hours per day. Under complete freedom to work, these individuals did not spend more than those weekly totals, suggesting that this amount of effort was judged to be optimal for them”. This corresponds to Mckenzie’s conclusions that “long working hours and certain types of tasks can cause fatigue and stress which potentially damage cognition”[35].

The data at table 35 show that in all the examined countries average working time duration of services sphere employees exceeds 6 hours. It gives a reason to view it as excessive duration being beyond the scope corresponding to the highest effectiveness of labour.

Let us see how many hours per day on average employees would spend on rendering services in conditions of combination of this kind of activities and labour in production (table 36).

Obviously, at universal combination of labour in production with rendering services everyday work of services sphere employees would be 2-3 hours less than at present social economic inequality. It would be within the range of magnitudes that correspond to effective labour without health damage.

Table 36

Average Time of Rendering Services per Day at Combination with Production Work

Thus, the need for combination of different kinds of labour in the modern economy is confirmed.

Working Day Duration of Industrial Employees, Employees Occupied in the Nonproduction Sphere, and Employees Combining Labour in Production and Rendering Services

Continuity of processes of production and functioning of the services sphere requires combination of these kinds of activities to run regularly. Let us find out working time duration at their everyday combination.

Table 37

Working Day Duration at Daily Combination of Labour in Production and Rendering Services by Employees

At the made prerequisites working day duration, including time of labour in production and rendering services, would already be less than 6 hours in the USA and France, it would not exceed 7 hours in Canada, the FRG, Italy, and Sweden, and it would be longer than 8 hours only in Korea in 1993. The main part of working time would fall on labour in the nonproduction sphere.

By 2007 the situation would change differently: in France, the FRG, and Korea general working time duration would reduce, in the rest of the countries it would increase. At that, the part of time spent on labour in the services sphere would increase at employees of all the countries. It would mean that each able-bodied person would spend more and more time on activities richer in content and fulfilled in more favorable conditions than labour in production every day.

In the context of our research “rendering services” means fulfilling all kinds of labour that is not immediately production. For example, it concerns functions of state governing too, so that participation in governing would become actually universal.

The above-mentioned data correspond to the prerequisite of daily distribution of labour in production and the services sphere in constant proportions, got when calculating average values. It is quite possible that organization of production would require distribution of working time in a bit different proportions, so that shift duration would be 1.5-2 hours (but not 1.73, 1.93 hours, etc.). It is possible to correct duration of rendering services in the same way. Such variations in duration of the components of a working day would not abolish social economic equality of members of the society in respect of fulfilment of economically heterogeneous kinds of labour.

Let us compare working day duration at conservation of old division of labour to working day duration in conditions of overcoming division of labour.

Table 38

Working Day Duration of Employees of the Production, Nonproduction Spheres and Combining Production Activities and Rendering Services (Calculated According to the Data on Labour Expenditures and Employment in 1993 and 2007)

Industrial employees’ working day is the most enduring. Korea is exclusion, but working time per day in the nonproduction sphere reduced faster than in production there. Average daily labour time of services sphere employees is, in general, less enduring than industrial employees’ one but it exceeds the working day value at combination of labour in production with rendering services. Consequently, at old division of labour a working day both in production and the nonproduction sphere is more enduring than it is objectively possible at combination of economically heterogeneous kinds of labour by all able-bodied people. Accordingly, exactly in the conditions of social economic equality able-bodied members of the society would dispose of the highest value of nonworking time in the period of working days, and that is why they would have additional opportunities for their development at leisure.

For a more accurate assessment of the volume of daily nonworking time and, in general, time for free development it is necessary to take into account the daily rate of free time. It is about its value related to those days of a week when labour on satisfaction of social needs is fulfilled (accordingly, weekends, holidays, and leaves are excluded).

The Daily Free Time Rate of Industrial Employees

For calculation of the daily free time rate it is necessary, first of all, to calculate time spent on social activities.

Table 39

The Daily Free Time Rate of Industrial Employees

According to the time budget of the USA let us take time of satisfaction of physical needs as 10.56 hours, then 13.44 hours remain for social activities. From the mentioned-before data the rate for industrial employees can be calculated.

When examining the obtained data, it should be taken into consideration that time spent on domestic labour at working days is less enduring than at weekends. In the made calculations the average value levelling this difference is taken. Consequently, the data on domestic labour expenditures are a bit overrated. Obviously, the prerequisite of the identical number of weekends and leaves in Korea to similar indices of the rest of the countries is not quite correct too: the less number of such days in Korea reduces working time duration per day and increases nonworking time a bit. In spite of the mentioned restrictions the data allow assessing the level of the daily free time rate.

Obviously, the daily free time rate of industrial employees is 2-3 times less than one. It is seriously behind the annual rate because the latter includes time of nonproduction social activities at weekends, holidays, and leaves. Thereby, during working days the fact of social economic fixation of these members of the society in fulfilment of production labour shows more brilliantly. Certainly, their state differs from the state of slaves whose time of production labour absorbed not only the biggest part of a day but a part of time necessary for satisfaction of physical needs. At the same time, this difference is not so essential for cancelling old division of labour, originated in the epoch of slave-owning.

At the present tempos of working day reduction in social production and daily labour in housekeeping 60-70 years are needed for the daily free time rate of industrial employees to approximate to 1, but it will be not enough for ensuring needs for their free, all-round development. The matter is that it is the nominal rate including time spent on movement, standing in queues, etc., the time that is, by the essence, a deduction from free time.

For a more complete picture of the character of modern economic development it is necessary to take into consideration the level of the daily free time rate of employees occupied in the nonproduction sphere.

The Daily Free Time Rate of Nonproduction Sphere Employees

The daily free time rate of services sphere employees is determined as a ratio of their nonproduction social activities, including paid rendering services, and time of labour in housekeeping. As it was mentioned before, time of such labour is constant for the examined period.

Nonproduction sphere employees’ free time rate is many times higher than at industrial employees (table 40). It cannot be otherwise in conditions when the first ones do not participate in paid production labour.

Table 40

The Daily Free Time Rate of Nonproduction Sphere Employees

Undoubtedly, this category of employees disposes of much more favorable daily conditions for their development than employees occupied in social production. But one should not forget that services sphere employees are in such favorable conditions because production labour is fulfilled by another social group, the daily free time rate of which remains lower than 0.5 in most cases.

To understand the potential of modern economic development it is reasonable to fix the daily free time rate for employees who would combine labour in production with rendering services (table 41).

Table 41

The Daily Free Time Rate of Employees Combining Labour in Production with Rendering Services

Combination of economically heterogeneous kinds of labour by all able-bodied people ensures everyone with the daily free time rate exceeding 2 (except for Korea). Moreover, there is a tendency to increasing in this value, conditioned on equal distribution of labour saving among employees from increasing in its productivity. Consequently, the potential of the modern economy is quite sufficient, so that all members of the society could daily spend the prevailing part of their time on fulfilling nonproduction social activities which are, in general, richer in their content and fulfilled in more favorable conditions.

For a more obvious assessment of the way this potential is realized let us compare the daily free time rates of industrial employees, nonproduction sphere employees, and those who combine these kinds of activities (table 42).

As it follows from the shown data, the daily free time rate of employees combining labour in production and rendering services, even excluding the data on Korea, is many times – 6-10 times – higher than the similar index of industrial employees. Moreover, the gap among these indices tends to increasing owing to higher tempos of production labour reduction at employees combining these activities.

Table 42

The Daily Free Time Rate of Industrial Employees, Employees Combining Labour in Production with Rendering Services, and Nonproduction Sphere Employees

The free time rate of employees occupied in the nonproduction sphere substantially – 2-3 times – exceeds the index of employees in the conditions of overcoming social division of labour. However, it does not abolish significant predominance of nonproduction social activities at the latter. The highest value of the free time rate achieved owing to isolation from fulfilment of nonproduction work has its negative side. It supposes conservation of industrial employees’ low rate and fulfilling labour in the services sphere during time beyond satisfaction of the need for such labour and achievement of its high effectiveness.

Thus, in the modern economy the regularity of working time reduction and nonworking time increasing is seen what assists in employees’ development.

At the same time, the potential of modern economic development is not adequately realized what is the most strongly seen in conservation of an excessive working day and low tempos of its reduction. The present ratios between different kinds of social activities of members of the society – production labour, labour in the services sphere, and leisure – are contrary to free, all-round development of all members of the society – in defiance of objective prerequisites for this development. The gap between maturity of these prerequisites and the measure of their realization increases. Modern economic development requires overcoming it more and more strongly.

Working day duration influencing people’s health in many respects determines the value of the period of ability to work during a lifetime. It is necessary to examine this component of the system of periods of labour activities of employees.

2.3. Seniority Duration and its Dynamics

Nominal and Actual Seniority

When speaking about duration of seniority, the number of working years is meant most often. Meanwhile, as it follows from the previous analysis, the number of working hours per one employee significantly differs in different countries during the same year. Generally, in the modern economy the average annual volume of work regularly decreases at increasing in labour productivity what makes the prerequisite of equivalent labour expenditures during each year of employees’ working activities unreasonable, though this prerequisite, most often implicitly, is in most researches of employees’ “living profile”.

It is reasonable to tell nominal seniority – the number of years in economically active population – and actual seniority – measured by hours of labour during the whole period of economic activities of a member of the society. The data at table 43 show the significance of this differentiation.

When calculating the obtained data, the OECD’s statistics on the average annual number of actual working hours per one employee on average were used. In these statistics duration of working time of industrial and services sphere employees is not distinguished. In other words, within this analysis it is taken that the values of working time of different categories of employees are the same.

To find actual seniority we summarized the average annual number of working hours per one employee during the period of nominal seniority.

Table 43

Nominal and Actual Seniority of Employees Retired in 2012 in Economically Developed Countries

Source: calculated according to the data of the OECD

Obviously, these data do not fully correspond to the obtained data from the comparison of the general working time fund and employment, their correlation with the data analyzed in the previous paragraph is embarrassed by it.

As it is seen from the above data, the relative value of nominal seniority does not always correspond to the relative value of actual seniority. For example, in Italy the average number of years of working activities is less than in the other countries, except for France. At the same time, actual working time exceeds the similar index of most of the examined countries.

In Sweden nominal seniority is approximately similar to seniority of employees of the USA, but actual seniority is more than 10% less than it is in the USA.

In the Netherlands the shortest average (for men and women) actual seniority goes with relatively enduring nominal seniority.

Only in France, Japan, and Korea the value of actual seniority corresponds to the similar extreme value of nominal seniority.

Consequently, actual working time cannot be judged only by the number of years of formal ability to work. Meanwhile, actual working time is of decisive importance from the point of view of employees’ development. That is why in the following analysis the dynamics of actual seniority will be taken into consideration, first of all.

The Dynamics of the Average Number of Working Hours within Seniority

To determine the dynamics of actual seniority it is necessary to fix long-term tendencies in changing in the general volume of working time. These tendencies can be graphically shown by means of summarizing average annual values of working time within consecutive decades.

Table 44

The Volume of Working Time per One Employee in Economically Developed Countries (Hours)

Source: calculated according to the data of the OECD

The above data show that in the economically developed countries decreasing in total annual working time duration per one employee from decade to decade is a dominating tendency. 1990s in the USA and 1980s-1990s in Sweden are exceptions.

The dynamics reflect not only reduction of working time of full-time employees but spreading of the practice of part-time work. However, as our calculations, according to the data on the FRG, show, within the analyzed decades full-time employees’ workload reduced at approximately similar rates as all employees’ workload on average. But its general value (71793 hours) was almost 5% more than the value shown at the table.

Examination of the dynamics of a working day, working year abstracts, as a rule, from the circumstance that it is about working activities of employees of different ages. When the dynamics of seniority is researched, then taking into account age differentiation is necessary because it is in the basis of comparison of working time values.

The studied period – 42 years – approximately coincides with nominal seniority of members of the society who became economically active in 1970. Every year within this period new younger employees joined economically active population, and older persons, who started working earlier 1970, left it.

Obviously, the long-term tendency to working time reduction also acted before 1970, though it was broken in different periods (for example, during the Second World War). As economic activities of employees of different age cover decades that differ in working hours volumes significantly, so actual seniority of employees of the countries tends to decrease. This is the final expression of the regularity of working time reduction that summarizes its realization within the whole system of periods of employees’ working activities.

For a more exact quantitative illustration of this regularity let us take into consideration the dynamics of nominal seniority in the examined countries. As for the average effective age of retirement, it decreased from 68.4 to 63.2 for men and from 66.4 to 61.1 for women in the countries of the OECD since 1970 till 1998. Since 1999 it increased a bit up to 63.9 for men and 62.6 for women in 2011[36]. During the last decades extension of the scope of young people with higher education neutralized the tendency to increasing in nominal seniority to a certain extent. Consequently, during last more than forty years nominal seniority has, in general, decreased what also assisted in decreasing in actual seniority.

As a result, according to our calculations, for example, in the FRG those employees who retired in 2012 had been working for 70000-75000 hours for their working life – as compared to 120000 hours worked by pensioners of 1970. Actual seniority of employees born in 1951 was 3% less than actual seniority of employees born in 1941. The tendency to reduction of total time worked on average by employees of different generations for their working life was typical for other economically developed countries during the 20th century and in the beginning of the 21st century.

Decreasing in actual seniority was extended to industrial employees too. That is why the tendency to approximation of the social economic state of main groups of employees is typical for all periods of their labour activities.

The noted changes did not abolish social division of labour between industrial employees and employees occupied in rendering services. At combination of these kinds of activities by all able-bodied people average duration of actual seniority would be slightly less (for example, because of absence of unemployment). Anyway, production labour would not be more than 35% of the present value of this duration because the shift in labour expenditures in favor of the services sphere began earlier 1970s. Certainly, on the criteria of the existing potential of economic development actual seniority of industrial employees is extensively enduring. The optimality of seniority of employees occupied in the nonproduction sphere also remains questionable.

Reduction of working time is a form of increasing in welfare of working members of the society only when it is combined with ensuring social needs with goods and means of production. Otherwise, – with growth of material neediness – nonworking time loses its modification of free time, and that is why it stops being an element of welfare.

Examination of actual seniority duration maximally grades impact of crisis periods on the volume of worked time. An economic crisis did not last for decades in any developed country. Still, we need a direct confirmation to the fact that working time reduction was an element of increasing in social welfare.

It is reasonable to compare the dynamics of decreasing in worked time to increasing in labour productivity per one worked hour (table 45).

As it follows from the data of table 45, within all the studied periods in all the countries reduction of the number of worked hours was accompanied by outstripping growth of labour productivity per one worked hour.

Table 45

The Dynamics of Annual Real GDP per One Worked Hour and the Average Number of Annual Working Hours per One Employee in Economically Developed Countries (%)

Source: calculated according to the data of the OECD

Only in some crisis years – in 2009 in the FRG, in 2008 and 2009 in Great Britain, in 2009 in the Netherlands and in 1974 and 1982 in the USA – reduction of worked time went against decreasing in returns from each hour of labour. But such “market collapses” did not abolish the general tendency to outstripping growth of labour productivity. This is another confirmation of the following idea: “The fundamental property of any labour is to produce a result surpassing costs”[37].

Consequently, reduction of actual seniority is quite compatible with growth of social welfare, in general, and that is why it is compatible with increasing in material well-being of employees.

As within less enduring periods of labour activities, to assess conditions of employees’ development during their seniority it is necessary to take into consideration labour time in housekeeping. Accordingly, calculation of the free time rate during seniority is reasonable.

The Free Time Rate within Seniority

When calculating the free time rate within the examined period, we shall use the above values of actual seniority (supposing its equality for employees occupied in different spheres of the economy). The part of general time of paid labour in the sphere of social production will be taken as 35%, and in the services sphere it will be taken as 65% at possible combination of different kinds of activities by employees.

When determining the volume of labour in housekeeping, we shall proceed from its fixed average daily value equal to 2 hours. This prerequisite reflects the fact that in developed countries providing domestic labour with home appliances had been finished until the beginning of 1970s.

There are differences in volumes of both paid and domestic labour fulfilled, on one hand, by women and, on the other hand, by men. And in this case we shall use average indices slightly overrating labour duration of women in social economy and of men in household.

Let us fix the value of the studied index for industrial employees.

Table 46

The Free Time Rate of Industrial Employees for the Period of Seniority Finished in 2012

As it follows from the above data, in a half of the examined countries the analyzed index exceeded 1, and in the other half of the countries it remained lower than 1, in Korea and Japan it was significantly lower than 1.

Those European countries, for which policy of active redistribution of incomes for smoothing economic inequality out is typical, are in the vanguard. In that way, orientation towards overcoming extreme inequality does not limit itself with the sphere of incomes only, but it extends to improvement of the ratio between working and nonworking time of industrial employees.

Great Britain and the USA, where the level of social economic inequality is seriously higher than in the noted European countries by other parameters, lag behind.

Korea and Japan, one earlier and the other one later, were overtaking the leaders in the volumes of industrial production. Obviously, overcoming the gap in output was attained owing to more enduring working time. At the same time, during last decades employees of these countries, especially in Korea, more and more actively advocate working time reduction, seeking its approach to the level typical for leading countries.

Let us note that the rank of the countries, depending on the level of the free time rate during seniority, generally corresponds to the rank in respect of the annual free time rate in 2007, and the absolute value of the latter is a bit higher than the value of the rate for the whole labour life. It shows that, on one hand, this situation is a result of the long-term tendencies, on the other hand, it is an appearance of the regularity of working time reduction.

The values of the free time rate during the period of seniority of services sphere employees are shown at table 47.

Table 47

The Free Time Rate during the Period of Seniority of Nonproduction Sphere Employees, Finished in 2012

At the prerequisite of daily and annual equality of domestic labour expenditures equality of the free time rates within the whole seniority of employees of the spheres of the examined countries is natural. The level of the index showing many times superiority of nonproduction activities over labour in domestic production of this group of employees is significant here.

It is reasonable to compare the indices in the situation of conservation of old division of labour to the objectively possible free time rate in the situation of its overcoming.

In our research calculation of this index resembles the above calculation of the annual rate in the respect that the determinant part of the ratio of the working time fund in the production sphere and the similar fund in the services sphere will be taken into account (this ratio is taken as 35:65).

At the same time, because of absence of data on the general working time fund in production in statistics during 1970s-1980s, it is impossible to determine potential duration of working time per one able-bodied person, correlating the value of this part with the number of able-bodied people. We have to start from actual working time duration formation of which was influenced by reduction of employment. In this case the value of the sought index is quite approximate (table 48).

No doubt, with using saving of labour in the production sphere for reduction of working time of people occupied in it, all employees would mostly engage in nonproduction social activities during the period of their ability to work. Conditions for their development would be more favorable, as compared to industrial employees retired in 2012. The negative influence of excessively enduring labour in the services sphere, typical for its present employees, would not affect the state of the first ones.

All of it shows that the potential of modern economic development has not been adequately realized over the past decades. Old division of labour continues to be reproduced and slows progress of modern production forces down.

Table 48

The Free Time Rate Possible at Combination of Labour in Social Production and Rendering Services during the Period of Employees’ Seniority

Examination of the dynamics of duration of working activities periods separately must be supplemented with examination in their unity: only then the full picture of the present situation and tendencies of its changing will be got.

The Comparative Dynamics of Duration of Periods of Employees’ Working Activities

We started with studying the average annual number of working hours per one employee because this index is quite widely represented in the international statistics. Starting with this statistics we could approximately calculate duration of a working day and its dynamics.

Meanwhile, a working day is a starting and main element of the system of periods of labour activities. In the end, all following elements come to the sum of hours worked during a working day.

Obviously, the same total magnitude can reflect different combinations of elements depending on their duration. A 40-hour working week can consist of five 8-hour shifts or four 10-hour shifts. And, for example, duration of annual working time can be similar both at even monthly distribution of work and at its seasonal variations.

At the same value of the total magnitude of a composite working time period conditions for development of employees can differ depending on duration of elements of this sum. The key significance of working time duration lies in not just the fact that, in the end, it determines the value of working time of the rest of the periods of labour activities. The daily value of nonworking time, including free time, depends on working day duration.

Though, historically, working time reduction originally took place in the form of working day reduction mostly, but this is not the only one possible variant of utilization of saving of production labour. For example, within a year working time can reduce thanks to increasing in duration of weekends, holidays, and leaves at more or less constant duration of a working week.

The ratio of ways of working time reduction in modern industrially developed countries can be judged by the data of table 49. In this case, too, it is supposed that working time duration of industrial employees is similar to the average one in the economy.

Table 49

The Number of Annual Working Hours per One Person Occupied in the Economy, Working Week Duration in Manufacturing Industries, Duration of Leaves and Weekends in Several Industrially Developed Countries, Relative to Corresponding Indices of the FRG in 2007 (%)

Calculated according to the data of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, the International Labour Organization and also: Alesina A., Glaeser E. and Sacerdote B. Work and Leisure in the U.S. and Europe: Why so Different?// Discussion Paper Number 2068// April 2005, Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts. P. 46. ٭The 2004 data.

As it follows from the above data, in 2007 in the FRG the number of annual working hours per one employee was minimal among the noted countries (1422 hours). Meanwhile, average working week duration in manufacturing industries of the FRG exceeded the corresponding indices of France and Sweden.

Pay attention to the fact that the relative excess of the annual number of hours per one employee of the countries, as compared to the index of the FRG, significantly exceeds the relative excess of working week duration in all the cases. It is explained by the more significant number of days of leaves and weekends in the FRG.

This situation formed for decades. Since 1983 till 2007 in the FRG annual working time per one employee reduced from 1809 hours to 1422 hours[38], i.e., by 22.4%, and a working week in manufacturing industries reduced from 40.5 hours to 38.5 hours[39], by 4.9% accordingly.

Consequently, in the FRG working time reduction was mostly used for increasing in duration of leaves and weekends for a quarter of a century.

Time released from production was distributed in the same way in France where annual working time reduced from 1785 hours to 1485 hours, by 17.8%, and a working week reduced from 38.9 hours to 37.6 hours, by 3.3% during 1983-2007.

And only in Korea, where annual working time reduced by 8.2% (from 2512 hours to 2306 hours), and a working week reduced by 7.7% (from 49.3 hours to 45.5 hours) since 2000 till 2007, saving of production labour was almost fully used for reduction of a working week. But this country is far from the countries leading in provision of free time to employees.

In several economically developed countries the tendency of convergence of tempos of reduction of annual working time and a working week has been outlined recently. For example, during 2000-2013 in France annual working time reduced by 4% (from 1534.8 hours to 1474.3 hours) and a working week reduced by 4.5% (from 38.8 hours to 36.1 hours), in the USA the reduction was by 2.6% and 2.8%, in Great Britain it was by 1.82% and 1.4%, in Germany it was by 6.2% and 7.3% accordingly.

However, in our opinion, this tendency is in many respects explained not by reduction of an employee’s workload in the condition of full employment but by increasing in the number of part-time employees, especially in the conditions of crisis years. The data at table 50 show the dynamics of part-time employment.

Table 50

The Number of Part-time Employees in the Economy in Several Industrially Developed Countries (Thousands of People)

The data of the International Labour Organization were used: http://ilo.org/ilostat

As in most industrially developed countries there is a five-day working week (with two weekends), so working day reduction can be indicative of working day reduction, to a certain extent. Full identification of these processes would be incorrect: for example, enactment of a 35-hour working week did not mean automatic reduction of hours of each working day in France. Only working time on Fridays, before weekends, often reduced under terms of a collective agreement.

Moreover, within formally working time advanced training of employees can take place, they can participate in management what is actually a form of realization of additional free time as the time released from production labour and the time for development of employees’ abilities. Such social activities are not typical for a usual working day yet.

Having supposed that working day duration is defined as the result of division of the working week value by the quantity of working days, we should state that in manufacturing industries of countries leading in innovative development a working day is not less than 7 hours, as a rule. In developed capitalist countries after 70-90 years since enactment of an 8-hour working day working day duration reduced by 10-15% at best. And, for example, in the USA an average working day in manufacturing industries has been fluctuating within 8.1-8.3 hours during last 20 years.

In its time saving of labour in the sphere of material production was used to decrease the period of employees’ labour activities in relation to average actual lifespan. It was the economic meaning of universal provision of pensions. W. Leontief noted rightly: “While the increase in productivity need not lead to involuntary idleness, it certainly does result in a steady reduction in the number of years and hours that an average American spends at making his living”[40].

Using the data of the above calculations of actual seniority duration in the FRG, we can approximately assess changing in duration of this most complex element of the system of labour activity periods. The generation, which went out the staff of economically active population in 1970, had about 120000 hours of their labour life, and the generation retired in 2012 had 70000 hours. Consequently, actual seniority reduced by more than 40%.

Thus, for industrially developed countries the following system of utilization of labour saving in the production sphere, achieved on the basis of increasing in its productivity, is typical today.

Reduction of the number of production employees is the primary form.

Nonworking time of the rest of workers increases much slower than reduction of employment in social production.

Employees’ additional nonworking time is used, first of all, to increase duration of leaves and the number of weekends and holidays what immediately assists in reduction of average annual working hours per one employee.

The cumulative effect of this reduction leads to a significant decrease in duration of actual seniority.

The average value of a working week decreases significantly slower than the value of the noted complex elements of the system of labour activity periods.

The lowest tempo of reduction is typical for a common working day standard duration of which no longer corresponds to ensuring free development of employees. An 8-hour working day can be considered normal only de jure.

Such utilization of working time saving does not exclude a possibility for development of employees within free time, and, certainly, this development takes place.

At the same time, the present way of realization of labour saving in production, not corresponding to the key role of a working day in the system of labour activity periods, impedes daily increasing in the qualification and education level of employees, their participation in management, physical training, etc. Assisting in conservation of old division of labour, it slows economic development down.

This circumstance must be taken into consideration when determining prospects of employees’ working time reduction and free time increasing.

3. The Effect and Prospects of Working Day Reduction for Economic Development

When speaking about prospects of working time reduction and increasing in free time of employees, one should take into account, first of all, those opportunities for realization of this regularity which are conditioned by the achieved level of social labour productivity and which are formed as a result of its further progress. As it was shown before, the existing potential of economic development is realized inadequately: present working time duration of people occupied in social production is many times higher than possible duration in conditions of full overcoming old labour division. Accordingly, the prospects are in overcoming the gap between potential working time duration and existing working time duration at conservation of this division of labour.

As it is about solution of a large-scale social economic problem, then it cannot objectively be a one-stage action. Achievement of corresponding stages ensuring this solution is needed. That is why disclosure of the prospects includes substantiation of these stages or even an initial stage advancing realization of next stages.

As all contradictions, contradictions of economic development include activities of not only positive tendencies expressing movement to social economic equality but negative ones leading to its intensification. That is why the analysis of the prospects supposes identification of social powers interested in their realization and ensuring it with their actions.

With that said, let us study prospects of reduction of duration of labour activity periods, starting with a working day as the basic element of their system.

Prospects of Reduction of Normal Duration of a Shift

As it was noted before, average shift duration of industrial employees, calculated by means of comparing the general working time fund in production to the number of employees in it, was within the range of 6.76-10.03 hours in pre-crisis 2007. At universal occupation of able-bodied people in production this range would be 1.45-2.80 hours. No matter how social labour productivity in the production sphere would increase, until labour saving is mostly realized in the form of reduction of employment, this gap would reproduce itself. Its overcoming determines the prospects of working day reduction.

In connection with the question about terms of realization of these prospects it is appropriate to advert to the famous forecast of J.M. Keynes about duration of shifts in 2030. Suppositions about multiple reductions of labour expenditures in basic branches of production and distribution of labour among as wide as possible range of people were basic suppositions of the forecast. Along with basic suppositions additional ones were introduced: about stability of population, absence of wars, etc. Starting from such suppositions, Keynes forecasted enactment of 3-hour shifts by 2030[41].

The great economist’s prevision about multiple decreasing in general labour expenditures in the production sphere was realized. It took place in spite of five-time growth of population, as compared to the end of 1920s, and the destructive Second World War. Progress of production forces ensured huge saving of labour in production at increasing in output.

Realization of the forecast depended on realization of another basic prerequisite – about as maximum as possible broadening of the range of people participating in production (participation of all able-bodied people is the limit of such broadening). As it was fixed in our research, at realization of this prerequisite shifts lasting less than 3 hours would be introduced at least 40 years before 2030 – by the beginning of 1990s. That frontier, which has seemed to be an unrealizable forecast for most researchers, can be objectively achieved.

Meanwhile, the tendency to broadening of participation in production was paralyzed because of relative and absolute reduction of the number of employees in this sphere. At best, for employees remaining in it, tempos of this reduction are behind tempos of decreasing in the general working time fund what gives employees some growth of nonworking time. Continuing this practice, 3-hour shifts, as a typical form of organization of production labour, will not be introduced by 2030 but even by 2130.

To begin overcoming the gap between existing excessive shift duration and objectively possible shift duration it is necessary, first of all, to neutralize the tendency to decreasing in the number of industrial employees. Its action is conditioned on entrepreneurs’ aspiration for decreasing in constant labour costs what is dictated by the motive to get the required volume of labour from as less as possible number of employees at the same value of the wage fund. That is why at labour saving caused by increasing in its productivity not employees’ working time but their number is reduced. The motive is universal, i.e., it is peculiar to all entrepreneurs.

With that said, neutralization of the tendency to reducing the number of employees in production must be universal too. It means utilization of the state power credentials of which cover everyone.

We are not saying that the state prohibits termination of employment contracts by employers – this prohibition would disorganize the present economy. Measures stimulating all entrepreneurs to keep and increase employment are needed. That is why legislative reduction of normal working day duration without decreasing in wages is actual and necessary.

This reduction, first of all, induces entrepreneurs to use labour saving caused by increasing in its productivity for compensation of decreasing in employees’ working time fund and not for decreasing in employment. The situation preventing from turning a part of employees into redundant employees at conservation of workload at employees remaining at enterprises is formed.

In these conditions the problem of conformity of labour saving to the value of decreasing in the general working time fund in production, owing to legislative reduction of normal working day duration, arises. The data at table 51 show the scale of this problem.

Table 51

The Potential Value of Decreasing in the General Working Time Fund in Production at Reduction of a Shift until 6 hours (as of 2007)

It is obvious that within one year introduction of everyday 6-hour shifts could not be ensured only by increasing in labour productivity in no one of the examined countries. The value of decreasing in the general working time fund would many times surpass the volume of annual labour saving, and that was why full annual compensation of this saving would be unattainable.

These are consequences of keeping old division of labour: during the second half of the 20th century in most of the developed countries pushing employees out of the production sphere prevailed over reduction of their working time, so that in present conditions any appreciable progress in the state of industrial employees making a slight minority among employees is hard to be realized. And it goes against the achieved potential of economic development allowing reducing shifts by 3-4 times without decreasing in wages.

This fact does not mean that it is not possible to reduce shifts. It is about modification of scales of their utilization. For example, it would take more than a century to make daily 6-hour shifts a norm at those tempos of labour saving and the number of people occupied in production of Italy. At the same time, by 2008 it was possible to use 6-hour shifts for 2 days, annually increasing the number of such days. Since 2008 in the FRG 6-hour shifts could make a quarter of the annual working time fund of industrial employees, and their everyday usage would take place during 4 years.

Transition to a 6-hour working day by means of combining shifts of different duration within a working year is a specific form of introduction of increasingly spreading flexible work hours. This specificity is in decreasing in the average annual number of working hours per one industrial employee at keeping the same level of wages.

It was supposed before that legislative reduction of a working day influences only the way of realization of obtained labour saving (stimulating decreasing in duration of employees’ shifts and preventing from pushing employees out of production). However, it should be taken into account that the examined measure induces entrepreneurs to further increasing in labour productivity.

Actually, without this increase reduction of the general working time fund at an enterprise will increase total labour costs what will negatively affect the volume and rate of return. Even progress of labour productivity, going at the same tempo, does not guarantee keeping the previous level of returns because stable employment prevents from making profits at the expense of decreasing in constant labour costs by means of reduction of the number of employees. Consequently, to keep profitability at the same level tempos of increasing in labour productivity have to be raised. Then growing of profits presupposes additional growing of productivity.

Reduction of shift duration is not just an incentive but a necessary prerequisite of increasing in labour productivity. Introduction of new technologies and equipment always includes a stage of their uptake by workers. This uptake made, as a rule, within formally working time means, by the essence, a stop of production work for development of required competences at employees. Actual working time reduction can be in a form of full-time advance training or professional retraining of workers, but this form is a sort of combination of work and professional development along with their daily combination.

In the modern economy connection of legislative working time reduction to progress of advance training and professional retraining of employees is valid. Specific means of this connection can be determined by collective agreements providing corresponding mutual obligations of employers and employees.

That is why one must not be restricted by extrapolation of average annual volumes of labour saving until introduction, at one scale or another, of less endurable shifts for the period after their introduction. It is necessary to have in view the factors assisting in increasing in tempos of this saving. Accordingly, transition to 6-hour shifts would go faster than it follows from the above calculations, even if it would be made only by means of utilization of labour saving owing to increasing in its productivity.

Stabilization of the number of employees in production by means of working day reduction is quite compatible with existing of old division of labour because industrial employees would still be the minority among economically active population. Prospects of economic development are in overcoming this state. Consequences of reduction of normal duration of a working day in production are outside the scope of conservation of the previous number of industrial employees.

First of all, increasing in labour productivity needs time, goes unevenly at different enterprises that is why at less enduring shifts additional labour resources may initially be required to keep and increase output.

The practice shows that already occupied employees who continue working at the same or less volume are one of the sources of this resource. Their motive is increasing in wages owing to overtime hours because at new shift duration a part of a previous working day turns into work over normal duration.

Rapid growth of labour costs, caused by such work, stimulates entrepreneurs to engage new employees from the unemployed. Connection between working day reduction and unemployment decreasing is thoroughly researched in economic literature. It is important to note that it is one of appearances of the tendency to increasing in employment in production.

Presence of unemployment allows reducing a working day even at absence of labour saving in the production sphere. In the economically developed countries at the modern level of employment the number of the unemployed is comparable to needs for additional labour resources in production at reduction of normal duration of a working day until 6 hours. Large-scale shifting from the unemployed to the employed is difficult because of the loss of qualification or insufficient training of the unemployed, their demoralization, etc. Accordingly, a real opportunity of working day reduction, owing to decreasing in unemployment, depends on the level of development of the system of advance training and professional retraining. To our mind, this is exactly why transition to a 6-hour working day is made, first of all, in Sweden where this system is highly developed.

It may seem that conservation and increasing in the number of people occupied in production on the basis of working day reduction with its whole positive impact on economic development is not objectively necessary: retirement of elderly employees from production will be made up by young employees in scales enough for progress of social production at increasing in labour productivity. The practice casts doubt on a possibility of it.

For example, in Great Britain within a research of the class structure of the society, including a poll of a few millions of people, the fact of age-related differentiation of different classes was stated. According to this poll, the average age of representatives of the “traditional working class” was the highest, 66 years old[42]. In other words, reduction of employment in the production sphere of Great Britain was not accompanied by an adequate inflow of young employees. With the presence of it the core of industrial personnel would always be 30-40 years old on average with prospects of 20-30 years of working activities what is necessary for long-term progress of production. When workers’ average age is more than 50-60 years old, these prospects are absent.

This situation is not accidental. 50-year-old duration of shifts at less favorable conditions of labour than, for example, in the “office economy”, the significant element of monotony and routine of labour operations, absence of career prospects minimize attractiveness of labour in production for young people. At conservation of this state curtailment of the production sphere of Great Britain is inevitable in the foreseeable future. Dependence of the country’s economy on the state of its financial sector becomes hypertrophied.

The similar situation somehow admissible for a country being the world-wide bank centre threatens other countries with disorganization of their economies. It is necessary to make such conditions for attracting modern young people to production which would correspond to their values.

Getting a higher education covering already 50-60% of the younger generation is one of the main values for young people of the developed countries. Not taking into consideration this fact one cannot get a mass inflow of young people to production. The system of dual education assists in solving this problem.

In the FRG 60% of graduates continue studying under the dual system supposing working at an enterprise during 3-4 days a week and studying in an educational institution for 8-12 hours. Students are paid a scholarship not only for working time but for study hours too. Though this period is considered to be just training for labour, but, actually, we see a specific form of combination of labour activities and education at working time reduction by 30%-40%, as compared to its normal duration in the German economy.

Supposing that 1.5 million young people are occupied with this labour, we can approximately fix its annual volume: it is about 1.1 billion hours a year. Undoubtedly, a part of these activities is related to working as administrative personnel and so on. Having taken its part as 50%, we can estimate additional resources of production labour as 600 million hours what makes 3.8% of the general working time fund in production of the FRG.

Reduction of normal working day duration until 6 hours would make work in production after studying in educational institutions under the dual system more attractive for young people. On the other hand, utilization of working day reduction for advance training would meet the need of the new generation of employees for studying during the whole life. Thus, the inflow of young people to production would be ensured what is necessary for long-time progress. That is why the German experience of dual education deserves attention in the context of working day reduction until 6 hours.

Of course, completion of transition to daily utilization of 6-hour shifts would put in action the tendency to decreasing in employment in production. To neutralize it new shift reduction (until 5 hours) accompanied by additional increasing in employment in production would be needed and so on.

There can be a lot of such cycles advancing duration of shifts to the objectively possible value and the number of people occupied in production to the number of able-bodied people. Each of these cycles will become a stage in modern economic development.

As duration of working time in production makes the upper limit of typical working time in the nonproduction sphere, so it is right to forecast reduction of working time of employees of this sphere. With development of dual education this reduction will let these employees participate in production (for example, substituting industrial employees having advance training). This process will also assist in overcoming old division of labour.

With presence of the motive to decrease employment entrepreneurs are also interested in development of industrial employees owing to working day reduction. It is indicative that there have always been entrepreneurs (for example, Owen in England, Ford in the USA) who have been decreasing a working day without decreasing workers’ wages on their own initiative, being a success in competition on this basis.

It is quite another matter that in common economic practice this initiative is the lot of very few private owners of means of production. To ensure realization of entrepreneurs’ interests immediately connected to development of employees power of the state is needed.

The state, as a spokesman of interests of the entrepreneurs’ class, is not free from contradictions of these interests. That is why for legislative reduction of a working day social economic activity of employees themselves united in trade unions, the most interested in realization of this measure is needed. Only with an active position of trade unions prolongation of a working day beyond new shifts, realized in a form of overtime work, can be prevented.

Working day reduction allows realizing prospects of reduction of the number of hours worked for the rest more endurable periods of working activities.

Prospects of Reduction of the Average Number of Hours Worked for a Week, Month, and Year

Introduction of a 6-hour, and then less endurable, working day means reduction of working hours within a working week, working month, and year, other things equal. This is one of the appearances of the key role of working day duration.

At the same time, decreasing in working time duration within longer periods is possible when along with set weekends and holydays new ones are introduced, the number of days of annual leaves increases.

At the number of people occupied in production both forms of decreasing in the number of working hours for a period have the same source – saving of labour. That is why there is objectively a problem of choosing between two ways of working time reduction solving of which includes their combination too.

As it follows from the previous examination, this choice was mainly made in favor of additional nonworking days when tempos of decreasing in the average number of working hours per week (and it also means per month) and per year outstripped tempos of working day reduction significantly. As a result, if daily workload of industrial employees decreased, it was not considerable during last decades. In most of the developed countries their daily rate of free time did not amount to 0.5 on weekdays. Just like labourers of the pre-industrial epoch – slaves, serfs, artisans – within twenty-four hours they have to spend the main part of time of their social activities on making products and to remain in “the kingdom of necessity” – in the sphere of utilization of the forces of nature, connected to monotony of labour of little interest, risking their health and lives, etc. Conservation of old division of labour slows process of modern production down.

Quite another positive effect can be given by decreasing in hours worked for a week, month, and year by means of reduction of working day duration until 6 hours at first. In this case the space for daily free development of industrial employees will expand – for increasing in the level of proficiency and education, for actual participation in the trade union life, state governing, for regular physical training, systematic enjoyment of achievements of culture and arts, for a full family life and friendly relations.

Reduction of a working day until 6 hours and less without decreasing in salaries assists in turning nonworking time at weekends, holydays, and leaves into free time too. Weekends and leaves of employees who have moderate and decreasing workload, who have got used to fulfil different kinds of nonproduction social activities assisting in development of human abilities, including in their production collectives, are one thing. Periods beyond working days of people overloaded by work, spending their nonworking time on movement and shopping, on domestic labour and, thus, without free time on working days, are another thing. Nonworking time of such employees is mainly spent on passive leisure and recovery from stress, this time does not become actually free.

That is why decreasing in the average number of hours worked during a week, month, year, being if not exclusively then predominantly realized by means of working day reduction until 6 hours and then until 5 hours, etc., is a vital requirement of modern economic development. Within composite periods of labour activities decreasing in working hours is not an independent task objectively but it is a derivative of reduction of working day duration.

With that said proposals of increasing in the number of weekends should be assessed. Experts of the ILO proposed to set another weekend without reduction of the total number of hours worked during a week within a working week. It means, by the essence, prolongation of a working day by 25%.

Some employees are ready to accept this work schedule, wishing to decrease expenditures of time and money on getting to work. It means that a present working day is taken as excessively enduring, as “a day out of life” and, in that sense, adding two more hours to it seems to change nothing in principle, while an additional weekend seems to be a winning.

Actually, this measure would lead to a sharp drop in the daily rate of free time of industrial employees during working days. For example, in Italy it would drop from 0.30 to 0.1, a comparable drop would take place in the other countries too. Everyday conditions for development of such employees, even without that being highly restricted, would become worse significantly. Employees’ possibilities for participation in trade union work would be reduced what would lead to worsening their state by other parameters (the level of wages, social guarantees, etc.) An additional weekend is not able to make this worsening up.

Even introduction of an additional weekend with a proportional decrease in the number of hours worked for a week objectively worsens the state of employees, as compared to a similar decrease in this number by means of shift reduction until 6 hours. With an additional nonworking day daily workload would not change and time convenient for organization of collective activities to defend employees’ interests by trade unions would decrease by one day. With shift reduction until 6 hours workload would decrease and opportunities for participation in trade union work would increase.

With enactment of a 6-hour working day significance of increasing in annual leaves changes. The tendency for growth of their duration in the developed countries is partly a compensation of excessive workload within shifts. Decreasing in such workload assists in more substantial leaves, decreases relevance of their increasing for recreation of employees’ powers and health.

Thus, shift reduction until 6 hours and working day decreasing conditioned by it for employees of the nonproduction sphere are the most effective way of decreasing in the number of hours worked for more enduring periods of working activities.

In that context it is also expedient to examine prospects of reduction of the average number of hours worked for the period of seniority.

Prospects of Reduction of the Average Number of Hours Worked for the Period of Seniority

As it was noted before, the regularity of reduction of the average number of hours worked in the sphere of production for the period of labour activities also shows at the level of seniority in the economically developed countries at present time. At this level it gets a more specific expression transcendentally reflecting the dynamics of working hours within all other less enduring periods.

Socially normal limits of joining economically active population and leaving it are, by the essence, determined by the age of ability to work. This ability arises and passes away during a human’s life and, in this sense, it is connected to life span. As average life span increases with progress of the society, so the tendency for increasing in the period characterized by ability to work appears. This tendency shows as increasing in the period of ability to work of next generations of employees, as compared to the similar index of previous generations.

In these conditions the regularity of decreasing in the number of hours worked for a year on the basis of working day reduction, covering the working life of employees of different ages, including those who are simultaneously in the staff of labour resources, does not predetermine the corresponding dynamics of actual seniority of younger generations yet. For its decreasing it is essential that total reduction of working hours in consequence of their average annual decreasing prevails over their growth in consequence of increasing in nominal seniority, i.e., the number of years of economic activities.

From this point of view, it is expedient to analyze prospects of changing in actual seniority owing to realization of laws oriented to increasing in the age of retirement, enacted in several economically developed countries.

Such measures are connected to demographic reasons, first of all. For example, in 2012 in the FRG the population aged over 65 years old was 34.8% of the number of able-bodied people, in Great Britain it was 28.9%, in the Netherlands it was 27.3%, in the USA it was 22.8%. At that, for all the above countries the life expectancy of people at age 65 exceeded 19 years[43]. Slowing tempos of increasing in social labour productivity typical for European countries down is taken into account too[44].

Obviously, it is about prolongation of nominal seniority for employees who are to retire according to the new legislation. Prospects of comparative changing in the value of their actual seniority require additional examination.

Let us use the following calculation: time actually worked by those who are to retire after increasing in retirement age by 2012 is added with the product of the number of years since 2012 till the year of enactment of the new retirement age and the average number of hours worked during 2012 per one employee in a certain country. At the same time, the difference in average effective retirement of women and men must be taken into account. The results of these calculations are at table 52.

So, prolongation of nominal seniority for 1-2 years does not always mean increasing in actual relative seniority of those who retired at earlier ages.

In case of the FRG and Great Britain prospects of reduction of the average number of working hours are seen, and this reduction is equivalent to their volume worked at present state of affairs during 1.5-2 years.

Table 52

Prospects of Changing in Actual Seniority in Conditions of the Pension Reform in Economically Developed Countries

Source: calculated according to the data of the OECD

Possible growth of actual seniority relative to seniority of employees retired in 2012 is less than 30% of the annual working time value in the Netherlands, in the USA it is a little bit more than 50%.

This divergence of the dynamics of nominal and actual seniority has an explanation. Seniority of those who retired for the first time after the reform covered the period closer to the present. Within it the total number of working hours was less than it had been in the period of working activities of pensioners in 2012.

The above calculations are made at the prerequisite that since 2012 till the moment of an increase in the border of the retirement age the average number of working hours per one employee per year will be constant. If decreasing in this number continues, then the value of actual seniority of present employees will be less than predecessors’ value in the FRG and Great Britain. In the Netherlands it will reduce and be approximately equal at these two age-related cohorts of employees in the USA.

Thus, increasing in the retirement age for new generations of employees can be combined with reduction of employees’ actual seniority. Exceeding cumulative effect from reduction of a working day (week, year) within more enduring nominal seniority over growth of hours worked during additional years of working activities is a condition of this combination. This combination is consistent with the regularity of working time reduction and free time increasing of employees and, consequently, with requirements of economic development.

Of course, one should not idealize the existing form of realization of this regularity. Differentiation in duration of time of full-time and part-time employees is hidden behind average numbers of working time. This differentiation is also typical for wages when a significant part of employees is on the brink of material well-being. It explains the negative attitude of trade unions to such pension reforms.

In the made analysis it was supposed that the level and dynamics of nominal seniority – duration of the ability to work period – are independent of similar characteristics of actual seniority – the total number of working hours within nominal seniority. It is necessary to take into account the connection between them too.

This connection is quite understandable: daily workload of an employee, conditions of his labour essentially influence the period of preservation of the ability to work and, in general, life span.

For example, during the period of classical slavery in ancient Rome slaves were able-bodied during 15-16 years, while modern industrial employees are able-bodied for 40 years. This multiple difference cannot be understood if we do not take into consideration that at 14-16-hour daily labour slaves worked for more than 80000 hours during their working life what is commensurable with actual seniority of industrial employees of the modern economically developed countries.

Researches show that reduction of the average annual working hours per one employee by 200 hours leads to a 1 year increase in the life-expectancy in a country[45]. At that, undoubtedly, the period of the ability to work increases too. As a result, reduction of actual seniority assists in increasing in nominal seniority.

The opposite – attempts to increase nominal seniority without reduction of actual seniority – would contradict the objective logic of economic development, would mean enforcing labour beyond the ability to work age with all negative consequences (reduction of employees’ life span, their floating away from the production sphere, etc.).

When determining the dynamics of nominal seniority, it is necessary to take into account that work of industrial employees is done in less favorable conditions than work of employees rendering services. Substantial differences in duration of the actual period of ability to work, which is shorter at industrial employees, follow from here.

In these conditions appropriateness of using the same age for retirement is doubtful, especially as workers, as a rule, begin their labour activities earlier than those who get a higher education. If the same retirement age is oriented towards the limit of ability to work of industrial employees, then nonproduction employees fall into a privileged position, having an opportunity to retire, being able-bodied actually. And if the value of nominal seniority is oriented towards a working life of people occupied in the services sphere then industrial employees are forced to work beyond the ability to work age: their working potential decreases, work turns to be an active factor of poor health and early death. There is the objective need for differentiation of the retirement age and normal duration of seniority for people occupied in basic spheres of the economy.

Enactment of 6-hour and less enduring shifts assists in increasing in the ability to work period of industrial employees, in this respect, it brings their position together with the position of employees of the nonproduction sphere.

Taking into account the existing potential of economic development it is not enough to assess prospects of reduction of the number of hours worked during a working life from the dynamics of a working day and other periods of working activities. The effect of transition to 6-hour shifts should be considered.

To assess this effect let us use the following way of its calculation. Using the data of table 23 about the average annual number of working hours per one industrial employee, let us calculate the similar index in conditions of transition to a 6-hour working day, as applied to each year of nominal seniority corresponding to the value of seniority in 2012. To do it we shall successively decrease the value of working time in the previous year by the value of average annual reduction of working time per one employee (the last value is calculated according to the data of table 51 by means of dividing annual labour saving by the number of people occupied in production).

If at these prerequisites transition to 6-hour shifts is completed within nominal seniority, then it is supposed that during the rest of this seniority shift duration and the number of working hours per year (6 hours×225=1350 hours) remain constant.

The sum of the thus obtained values of annual working time will give the value of actual seniority in case of coincidence of nominal seniority with similar seniority of employees retired in 2012.

Table 53

Prospects of Decreasing in Actual Seniority of Industrial Employees at Enactment of 6-hour Shifts since 2012

As it follows from the above data, with other things being equal, introduction of 6-hour shifts would lead to a significant decrease in the general number of hours worked for the period of seniority, being equal to its present value. Obviously, tempos of this decrease are determined by the value of labour saving per one industrial employee.

Note that at these prerequisites the main part of nominal seniority of workers of France and Germany would fall on the period of stable duration of shifts at the level of 6 hours. In reality, in these countries increasing in labour productivity would give an opportunity for transition to 5-hour shifts, so that the magnitude of decreasing in actual seniority would be much higher than the figures at table 50.

It is appropriate to repeat that the volume of labour saving in production was determined without considering the stimulating effect of working day reduction until 6 hours on increasing in labour productivity. Undoubtedly, this effect would show and become an additional factor of decreasing in the number of working hours for a working life.

From the fact that the dynamics of nominal seniority is in the inverse relationship to the dynamics of actual seniority, it is possible to suppose an increase in the general number of working years of industrial employees, for example, of 3 years, owing to transition to 6-hour shifts. In this case, too, actual seniority of employees working 6 hours a day would be less enduring than present employees’ actual seniority.

In Korea this decrease would be equivalent to the number of hours worked during 15 years in present conditions, in the USA it would be during 5.5 years, in the FRG it would be during 5 years, in France it would be during 1.8 years. In Italy this decrease would be quite insignificant – equivalent to 72% of present workload per year what shows absence of objective prerequisites for this increase in the retirement age in this country.

The calculations supposed the constant number of employees of the production sphere. As it was already noted, introduction of 6-hour shifts and related reduction of normal duration of a working day in the services sphere until 6 hours make prerequisites for broadening the range of able-bodied members of the society participating in fulfilment of production work. It leads to further reduction of the number of hours worked within seniority of industrial employees.

Accordingly, transition to 6-hour shifts determines prospects of regular reduction of the general number of hours worked for the period of ability to work of industrial employees with forming prerequisites for increasing in this period according to growth of life span.

Introduction of a 6-hour working day for employees of the nonproduction sphere would have a positive effect too: this measure would assist in preservation and promotion of their health, in organic combination of different kinds of social activities.

Thus, reduction of a working day until 6 hours is both an objective demand and means of modern economic development. Realization of this measure will move the society to new, higher forefronts of progress.

Conclusion

Economic development is a process of a higher order than economic growth. In economically developed countries not only more products are produced per capita. Employees of these countries work for less enduring time and have a more significant value of nonworking time, including free time, than employees of less developed countries.

Superiority of leading countries in volumes of time for activities immediately connected to development of human abilities is regular. Constantly progressing social labour productivity decreases labour expenditures for production of material benefits, increases time of activities in the nonproduction sphere. The processes make the basis of improving the social economic state of employees.

In economically developed countries impressive progress in reduction of working time and increasing in nonworking time of employees does not abolish the fact that the potential for realization of these processes is not accomplished in full. Appropriate working day reduction of industrial employees is prevented by decreasing in the number of employees in production what, in its turn, slows decreasing in working time of toilers of the nonproduction sphere down. As a result, introduction of three-hour shifts, forecasted by J.M. Keynes, by 2030 turns to be an unrealizable wish. Meanwhile, if the prerequisite of broadening the range of people participating in production, formulated by the great economist would be realized, three-hour shifts could be introduced by the beginning of 1990s.

That is why for a new step in economic development transition to a 6-hour working day that can have a positive effect on tempos of increasing in labour productivity and significantly improve the state of modern employees is needed. With actions of interested social forces this transition will be successfully realized.

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21

Summarized and calculated by the authors on the basis of statistics of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). – Electronic resource. – Access mode: http://www.oecd.org/, free (date of request 10.02.2015).

22

Note. The data on Canada are based on the latest version of STAN including assessments by ISIC Rev.2 SNA68; the data on the Netherlands, Norway, Slovenia are based on Rev.4.

23

Note. Tempos of changing for Austria, Estonia, Greece, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Italy are calculated for the period 2005-2009; for the Czech Republic, Canada tempos of changing are calculated for the period 2005-2008.

24

Lawless Martina, Whelan Karl T. Understanding the Dynamics of Labour Shares and Inflation / Martina Lawless, Karl T. Whelan // Journal of Macroeconomics. 2011. № 33. P. 132.

25

Статистические данные Статистической службы Европейского союза (Евростат). – Электронный ресурс – Режим доступа: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database, дата обращения 14.02.2015. (Statistics of the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) – Electronic resource – Access mode: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database, date of request 14.02.2015).

26

Статистические данные Статистической службы Европейского союза (Евростат). – Электронный ресурс – Режим доступа: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database, дата обращения 14.02.2015. (Statistics of the European Statistical Office (Eurostat) – Electronic resource – Access mode: http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/data/database, date of request 14.02.2015).

27

Статистические данные Организации экономического сотрудничества и развития (ОЭСР). – Электронный ресурс. – Режим доступа: http://www.oecd.org/, свободный (дата обращения 10.02.2015). (Statistics of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). – Electronic resource. – Access mode: http://www.oecd.org/, free (date of request 10.02.2015).

28

Статистические данные Организации экономического сотрудничества и развития (ОЭСР). – Электронный ресурс. – Режим доступа: http://www.oecd.org/, дата обращения 14.02.2015. (Statistics of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). – Electronic resource. – Access mode: http://www.oecd.org/, date of request 14.02.2015.

29

Summarized and calculated on the basis of statistics of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). – Electronic resource. – Access mode: http://www.oecd.org/, date of request 14.02.2015.

30

Note. Tempos of changing for France, Italy, Sweden are calculated for the period 2005-2008.

31

Note. Data on Greece and Korea are calculated on the basis of STAN 2.

32

Статистические данные Организации экономического сотрудничества и развития (ОЭСР). – Электронный ресурс. – Режим доступа: http://www.oecd.org/, дата обращения 14.02.2015. (Statistics of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). – Electronic resource. – Access mode: http://www.oecd.org/, date of request 14.02.2015.

33

Calculated on the basis of statistics of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). – Electronic resource. – Access mode: http://www.oecd.org/, date of request 14.02.2015.

34

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Source: the data of the OECD. http://dx.doi.org/10.1787/888932907205 (date of request 15.01.2014).

37

Ельмеев В.Я. Социальная экономия труда: общие основы политической экономии. – СПб.: Изд-во С.-Петерб. ун-та, 2007. С. 411. (Yelmeev V.Y. Social Saving of Labour: General Fundamentals of Political Economy. – SPb.: The St. Petersburg University Publishing House, 2007. P. 411).

38

Here and below when speaking about annual working time, we use the data of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (Data extracted on 18 Jan 2013 13:42 UTC (GMT) from OECD.Stat) and also the data given in the article: Bosch, G. and Lehndorff, S. Working-Time Reduction and Employment: Experiences in Europe and Economic Policy Recommendations//Cambridge Journal of Economics. 2001. 25. P. 220.

39

Here and below when speaking about the dynamics of working week duration, we use the data of the International Labour Organization. http://laboursta.ilo.org Date of request: 07.02.2013.

40

Леонтьев В. Экономическое эссе. Теория, исследования, факты и политика/Пер. с англ. – М.: Политиздат, 1990. С. 195. (Leontief W. Essays in Economics: Theories, Theorizing, Facts and Policies. – M.: Politizdat, 1990. P. 195.

41

Кейнс Дж.М. Экономические возможности наших внуков//Вопросы экономики. 2009. № 6. С. 60-67. (J.M. Keynes. Economic Possibilities for our Grandchildren//Voprosy Ekonomiki. 2009. № 6. P. 60-67).

42

Savage M., Cunningham N., Devine Fiona and other. Social Class in the 21st Century. A Pelican Introduction. 2015. P. 174.

43

Source: the data of the OECD. http://www.oecd.org/fr/retraites/panoramadespensions.htm (date of request 17.01.2014).

44

Bowman, J.R. Capitalisms Compared: Welfare, Work, and Business. CQ Press. Los Angeles. 2013. P. 127.

45

Золотов, А.В. Сокращение рабочего времени как фактор укрепления здоровья/А.В. Золотов, П.В. Мухин//Здоровье – основа человеческого потенциала: проблемы и пути их решения. 2014. Т. 9. № 1. С. 54-58. (Zolotov, A.V. Working Time Reduction as a Factor of Health Promotion/A.V. Zolotov, P.V. Mukhin//Health is the Basis of Human Potential: Problems and Ways of Solving them. 2014. V. 9. № 1. P. 54-58).

Content

Попов Михаил Васильевич, et al Working Day Reduction as the Ground of Modern Economic Development

Introduction

1. Reduction of the General Working Time Fund in Production and Increasing in Time of Nonproduction Activities as a Prerequisite of Economic Development

1.1. Economic Development as Resolution of the Contradiction between Formation of Prerequisites for Development of all People and Utilization of these Prerequisites by a Part of the Society

1.2. Decreasing in the General Working Time Fund at Increasing in the Output Volume as One of Appearances of Labour Productivity Growth

1.3. Saving of Labour in Production is the Basis of Progress in the Nonproduction Sphere

2. Reduction of Working Time and Increasing in Free Time of Employees as the Regularity of Economic Development

2.1. The Value and Dynamics of the Average Number of Working Hours per One Employee per Year

2.2. Working Day Duration and its Dynamics

2.3. Seniority Duration and its Dynamics

3. The Effect and Prospects of Working Day Reduction for Economic Development

Conclusion

References

Примечания