__TITLE__
Planning
of Manpower
in the Soviet Union
__TEXTFILE_BORN__ 2007-05-07T04:33:37-0700
__TRANSMARKUP__ "Y. Sverdlov"
PROGRESS PUBLISHERS
MOSCOW
[4]Translated from the Russian by S. Vechor-Shcherbovich
nJlAHHPOBAHHE PABOHEft CHJIH B CCCP Ha __FIX__ Copyright information paragraphs are centered. __COPYRIGHT__ First printing 1975Economic and social progress, the rates and level of development of productive forces, and living standards greatly depend on the rational utilisation of manpower and the level of employment in social production. In the socialist planned economy, therefore, the problem of employing labour resources is one of the most important components of the national system of managing the economy.
It is common knowledge that the capitalist system of production is not and cannot be interested in the planned and full employment of society's labour resources. The task is contradictory to the nature of the capitalist mode of production. Capitalism without a reserve army of labour would cease to be capitalism.
In the Soviet Union society's labour resources are distributed and employed in line with current and long-term plans, depending on the needs of national economy. This has been made possible by the socialisation of the means of production, introduction of the planned system of economy and the realisation of the universal right to work. The planned employment of labour resources, however, entails no restrictions whatever of the freedom of the individual in choosing an occupation. Any claims of such ``restrictions'' made by bourgeois critics of the socialist system are completely false.
It should be stressed, however, that the freedom to choose an occupation does not free the Soviet citizen from the duty to work. The right to work is indisputable, it is guaranteed to all citizens of the USSR by the Constitution, but the same 8 Constitution says that it is the sacred duty of every citizen to work for the benefit of society. When the Soviet government came into being, it immediately proclaimed the principle: ``he who does not work, neither shall he eat''. This principle has been strictly observed ever since.
Even the most rabid apostles of anti-Sovietism concede that even as far back as the thirties the Soviet Union succeeded in wiping out unemployment and ensuring jobs for all. True, there are many problems still to be solved; the triumph of socialism does not imply an automatic or rational utilisation of the labour force or its normal reproduction. The solution of these problems calls for continual research, a steady rise in the standard of planning, great analytical work, improvement in calculation methods, and consistent implementation of practical measures for controlling the processes of distribution, redistribution and reproduction of the labour force.
The task is to prepare optimal conditions for full employment in line with the interests of every worker, enterprise, region and society in general.
The USSR has gained great experience in planning, training and employing manpower. This experience helps the socialist countries and also the developing countries which have decided to build and regulate their own independent economies. In accordance with the request of the World Labour Organisation---one of the oldest specialised organisations in the United Nations---the Soviet Union arranges seminars on this subject for representatives of Asian, African and Latin American countries.
This book is concerned with Soviet methods of planning, training and employing manpower in all sectors of the economy. The first chapter deals with the general organisational principles of planning manpower in the USSR. The authors believed that readers not well-versed in the socialist system of planning should first be acquainted with the planning bodies and organisations in the Soviet Union.
Labour planning in the Soviet Union is based on methods and principles commonly used in planning the development of all other sectors of the economy. The second chapter, therefore, is devoted to the general principles of economic planning in the USSR. It deals with the prerequisites, functions, 9 logic and principal stages of economic planning, the structure of economic plans, which incorporate labour plans, and methods for their elaboration.
Chapters three, four and five deal with economic problems in direct relation to the planning and employment of labour resources. They expound ways of providing full employment and rational utilisation of the labour force in the whole country, methods of drawing up summary patterns of labour resources, the system of indicators and the methods of drawing up labour plans. Next come the methods and order of elaborating labour plans in definite fields and, finally, labour planning in enterprises.
An exceptionally important role belongs to the planning of current and in particular long-term requirements of the labour force, the planning of training and distribution of specialists, and the redistribution of the labour force in conformity with changing conditions and economic tasks. These questions are also examined in the book. The last chapter is devoted to the role and meaning of Soviet labour legislation in the planned provision of the labour force for the economy.
The authors are well aware of the fact that the non-- socialist countries cannot fully avail themselves of the Soviet experience due to the essential differences in the social systems and other factors, yet when it comes to the principles and methods of planning, training and employing manpower in the lower levels of the economy, this experience can benefit the developing countries. The aim of this book is to acquaint the reader with Soviet experience and the ways of ensuring full and rational employment. It is for the reader to decide what can be adopted by the country in question.
[10] ~ [11] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ CHAPTER ONE __ALPHA_LVL1__ ORGANISATIONAL PRINCIPLESEconomic planning is one of the most important functions of the socialist state. Planned economy implies assessment of the needs and actual potential of production, and also timely application of scientific and technological achievements in the economy.
Economic plans are based on the economic policy of the Communist Party which determines the main trend of the country's social and economic development. The content and basic economic and political tasks of these plans are endorsed by Party congresses in the form of Directives which take into account the level of political, economic, social and cultural development, the latest achievements of science and technology, the need to solve principal social, economic and political problems, and the international situation.
The fulfilment of state plans is by law strictly obligatory; no economy can function normally and smoothly without strict observance of this primary condition.
The system of planning in the USSR is based on democratic centralism which is a combination of centralised and planned management of the economy, independence of enterprises and broad participation of workers in the management of production. Centralised and planned management ensures a distribution of the means of production, labour force and manufactured products which is in fullest accordance with the tasks posed in the plan; at the same time it is based on the most rational utilisation of natural and labour resources, 12 and the achievements of science and technology. No planned economy is possible without centralised management. On the other hand, the drafting and execution of plans is impossible without functional independence of enterprises, economic organisations, local bodies, and initiative from workers and their organisations. The plans are drafted at enterprise and economic organisations level with the broad participation of workers.
Today the country has entered a new stage of economic development: the scale of social production has grown immeasurably, economic relations have become more complex, and new opportunities appear for the practical utilisation of the achievements of the scientific and technological revolution. So the immediate task is to improve the planning and management of the economy and promote the principles of democratic centralism.
Economic planning in the USSR is a single and harmonious state system which ensures the scientific elaboration and practical implementation of five-year and annual plans on the basis of long-term scientific forecasts of the development of the economy as a whole, and of its different sectors in different parts of the country. The plans are drafted by all sections of the planning system.
The national economic development plan incorporates the development plans of all Union and autonomous republics, territories, regions, administrative districts and towns, ministries and departments of the USSR and Union republics and also the plans of enterprises, building agencies and economic organisations. Thus, the national economic development plan is a complex system of territorial, sectoral and functional plans.
Plans for the reproduction and utilisation of the labour force are components of these plans. The national economic development plans determine the most important correlations and proportions for the socialist reproduction, as well as the assignments for the Union republics and economic sectors which are specified in the economic development plans of Union and autonomous republics, regions, territories, towns, districts, ministries and departments of the USSR and Union republics, enterprises, building agencies and economic organisations.
13All organs of state power---the USSR Supreme Soviet, local Soviets, the USSR Council of Ministers, executive councils of local Soviets, economic agencies and organisations---are engaged in the drafting of plans. Scientific and public organisations, particularly the trade unions, all participate in planning.
The system of state planning agencies was inaugurated immediately after the establishment of Soviet power, so as to ensure the state's purposeful influence on the development of the socialist economy. In December 1917 Lenin sponsored the foundation of the Supreme Council of National Economy under the Council of People's Commissars. Its task was to work out general norms and a plan for regulating the country's economic life, and also to co-ordinate the work of central and local Soviet economic institutions. In July 1918 Lenin sponsored the inauguration of the Central Statistical Board which was charged with the management of statistical work, collection of statistical information, censuses and processing of statistical materials. The Civil War and the foreign intervention called for extraordinary measures for ensuring strict centralisation in the management of the economy. In November 1918 the management of the country's economy was placed in the hands of the Council of Workers' and Peasants' Defence which later on, in April 1920, reorganised into the Council of Labour and Defence (CLD) charged with the elaboration of a nation-wide economic plan.
A most important step in this direction was the first longterm plan for the electrification of Russia (1920) and the inauguration of the State Committee for the Electrification of Russia (GOELRO). The GOELRO Plan was the first state plan and aimed to cover a period of 10 to 15 years. It envisaged a complex development of economy on the basis of electrification and determined the principal trends of economic development.
After the Civil War the country was faced with the colossal task of rehabilitating the national economy. The new economic policy (NEP) adopted at the time was designed to make the best of commodity-money relations, introduce profit-and-loss accounting, and provide greater economic independence for state enterprises. That called for a re-- 14 organisation of economic management. Rigid centralisation---vital during the war---was replaced by more flexible forms and methods of management and planning. February 1921 saw the inauguration on Lenin's initiative of the State Planning Committee which was entrusted with the elaboration of a single national economic plan and control over its implementation. Planning committees were set up in people's Commissariats and central departments. In 1923 they were established in local organs of power. In 1922, following the formation of the USSR, the Soviet State Planning Committee became the central planning agency. State planning committees were also set up in the Union republics.
The First Five-Year Economic Development Plan was drafted in 1928. Subsequently, as the five-year plans were implemented one after another, a single planning system was worked out for the whole country; the forms and methods of planning were improved, the structure and functions of planning agencies changed.
During the Great Patriotic War planning was completely subordinated to the need for re-organising the economy in line with war-time requirements, i.e., for the swift mobilisation of the country's entire resources for defence purposes. Since 1941 planning was centralised, and the plans themselves covered military and economic tasks. The plans worked out by the USSR State Planning Committee required approval by the State Defence Committee which was directly in charge of planning and control over the execution of plans.
New tasks were placed before planning agencies in the post-war period. It was necessary to put the economy on a peaceful basis and ensure its rehabilitation and development. So the structure of planning agencies and the forms and methods of their work had once again to be reviewed.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 2. THE SYSTEM OF ECONOMIC PLANNINGAll the planning organs and organisations are divided into four major groups:
1. State organs of general competence, incorporating the USSR Supreme Soviet and the USSR Council of Ministers, 15 the Supreme Soviets and Councils of Ministers of the Union republics, the local Soviets and their executive committees.
2. Special planning agencies which include the USSR State Planning Committee, the State planning committees of the Union and autonomous republics, the planning committees of regional, territorial, district and town local Soviet executive committees, and also the economic planning committees in enterprises, organisations and building agencies.
3. Special sectoral organs of economic management which encompass sectoral Ail-Union, Union-Republican and Republican ministries, economic associations and organisations, enterprises and building agencies.
4. Functional, inter-sectoral organs of state management include Union, Union-Republican and Republican ministries, departments and organisations, as well as corresponding commissions of local Soviet executive committees in charge of such specific fields as culture, medical care, higher and secondary education (general and special), vocational training, labour organisation, wages, employment of labour resources, social security, development of science and technology, finance, material and technical supply, and prices.
Let us examine in greater detail the structure of planning organs in each of the four groups.
General supervision of economic planning is effected by the USSR Supreme Soviet---the supreme organ of state power. The USSR Supreme Soviet sets down the principles of the planned management of the economy, passes laws on economic planning, endorses the single budget of the USSR and approves the reports on its execution; it also organises a single system of national accounting.
The USSR Supreme Soviet sets up standing committees on the principal problems of state, economic, social and cultural affairs. The planning and budget commissions of the Supreme Soviet's two chambers, for instance, examine the summary indicators of plans and budgets, economic balance sheets, balanced development of economic sectors, intrasectoral links, etc. Sectoral commissions examine sectoral plans and budgets of the Soviet Union as a whole and of the Union republics; they analyse planned indicators for definite 16 sectors of the economy or spheres of activity, and check how ministries and departments fulfil their planned assignments.
The USSR Council of Ministers, which is the highest executive and administrative organ in the country, is directly concerned with the regulation of economic planning. It examines state economic development plans and state budgets, submits them to the USSR Supreme Soviet, takes steps, to implement them, directs the work of ministries and departments, including the drafting of plans, and through the Councils of Ministers of the Union republics directs the drafting of plans throughout the country.
In the Union and autonomous republics economic planning is directed by their Supreme Soviets through the agency of the Councils of Ministers.
Local planning is the responsibility of Soviets and their executive committees in territories, regions, districts, towns and villages.
Planning is one of the basic functions of economic management, and consequently the system of planning agencies is closely related with the system of state administration and economic management. Planning agencies are actually functional departments of legislative and executive organs of power and economic management.
The State Planning Committee of the USSR Council of Ministers is the central planning organ in the country. On the basis of the CPSU Programme, and Party and Government Directives it works out long-term and annual plans for the balanced development of the country's economy and a continual rise in the economic efficiency of social production and capital investments, so as to set the material and technical foundation of communism, raise the living standards and strengthen the defence potential.
The State Planning Committee regulates the balance of the economy, particularly the balance distribution of labour resources for the country as a whole and its different regions. In doing so, the State Planning Committee ensures the continuity of assignments, accelerated development of the most promising sectors, introduction of scientific and technological achievements in all sectors of the economy, intensification of production processes, optimal utilisation of material, labour, financial and natural resources, and a continual rise 17 in labour productivity. The Committee is responsible for raising the scientific level of state planning, for the guaranteeing economic adequacy of plans, balancing and co-- ordinating territorial and sectoral plans, and maintaining the optimal proportions of the principal economic indicators.
The State Planning Committee supervises the implementation of plans, brings to light possibilities for expanding production and raising its efficiency, reports to the government on how the plans are being executed, inserts corrections in assignments, and advises the government how to avert possible disparities in economic development.
The Committee enjoys broad powers; within its sphere of jurisdiction it can issue orders obligatory to all ministries, departments and other organisations.
It enforces common techniques, and the order and schedule for compiling and submitting plans by enterprises, organisations, building agencies and state planning committees of the Union republics.
In its work the USSR State Planning Committee relies on the state planning committees in the Union republics, ministries and departments of the USSR, the USSR Academy of Sciences and the All-Union Central Council of Trade Unions.
The Committee's central apparatus comprises sectoral and composite departments. The sectoral departments include the following areas: industry and its branches, agriculture, transport, trade, culture, education, health services, housing and communal services, etc. The sectors collect proposals and suggestions from the Union republics, ministries and departments of the USSR and work out routine development plans for the sector concerned. The departments of labour and finance, as well as the department for the introduction t of scientific and technological achievements co-- ordinate and balance the indicators (common for sectoral plans) of labour, distribution of labour force, wages, finance, and the introduction of scientific and technological achievements into production.
The composite departments---the composite economic plan department, the departments of territorial planning and material balances---draft composite plans for the country as a whole, co-ordinate and balance the development of __PRINTERS_P_17_COMMENT__ 2---0235 18 economic sectors, analyse the execution of plans, and prepare proposals on how to avert possible disparities.
The USSR State Planning Committee is in charge of various inter-department committees, committees of experts, research institutes and the Main Computing Centre.
In the Union republics the central planning organs are their state planning committees with a double subordination---to the Councils of Ministers of the Union republic concerned and the USSR State Planning Committee. The State Planning committees of the Union republics are organs of territorial administration, and as such they acquire a growing role in sectoral planning and complex planning in Union republics and major economic centres; they help to develop and distribute rationally the various sectors of the economy on the country's territory.
The committees draw up development plans for all sectors of the economy and compile the most important balances, including the balance of labour resources. In this work they proceed not only from local data, but also from data supplied by All-Union and Union-Republican ministries and departments and from approximate planned indicators for enterprises and organisations on their territories but subordinated to central authorities.
They play an important role in planning living standards, developing light industry, the food, and other local industries, retail trade, housing construction, communal and everyday services, and also education, culture, and public health services.
Similar functions are performed by the state planning committees under the Supreme Soviets of the autonomous republics and the executive committees of Soviets in territories, regions, towns and districts. They have the right to co-ordinate the plans of all enterprises and organisations on their territory, irrespective of subordination, as well as the construction plans of children's institutions, schools, hospitals, clubs, libraries, etc., and also the plans for the production of consumer goods and local building materials.
The local planning committees examine the drafts of production development plans of enterprises on their territory which are subordinated to the All-Union, Union-- Republican or Republican authorities; when necessary, they propose 19 corrections so as to ensure the most rational utilisation of local products, and natural and manpower resources.
The commissions compile various balances, including the balance of available manpower.
The subordination is dual---to the Soviet in question and to the superior planning bodies.
The special sectoral organs of economic management---- AllUnion, Union-Republican and Republican ministries and departments, sectoral economic associations and organisations, enterprises and building agencies---are responsible for the planned management of the corresponding sectors of industry and the economy on their territories or under the jurisdiction. These organs are distinguished by the sectoral principle of work. The sector is their sphere of competence, while the territory is their scale of competence.
The All-Union ministry directs a sector of the national economy or a definite sphere of activity over the entire territory of the USSR, e.g. the ministries for the aircraft, automobile, engineering and defence industries, and the railways, merchant marine, civil aviation, and foreign trade ministries.
These sectors are centrally managed because they are within the exclusive jurisdiction of the USSR (foreign trade, defence) or because they are closely linked by the peculiar nature of production in the given sector (engineering, the automobile industry) which requires broad specialisation and combination on a country-wide scale and uniform research and design work.
The Union-Republican ministries of the USSR direct their sectors or spheres of activity through counterpart ministries in the Union republics, e.g. ministries for light industry, for the food, coal, chemical, and oil industries, and the iron and steel, agricultural, trade, finance and communications ministries. True, not all the Union republics have counterpart ministries, e.g. the coal and oil industries, which are found only in republics with available deposits.
The Republican ministries and departments direct the sector or sphere of activity placed in their charge, but they are directly subordinated to the Councils of Ministers of the Union republic in question, e.g. the ministries for automobile transport, fuel, local industries, communal services.
__PRINTERS_P_19_COMMENT__ 2* 20The ministries, guided by the directives of the Party and the Government, and also by the methodical instructions of the USSR State Planning Committee, elaborate long-term and annual development plans for their sectors on the basis of the existing demand for the products in question. The plans envisage the development of the given sector as a component of the national economy. Consequently, they are a part of the general long-term or annual economic plans.
The plans envisage measures for ensuring high growth rates and high efficiency of the given sector on the basis of the intensification of production, broad introduction of the achievements of science and technology, and rational utilisation of the fixed assets, and material, labour and financial resources. They fix assignments for the growth of labour productivity, training of specialists, and improving the organisation of production and work.
They also draw up long-term and annual development plans for research and design and for introducing scientific and technological achievements into production.
In this work all the organs in the group rely on special planning agencies (commissions, departments, sectors, groups, etc.); in fact, the agencies are their structural subdivisions. Planning in ministries is done by economic planning departments which, proceeding from the control figures for the economic development of the USSR, draw up long-term and annual development plans for the corresponding sectors in the USSR as a whole, and in each Union republic and economic region. They organise the elaboration of long-term plans in all ministerial departments, as well as in organisations and enterprises in the given sector.
In head departments and production associations of a given ministry planning is done by planning sectors. They compile plans for the development of subordinate sectors and distribute assignments among enterprises and organisations.
Associations, enterprises and building agencies play an important role in economic planning. They are direct executors of all economic plans, sectoral or territorial, depending on their production activities and subordination. Enterprises and organisations draw up plans on the basis of control figures approved by superior bodies; these figures concern only the principal indicators of activity of the given production unit.
21One of the basic sections of an economic development plan is the one concerned with labour, particularly labour productivity, personnel, allocations for wages, and average wages, and also the plan for training and upgrading the employees. Enterprises also draw up plans for the scientific organisation of work and social development of collectives (housing construction, construction of children's pre-school institutions, clubs, libraries, sports facilities, holiday hotels, polyclinics, dispensaries, etc., and the organisation of their work). The principal measures envisaged by these plans are included in collective agreements which the trade unions, acting on behalf of the employees, conclude annually with the administration.
This work is done by the economic planning departments at enterprises. They are responsible for the organisation of planning in all subdivisions, co-ordinate their work, and control the execution of plans.
The fourth group belongs to the functional inter-sectoral organs of state administration. There the Ail-Union organ is the State Committee of the USSR Council of Ministers for Labour and Wages. The Union-Republican organs include the ministries of culture, public health, higher and specialised secondary education, general education, finance, and also committees for vocational training, science and technology, material and technical supply, and prices. The Republican organs include the ministries of social security and the committees for the employment of labour resources.
The majority of these organs also plan the training and employment of labour resources in conformity with territorial, sectoral or inter-sectoral economic plans. Some of them are directly involved in planning and employing labour resources. This is the basic function of republican committees for the employment of labour resources, and within the jurisdiction of the State Committee of the USSR Council of Ministers for Labour and Wages. It is also a primary function of the Committee for Vocational Training, the Ministry of Education, and the Ministry of Higher and Specialised Secondary Education, but their particular task is limited to the training and employment of a specific contingent of labour resources.
22The planning of the training, distribution and employment of labour resources within the framework of general, sectoral, inter-sectoral and territorial labour plans covers indicators for the growth of labour productivity and wages, distribution of labour resources among various areas of production and sectors, as well as between republics and administrative units, so that they may be employed most rationally; provision of all sectors of the national economy and all territorial units with skilled workers and senior and junior specialists by training them in vocational schools, directly in production, and in higher and secondary specialised schools, and also by redistributing them within the republics or between the republics; provision of jobs to school-leavers from general and vocational schools.
The USSR Ministry of Higher and Specialised Secondary Education is responsible for the training and distribution of specialists and research workers taking due account of the needs of the national economy.
Specialists and research workers are also trained by sectoral ministries and departments, many of which have their own higher educational establishments.
The USSR Ministry of Public Education, which is a UnionRepublican organ, is responsible for general public education in the country. In the Union republics the counterpart ministries are called either ministries of education or ministries of public education. General schools, including evening schools, are subordinate to the departments of public education of the local Soviet executive committees.
The training of workers for specialised professions is conducted by the state system of vocational training. Adult workers gain higher qualifications in enterprises through a system of courses, advanced training colleges, etc.
The system of vocational training is headed by the UnionRepublican State Committee of the USSR Council of Ministers for Vocational Training. Similar committees function in all Union republics. In the autonomous republics, their Councils of Ministers have set up chief vocational training boards.
In the Union republics with no autonomous republics vocational schools are directly subordinate to the state committees for vocational training. In Moscow and Leningrad 23 and the Moscow and Leningrad regions they are subordinate directly to the RSFSR State Committee for Vocational Training.
Some sectoral ministries in the USSR have their own vocational schools, among them the Ministries of Railways, Home Trade, and the Merchant Marine. The methods of training, however, are supervised by the state organs for the vocational training system.
The State Committee of the USSR Council of Ministers for Labour and Wages is called upon to plan wages, labour productivity, and the improvement of living standards. It is an All-Union organ and therefore it has no specialised organs in the republics. This is due to the need for a common, nation-wide approach to labour and wages problems. Sectoral ministries and departments in the USSR have labour and wages boards; at enterprises the questions are dealt with either by labour and wages departments or by economic planning departments---it all depends on the size of the enterprise.
The state committees for the employment of labour resources are republican organs subordinate to the Councils of Ministers of the Union republics. Their function is to distribute and redistribute labour resources in the republics. The inter-republican distribution and redistribution of the labour force is done by the USSR State Planning Committee in agreement with the Councils of Ministers of the Union republics concerned.
[24] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ CHAPTER TWO __ALPHA_LVL1__ ECONOMIC PLANNING IN THE SOVIET UNION __ALPHA_LVL2__ 1. THE ESSENCE AND TASKS OF SOCIALIST PLANNINGThe management of a socialist economy is inseparable from planning. Planning is a scientific method of managing the economy in conditions of socialism. It relies on the economic laws of socialism, the laws of nature and the evolution of society, and the achievements of social, economic, natural and applied sciences. The 24th Congress of the CPSU pointed out that in conditions of socialism planning is the central link, the core in the management of the economy.
Draft directives for the elaboration of five-year economic development plans are discussed by the congresses of the CPSU and the Communist Parties of the Union republics, the Supreme Soviets of the USSR and the Union republics (after being approved by the standing committees of the Supreme Soviets), trade union organisations of all levels, at public meetings in enterprises and organisations, and by the national and local press.
Socialist planning and management of the economy are based on the principles of democratic centralism; they envisage broad participation of the people.
A feature of socialist planning is its comprehensive nature. With social ownership of the means of production all aspects of economic development can be reflected in a single plan. Planning encompasses material production (industry, agriculture, construction, transport, etc.) and the nonmaterial sphere (education, public health, science, culture, etc.), i.e., both economic and social processes.
Nation-wide socialist planning serves as the foundation for managing the society's entire economy. The national 25 plan is a law by which all economic management bodies must abide.
Economic planning in the USSR is one way of implementing the Programme of the CPSU. As Lenin pointed out: ``Our Party programme must not remain solely a programme of the Party.... It must be supplemented with a second Party programme, a plan of work aimed at restoring our entire economy and raising it to the level of up-to-date technical development."^^1^^
The essence of socialist planning is in the scientific determination of society's needs, ways and means of satisfying them on the basis of a continual expansion of production, higher efficiency, scientific and technological progress, introduction of the achievements of science and technology into production, and the raising of labour productivity; it lies in high economic growth rates, proportionate and balanced development of all sectors and spheres, and of all elements of the national economy with the optimal combination of production, consumption and accumulation. The balanced and proportionate development of the national economy presupposes a scientifically-substantiated distribution and utilisation of material, labour ^and financial resources in conformity with society's needs for each given period covered by the plan.
General plans, proceeding from the needs of society, fix assignments to ministries, departments and Union republics for the development of the economy on the basis of co-- operation and mutual assistance, specialisation and co-ordination of production. The rational distribution of productive forces and the tasks for their optimal employment are determined in accordance with the interests of the country and the specific conditions prevailing in each of the Union republics.
Planning implies co-ordination of the work of ministries, departments and the Councils of Ministers of Union republics in directing the development of the economy, improving its structure and raising the efficiency of social production.
Economic development raises the demands of society and increases the opportunities for satisfying them. In view of _-_-_
^^1^^ V. I. Lenin, Collected Works, Vol. 31, p. 515,
26 this the Communist Party sets the planning targets for each stage of society's development.Every new stage gives birth to a variety of tasks for planning agencies, but the Communist Party singles out jthe principal task to which all others are subordinate in the plan.
The 24th Congress of the CPSU has worked out a social and economic programme which complies with the requirements and possibilities of a developed socialist society and determines the content and tasks of long-term planning. The realisation of this programme was put into motion by the elaboration and endorsement of the Ninth Five-Year Economic Development Plan.
The 24th Congress of the CPSU indicated that the principal task of the Ninth Five-Year Plan was to achieve a considerable rise in living standards. The Congress pointed out that this will remain the principal task of the country's long-term economic development programme.
The structure of social production will be further improved but the high development rates of heavy industry will be retained, since this is the foundation for the country's economic might and further raising of living standards. These high rates will strengthen heavy industry as the basis for the whole of expanded reproduction, and the technical rearmament of the country's economy and defence potential. The planned increase in the output of the means of production by heavy industry for the development of agriculture, light industry, the food industry and communal services will guarantee that the latter will steadily increase the manufacture of consumer goods.
One of the most important tasks of planning is to ensure the implementation of a long-term programme for developing agriculture on the basis of complex mechanisation, land improvement, specialisation and co-operation of production, and wide-spread application of chemicals.
The comprehensive programme of scientific and technological 'development, whose elaboration was started during the Ninth Five-Year Plan, is now a component of planning.
In order to implement the long-term programme of the 24th Congress of the CPSU, planning must ensure the growth of real incomes primarily on the basis of higher wages, the 27 further growth of social consumption funds and expansion of housing, communal, cultural and public-service facilities.
Economic plans in the USSR involve long-term, mediumterm and short-term plans, though long-term plans are given priority. Long-term plans cover periods of 10 to 15 years, medium-term plans---5 years, while short-term plans cover one-year periods. The latter are based on long-term plans. The principal form is the five-year plan with annual assignments.
The five-year period, however, is insufficient for the coordination of all economic, social, scientific and technological tasks. So there is a need for long-range plans on the basis of forecasts and long-term comprehensive programmes.
In the period preceding the Ninth Five-Year Plan, the Central Committee of the CPSU and the Soviet Government directed the elaboration of long-term programmes for developing agriculture, improving the pattern of fuel consumption, transport, etc. The implementation of these programmes will require great efforts on the part of many industries and economic regions, and it will overlap the ninth five-year period.
One of the most important prerequisites for better planning is the intensification of the complex method for solving major social, economic, scientific and technological problems. Long-term programmes must be co-ordinated in a single long-term plan.
A comprehensive long-term plan is not a mechanical sum-total of long-range comprehensive programmes. It must set down the required growth rates for economic development and the ratio of consumption and accumulation for group I and group II of social production, industry and agriculture, and group A and group B of industry, for the different sectors of agriculture; the ratio of wages, labour productivity and retail prices.
The co-ordination of large-scale programmes is essential for the scientific substantiation of assignments and the time schedule for their accomplishment during the five-year and one-year periods. Society's requirements have to be arranged in order of priority and co-ordinated with the available resources and methods of exploiting them in the most rational manner. Long-term planning ensures the most reasonable order for satisfying the people's demands and determines 28 the correlation between individual and social forms of enjoyment of material and spiritual values.
Long-term planning by ministries, departments and the Union republics follows the same pattern; this helps them to improve the elaboration of five-year plans.
Long-range planning is supplemented by current planning, i. e., the compilation of annual plans on the basis of corrections and specifications of the annual targets of the five-year plans. Due account is taken of new social requirements and additional opportunities for expanding production and improving its structure and output range due to the latest technological achievements.
Long-range and current planning are based on a combination of sectoral and territorial planning. It is impossible to ensure 'the proportionate and balanced functioning of a single economic complex without such a combination.
Long-term planning improves the combination of sectoral and regional planning when it comes to the elaboration of five-year and one-year plans, because it incorporates longterm comprehensive programmes for the USSR, 'the Union republics and the various economic regions.
There are two sides to this combination of sectoral and territorial planning: on the one hand planning for Union republics and economic regions in terms of the various sectors of the economy, and ministries and departments; on the other, planning of economic sectors, and ministries and departments in terms of Union republics and economic regions.
The improvement of this combination ensures the complexity of planning and solves complex problems which require joint efforts of all ministries, departments, Union republics and 'economic 'regions.
It is a most important condition for complex planning in Union republics and administrative units.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 2. THE NATIONAL ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLAN:The USSR state plan determines the economic development of industrial sectors and regions and, in the case of Union republics, the development of economic sectors. In 29 brief the plan covers the following aspects of economic development (which vary in the different periods concerned): 1) a summary of general indices synthesizing the plan's overall assignment and determining the overall development of the economy (output level, national income, etc.); = 2) assignments for research and the introduction of scientific and technological achievements in the economy; = 3) principal assignments for the manufacture of industrial products; 4) indices for the development of agriculture and forestry; 5) assignments for the development of transport and communications; = 6) indices of capital investments and capital construction, commissioning of production capacities, and growth of fixed assets; = 7) assignments for the development of geological prospecting; = 8) labour indicators and assignments for training personnel; = 9) plans of profits, efficiency of production and production costs; = 10) assignments for expanding trade and public catering; = 11) assignments for developing communal and everyday services; = 12) assignments for the development of public education, culture and medical care; = 13) summary of assignments for raising living standards; 14) assignments for the distribution of productive forces; 15) assignments for the economic and cultural development of the Union republics; = 16) indicators for the development of foreign trade.
An important place in the economic plan belongs to a complex of assignments which ensure the accelerated growth of labour productivity in all sectors of the economy, correct employment of labour resources and |the replenishment of the economy with skilled workers and specialists with higher or specialised secondary education.
The plan contains assignments which ensure the best utilisation of the fixed assets and production capacities, rational distribution of capital investments in sectors and Union republics, and increased efficiency of capital construction. Much space is allocated to measures which ensure correct utilisation of material and natural resources and the rational distribution of productive forces.
The economic plan envisages assignments for ensuring the complex development of Union republics and economic centres. Specific attention is paid to the complex of assignments for the specialisation and co-operation of production 30 and promotion of inter-republican, inter-regional and intersectoral ties.
The planned expansion of socialist reproduction presupposes the continuous development of science and technology as the prime lever for raising the level of productive forces. The plan envisages further scientific and technological progress, acceleration of its development, and the swift introduction of scientific and technological achievements into production. The plan fixes assignments for the output of products with high technical indices, and introduction of progressive technology, complex mechanisation and automation of production. It is based entirely on the introduction of the latest achievements of science and technology into production which increase labour productivity.
The socialist expanded reproduction is founded on systematic growth in the efficiency of social production. The assignments in the plan are fixed with due regard for all-round and thorough intensification of all social production processes. The plan provides for greater efficiency of social production in the following ways: increasing its profitability; introducing scientifically-based consumption norms of raw materials, fuel, electricity, materials and labour resources; reducing production and circulation costs; increasing the profitability and improving the employment of finance.
The purpose of socialist expanded reproduction is to ensure a continual rise of cultural and living standards. The plans envisage a steady rise of real incomes, increase in the output of consumer goods, improvement in the quality and expansion of the range of goods, development of services, culture and the public health service.
Much space is allocated to the expansion of international economic co-operation and greater effectiveness of foreign economic relations. In this respect an important role belongs to the development of co-operation with the socialist countries; foreign trade links with other countries are also of great significance.
The plan's summary section enumerates 'an interlinked group of main indicators concerning the rates and proportions of economic development, volume of production, national income and its distribution for accumulation and consumption.
31The assignments are made in physical and cost units. Cost terms are planned for the volume of production, national income and its distribution for accumulation and consumption, rates and proportions of economic development, labour productivity, capital investments in the economy, circulation of fixed assets, input-output ratio, economic efficiency of capital investments and production, the financial plan, profits, profitability, etc. The output of definite types of products is planned in physical units. Some assignments--- accretion of production capacities, labour productivity in some sectors (coal industry, for instance), trade turnover and commodity supply, living standards---are planned both in cost and in physical units.
The cost indices form the basis of profit-and-loss accounting and business relations between production associations, enterprises and organisations. It is the foundation for the whole system of planning and economic incentives, for all the activities of economic management organs directed towards higher production efficiency. The planning of prices in conformity with socially necessary expenditures for the manufacture of products is decisive in increasing the plan's value indicators. The value indicators are calculated in prices current in the actual economic turnover, and in fixed ( comparative) prices for measuring the physical volume of ( production.
Assignments are planned on the basis of a series of norms concerning production expenditures, output ratio, etc. They corroborate the feasibility of the targets set down in the plan. The norms help enterprises, organisations and associations to increase output and labour productivity by reducing expenditure and improving quality. Higher efficiency of production and heavier plans are encouraged.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 3. COMPILATION OF ECONOMIC PLANSTo satisfy society's growing needs to the full, the plan must ensure firstly a continual and balanced growth of all sectors of the economy in conformity with society's needs, and, secondly, higher efficiency of social production. These two principles determine the plan's content and the formation 32 of optimum proportions with the minimum expenditure of material, labour and financial resources.
The same principles are applied in economic planning methods, the basic ones being the method of balances, which ensures the required proportions between different plans, and the method of optimisation 'at all levels 'of planning, which ensures high production efficiency and helps find the best way of framing balanced plans.
The essence of the method of balances lies in the conjunction of the requirements and resources of the whole of social production, co-ordination of related sectors and industries, and provision of proportional and balanced development of all elements of the economy. The method ensures planned and co-ordinated physical and cost proportions in the economy, and so guarantees the unity of plans.
It is based on the utilisation of material, labour and financial balances. These balances, which are closely intertwined, reflect the various aspects in the common process of expanded socialist reproduction.
The production and consumption of definite types of products are regulated by material balances (of steel, electricity balances, etc.). The most important task of these balances is to ensure structural balances (the variety of rolled metals, for example, must conform to the requirements of the engineeringindustry). The balances reflect the mutual dependence of the various sectors of production, while the material balances determine production plans.
Production plans must be co-ordinated with the balances of fixed assets and production capacities. Production capacities, fixed assets and capital investments are increased for ensuring the planned increase of output.
Balances of labour resources are compiled to provide the required manpower for the planned scale of production, social and cultural undertakings.
Financial balances reflect the accumulation and distribution of the incomes of the state, the socialist enterprises and the population, the primary ones being the income and expenses balances of the state and the population. They are drawn up for the USSR as a whole and for the Union republics, territories and regions. The income and expenses balances of the population are indispensable in determining the 33 people's purchasing power, planning the production of consumer and retail goods, planning paid services, drawing up the State Bank cash plan, etc. In spite of a balance between the people's cash incomes and expenses, there may still be a shortage of some goods'and ci surplus of others, so it is necessary to ensure a balanced structure of trade turnover and the population's purchasing power.
All types of 'balances are incorporated in the economic balance which occupies a special place in the balance system. It incorporates balances for production, consumption and accumulation of social product, and the balance of the production, distribution, redistribution and utilisation of national income. The balance characterises the 'general economic proportions of expanded socialist reproduction.
In terms of cost value the inter-sectoral balance, which specifies the balance of social product, characterises not only the ratio of social product and national income, the funds of consumption and accumulation, and other general economic proportions, but also the structure of many sectors of production and the definite relations between them.
One of the important tasks of planning is to draw up highly effective balances so as to satisfy social requirements using the most economical and efficient methods of production with the least expenditure of resources in production and distribution.
In his report to the 24th Congress of the CPSU Alexei Kosygin said that ``at all levels of the economic system, be it the enterprise, amalgamation, ministry or the State Planning Committee, it is necessary to see to it that the adopted decision should be optimal"^^1^^.
The CPSU Programme points out that all planning and economic management bodies should focus their attention on the most rational and effective utilisation of material, labour, financial and natural resources, as well as on the elimination of unwarranted costs and losses.
Strictly speaking, the method of optimisation is based on mathematical programming. Now decisions are taken after a comparative study of the economic efficiency of several _-_-_
^^1^^ 24th Congress of the CPSU, Moscow, 1971, p. 187. 3-0235
34 alternatives. This, however, is no guarantee that the final decision will be optimal because the optimal version may well be beyond the range of comparable alternatives. The comparison and analysis though, help to select the best version.The criteria of optima (for comparing the economic efficiency of the production of inter-changeable items) under the existing methodology are based on the indicators of capital input, unit production costs or expenditure ( summary production costs plus coefficient of effectiveness multiplied by estimated capital expenditure). The most efficient version is the one which is characterised by the minimum value of the corresponding indicators.
The methods of mathematical and economic modelling employed in solving the tasks of balancing and optimisation express in mathematical forms the quantity relations between the indicators under consideration.
The elaboration of a plan begins with the analysis of the economy in the preceding period, examination of its structure, level, proportions, growth rates and efficiency, and also of social requirements, the degree to which they have been satisfied, disproportions, and the reasons why certain sectors, ministries, departments, Union republics and economic areas have failed to fulfil their plans.
In the preparatory period preceding the compilation of a plan it is necessary to work out measures for eliminating failures of some sectors and ensuring that they will fulfil the new plan (even if the assignments were to be increased due to new [requirements) by mobilising latent reserves.
An analysis of the existing economic situation gives important information about the correlation of economic sectors and elements, and economic processes; it throws light on the trends in the economy, and on social requirements and methods of satisfying them.
The final goal of socialist planning is to guarantee the continual rise of living standards. This goal can be attained by many types of economic development. The results of advance analysis of the economic situation are used in economic and mathematical modelling, which then determine the most efficient variant of capital investments by sectors and the best version of the country's economic development. This version makes concessions to growing social 35 requirements; they propose scientific ways for satisfying them, the plan's active influence on the formation of social relations, and the harmonious development of the personality in conditions of a developed socialist society which has taken the road to communism.
The framing of long-term economic development plans is preceded by the elaboration of a series of long-term forecasts, general schemes for the location of productive forces and forecasts of the structure of consumption. Economic planning must be orientated on progressive trends in the scientific and technological revolution. These trends can be ascertained only on the basis of long-term forecasts of various types of scientific and technological progress. Long-term forecasts are of primary importance, but should of course be reviewed in conformity with the actual progress of science and technology. Other forecasts (demographic, social requirements and the resources for satisfying them) are of no less importance. The same is true of forecasts concerning expected growth of known deposits, etc. Scientific forecasting is an important part of the preparatory work for planning.
The elaboration of economic iplans requires a complex approach based on the methods of economic and mathematical modelling. The economy is a complex of mutually intertwined sectors of production and spheres of services, each of which occupies its own specific place in the general economic plan. The elaboration of each section is based on the initial parameters of the entire complex which determine the position of all of its sectors. This presents no problem in conditions of the social ownership of the means of production. Economic and mathematical modelling determines the initial parameters of the entire complex and its components.
Scientific and complex planning starts with the determination of the principal parameters and chief indicators which form a basis for outlining details and framing the plan's sections. After that the detailed figures are summed up and the plan's general outline is corrected. Thus, the drawing up of plans takes the following pattern: general calculations---detailed calculations---general calculations. This helps specify synthetic and sectoral calculations, evaluate and select the best versions and co-ordinate them with the general economic balance. The work is, of course, based on __PRINTERS_P_35_COMMENT__ 3* 36 a strict system of planned calculations on the basis of macromodels, and sectoral and inter-sectoral models.
The first stage requires synthetic calculations which determine the general outline of economic development; macroeconomic models are needed to determine the growth rates of national income, social product, end product, the ratio between the consumption and accumulation funds, the effectiveness of production accumulation, enlarged structure of the economy, general stock of financial resources, capital investments, labour resources, and other basic indicators of economic development.
The results are used to draw up cross-sectoral balances for determining the structure of social production, the rates and proportions in the development of economic sectors, and balanced volumes of production in all sectors incorporated in the given cross-sectoral balance.
The next stage involves calculations of sectoral development plans and the location of production. Optimal sectoral plans ensure solutions (in terms of the given criterion of optimisation) to all of the most important problems of longterm development of the sector in question.
[37] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ CHAPTER THREE __ALPHA_LVL1__ METHODS OF ENSURING FULL EMPLOYMENTThe economic development of society greatly depends on the level of employment. The degree and structure of employment determine the country's economic potential and the welfare of its people. In turn, employment depends on the level of development of the productive forces and the social system. In the capitalist countries full employment is only possible for certain periods, but in the Soviet Union it is general and constant.
The socialist society is a society of working people. Social ownership of the means of production excludes exploitation of the labour of others; it stipulates compulsory participation of all able-bodied members of the society in socially useful work.
This compulsion is combined with the society's duty to provide jobs in the national economy for all able-bodied, people. The maintenance of full employment is one of the most important tasks of the Soviet state in its execution .of economic and organisational functions.
The high growth rates of socialist production, the swift development of the non-production sphere, and the gradual reduction of working time give rise to a continual demand for manpower. Under the circumstances, the accretion of labour resources is absorbed by the spheres of labour employment, and so every able-bodied member of society is provided with an occupation by which he can make a living.
Consequently, the Soviet Union has no employment problems such as exist in the capitalist countries, but there is 38 the problem of rational and effective employment in conformity with the tasks of communist construction.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 2. RATIONAL UTILISATION OF LABOUR RESOURCESRational employment implies utilisation of labour resources in economic sectors and districts in such a way as to guarantee high rates of expanded socialist reproduction and maximum satisfaction of people's requirements with minimum expenditure of labour in the given circumstances. The solution of this problem depends primarily on the objective possibility and the actual implementation of national (economic) planning of employment (in conjunction with the planning of other elements of economic development) and the high growth rates of the number of people employed in the field of socialised labour.
One of the most distinct features of employment planning in the USSR is the elaboration of the optimum correlation of the three mutually dependent quantities---planned scale of production (volume), planned level of labour productivity, and the numerical strength of manpower. The latter is derived from the preceding two quantities. It is directly proportional to the volume of production (the greater the volume, the greater the need for manpower), and inversely proportional to labour productivity (the higher the labour productivity, the less the need for manpower for the same volume of production).
The structure and the numerical strength of employed manpower is, however, an active quantity. Given certain conditions, the magnitude and structure of employed manpower can play a great role in expanding the volumes of production. Greater employment of the able-bodied population contributes to the growth of living standards.
Under socialism society always stands to gain from the maximum employment of the population in the economy. This is why rapid increase in the number of employed and swift growth of their labour productivity have always been salient features in the solution of the employment problem at all stages of the development of the Soviet economy.
In pre-revolutionary Russia three-quarters of those employed in the national economy were engaged in agriculture. 39 In 1928, i.e., at the beginning of all-out industrialisation, when the USSR had a population of 150 million, there were 11.4 million workers and office employees, of which 4.3 million were engaged in industry, and 750,000 in construction. Agriculture involved approximately five times as many people as all the other sectors of the economy put together. That was a time of unemployment---about 1.3 to 1.6 million, and the army of jobless was being constantly replenished by peasants. In rural areas unemployment existed in the covert form of overpopulation. Many peasants had little land and cattle, and so they only worked on their farmsteads for a part of the year. Moreover, there was a considerable number of hired farmhands, batraki, as they are known in Russia.
The Soviet Union launched its industrialisation programme alone without any outside help. There was a shortage of capital and machinery, but the country had a huge army of labour. In the first years of industrialisation enterprises were mostly built by manual labour. This was the main lever for increasing output in such industries as timber, mining and building-material manufacture. The demand for manpower was being satisfied by the mobilisation of agricultural workers. In the meantime, the collectivisation of the peasantry resulted in an increase in the acreage of ploughland, greater intensification of farm production, and development of non-productive enterprises. This ensured employment in rural areas.
By 1932 the number of workers and office employees had reached 24.2 million.
The problem of employment was in fact solved at the beginning of 1930. Many women, however, continued to work in family farmsteads because social production was still not able to satisfy all the requirements of families. There were few kindergartens, creches, canteens and other communal facilities, so it was not easy for women to join social production.
Great changes occurred in employment during the period preceding the Second World War. In the first place, the growth rates of labour productivity in all sectors of production increased considerably (workers quickly learned to operate new machines). Thus, a growing portion of the accretion 40 of output was ensured by the growth of labour productivity and not, as previously, by an increase in the number of workers.
A qualitatively new correlation between the growth of production volume, and the increase in the number of workers and labour productivity took shape in the post-war period. In the last few years of this period the growth of labour productivity has accounted for more than two-thirds of the accretion of industrial output, as against 40 per cent in the first years of industrialisation.
The present stage is characterised by slower growth rates of the numerical force of workers and office employees. In the period from 1929 to 1940, the growth rates stood at 9.5 per cent per annum, in 1951--60, they were 4.3 per cent, and in 1961--70, 3.9 per cent.
These rates, however, exceeded the growth rates of labour resources and the population, as a whole, both in the prewar and post-war periods. This called for the redistribution of labour resources.
It should be remembered that working time was considerably reduced in post-war years while the level of pay remained the same. In industry, the average working week was reduced from 47.8 hours in 1955 to 40.6 hours in 1967. As from January 1, 1968, paid holidays for a third of workers and office employees were increased to 15 days a year. Nearly 66 per cent of workers have vacations ranging from 15 to 21 working days, and 34 per cent get 24 working days and more.
The decreasing growth rates gave rise to an unprecedented absolute increase in the number of workers and office employees. The army of workers and office employees went up by 1.9 million each year between 1929 and 1940, by 2.2 million from 1951 to 1960, and by 2.9 million from 1961 to 1970.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 3. REDISTRIBUTION OF MANPOWER. PRINCIPAL TRENDSWe have already noted that in the pre-war and post-war periods the growth rates of the number of Soviet workers and office employees exceeded the overall able-bodied population growth rates. This correlation between the growth of employment and the growth of labour resources would have been 41 impossible without the redistribution of manpower, firstly, between the state sector (workers and office employees receiving wages in enterprises and organisations), and co-- operative agriculture (collective farms), and secondly, between the sphere of socialised (social) labour (all workers and office employees, collective farmers and other people outside the sphere of personal labour) and the sphere of personal labour (all able-bodied people employed in household work and family farmsteads).
The two forms of redistribution increase the number of workers and office employees. However in the first form, the increase is ensured by the reduction of employment in collective farms, i.e., without decreasing employment within the sphere of socialised labour; in the second case, it is attained by the reduction of employment in households and family farmsteads. The second form increases employment in the sphere of socialised labour at the expense of the sphere of personal labour.
Two factors determine the objective necessity and practical significance of the redistribution of manpower. The first and most important is that social productivity of labour and society's material and spiritual wealth grow, the second, that full employment and its rational structure are maintained throughout each given period.
All other conditions being equal, the possibilities for the country's economic development are best when the portion of the able-bodied population engaged in social labour is greatest. But the degree of participation and the proportions of the distribution of social labour among the members of society depend on a number of objective factors which act as the links in a chain. In other words, the higher the level of social productivity of labour in the sphere of material production, the more manpower society can allocate for the satisfaction of material, communal, social and cultural requirements, i.e., for the non-productive sphere. In turn, as the non-productive sphere becomes more developed, so, all things being equal, more people employed in the sphere of personal labour can join the sphere of social labour, and more people become interested in joining it.
Thus, we can draw the general conclusion that the social productivity of labour in the sphere of material production 42 is decisive for the effective distribution and redistribution of labour resources and their rational utilisation.
The country's economic might depends to a considerable extent on the proportions in which workers are distributed among different sectors of the economy or industry. These proportions cannot be set down subjectively, they are dependent on the structure of the economy and production in the given period. They change, however, under the influence of corresponding economic policies for developing the sectors or industries which are decisive for the satisfaction of society's requirements.
The redistribution of manpower, which is important in the solution of the employment problem, is conducted in several directions. The redistribution of manpower from household and family farmsteads into the sphere of social economy is important in terms of its scale and social significance. As a result housewives and other people who can be described as in or near to the category of ``assisting members of the family" become workers or office employees. The results of this process are tantamount to the natural growth of labour resources. In addition the process increases social productivity of labour, since labour productivity in the household and family farmsteads is much lower than in social production. Finally, the process is an important factor in solving the problem of emancipating women, as they account for more than nine-tenths of all able-bodied people engaged in household work and in family farmsteads. In this connection it should be noted that the share of women among workers and office employees is constantly rising---it was 24 per cent in 1928, 39 per cent in 1940 and 51 per cent in 1970.
The theory that when the husband's income is high, the wife prefers to stay at home instead of taking part in social production has been refuted by the experience of the Soviet Union. The participation of a woman in social labour depends primarily on her own earnings, and not on the earnings of her husband. Generally speaking, her earnings in the Soviet Union are as high as those of her husband, because a woman gets the same pay as a man for doing the same job.
One of the most important factors which induce women to work is the improvement of public services. The Soviet Union is expanding the network of children's institutions, 43 boarding schools, schools with extended hours, canteens, cafes and public services.
The second direction in which the labour force is redistributed is between the material and non-material spheres, between the different sectors within each of these spheres, between various branches of production within economic sectors, and in enterprises.
In 1970, forty-five workers out of every 100 were employed in industry, construction, transport and communications, 7 in trading, public catering, purchasing, and material and technical supply. Out of every 21 people engaged in the nonproduction sphere, 15 were employed in the fields of education, public health, science and culture.
The future will see new radical changes brought about in the structure of employment. The number of workers in the non-production sphere will be increasing much faster than in the sphere of material production. As a result there will be a sharp increase in the percentage of those employed in the fields of education, public health, science and culture.
Mechanisation, wide application of chemicals and higher labour productivity will reduce the absolute number of people employed in agriculture. The surplus workers from agriculture will replenish the staffs of enterprises and organisations in non-productive and non-agricultural spheres.
Manpower will be redistributed in industry. So far redistribution brought about by mechanisation and automation has been generally restricted to enterprises, as the rapidly growing volume of production could not be ensured by merely raising labour productivity; so the enterprises switched workers from sectors where they had become redundant to sectors which required additional manpower. Today, however, labour productivity accounts for the bulk of output accretion; furthermore in many large towns there is a tendency not to continue the expansion of industry; major urban enterprises will gradually reduce the absolute numerical strength of their staffs. This will affect first of all the coal, timber, building materials and other labour-consuming industries. Unlike the manufacturing industries, the extraction industries (coal, timber, etc.) will release some of their workers to other industries.
44Technical progress embraces primarily sectors with harmful conditions and unskilled or semi-skilled manual labour. Redundancy in these sectors will therefore free society of many primitive professions. Redundant workers in these professions will have to change their occupation.
As previously the redistribution and retraining of the redundant labour force will be conducted in a planned manner, and the costs will be met by the social consumption funds. Since it is mostly the semi-skilled professions and manual labour that are becoming redundant, the mastery of new professions or skills will result in higher pay and better living standards for the retrained workers.
A slight increase in the employment of retired people is an additional source for the replenishment of the labour force. Greater longevity is one of the aspects of the Soviet Union's demographic structure which are increasing the number and percentage of retired people in the total population. The Soviet state believes that it would be wrong to raise the retirement age. Currently the retirement age in the USSR (60 for men, 55 for women) is lower than in most other countries. The continual improvement of working conditions, living standards and health enable people who have reached retirement age to go on working, provided, of course, that certain conditions are guaranteed (reduced working days and weeks, etc.). In many professions people of a pensionable age retain anything from 50 to 100 per cent of their pension in addition to full pay if they continue to work.
Finally, the third direction in the coming period will be territorial redistribution. This is explained by the need to provide manpower for the eastern regions which have tremendous natural resources but a certain shortage of labour. According to some estimates, the eastern regions need an army of several million workers. It is not so difficult to bring them over from other regions, but the problem is how to induce them to stay there. The answer lies in the creation of greater comfort and better conditions in the eastern regions than elsewhere.
Industrial and cultural centres are already dotted around on the huge territory stretching from the Urals to the Sakhalin. They already attract many people from the western and central regions.
45The problem has, however, not been fully solved. Since the migration of workers in the Soviet Union is a matter of voluntary choice on the basis of personal material interests, the planning, state and public organisations are devoting serious attention to the matter.
The labour resources are distributed not only from west to east, but also within economic regions. This is one of the aspects of the redistribution of manpower stemming from the changing structure of the economy. From it stems the problem of employing the labour resources of small towns. Unlike big towns, which have developed complexes of production and non-production enterprises capable of absorbing their labour resources more or less fully, small towns and certain medium-sized towns are unable to employ them rationally due to the insufficient or one-sided development of industry (predominance of masculine or feminine labour, for instance).
This is quite an urgent problem, since 17.4 million people, or 13 per cent of the total urban population (as of January 1, 1969), live in towns with less than 10,000 inhabitants. It is being solved by the opening of small, but technically well-equipped, branch-enterprises of neighbouring industrial centres. Small towns in developed agricultural areas specialise in servicing (repair of farm machinery, processing of agricultural produce, etc.). This is a contributory factor in out of season periods since farm-workers can then be usefully employed in agricultural enterprises.
The problem of full employment can never be solved completely in the sense that new tasks are continually arising. Society must solve them so that every able-bodied person can work willingly and with interest according to his ability and strength for the benefit of the whole society, and not only for satisfying his own requirements.
The following are the basic tasks for the present and in the near future:
1. Better replenishment of manpower in the sphere of social labour, particularly by adequate study of young people . about to take up occupations, as to their interests, inclinations and talents; elaboration of elastic forms to mobilise people for social labour who wish and are able to work parttime (housewives, students, retired people, etc.);~
462. Development of an elaborate computer-based service providing information on the requirements in manpower and planned release of the labour force. The system should cover the entire economy, from the enterprise to the highest forms of their amalgamations, so as to supply the necessary information to all citizens and planning organisations;~
3. Creation of more opportunities in the out of season periods for people occupied in sectors with considerable seasonal work (agriculture, for instance, and certain sectors of industry);~
4. Development of the system of preliminary professional training of workers to be released due to the planned complex mechanisation and automation of production, so that their transfer to new jobs on the basis of material interest and free will entail as little expense as possible to the society and the workers in question.
[47] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ CHAPTER FOUR __ALPHA_LVL1__ BALANCES OF LABOUR RESOURCES __ALPHA_LVL2__ 1. GOALS AND TASKSThe correct ratio of the numerical strength of labour resources to the requirements of the economy is one of the principal prerequisites for the balanced development of the economy and culture. Planned organisation of the economy ensures a preliminary assessment of the country's manpower needs, expediency of the distribution of labour resources between economic sectors, and full employment of the ablebodied population. The planned supply of manpower for the economy and the rational employment of the able-bodied population are shown in the summary balance of labour resources.
The balance covers the following items:~
a. Provision of all economic sectors with sufficient manpower for the planned growth of industrial and agricultural output, capital construction, transport and communications taking account of the planned rise in labour productivity and the advance of science, culture, education, public health, trade, public catering and other sectors of the national economy.
To accomplish this task it is necessary to distribute rationally the available manpower among the economic sectors, mobilise young people for social production, organise professional training and retraining of workers, and raise the cultural and technical level of employees in conformity with the requirements of scientific and technological accomplishments.
b. Full employment of the able-bodied population. The planned development of the economy is based on the correct 48 proportions in the distribution of labour and means of production between the different sectors of the economy. The proportion presupposes the correct ratios of the available labour resources to the needs of the economy. Consequently, an estimate must be made of general and additional requirements of the labour force in all sectors of the economy and culture, as well as of the sources for meeting these requirements.
In solving this problem, we must bear in mind a distinctive feature of the socialist economy; the fact that in conformity with the state plan for increasing the volume of production, the demand for labour increases more rapidly than the numerical strength of the able-bodied population.
To ensure high growth rates of the labour force it is necessary to mobilise young people of working age and women engaged in unproductive housework.
The excess of the demand for manpower over the growth rates of the able-bodied population, the increase in the number of students, the steady reduction of working time, and longer vacations require a thrifty and rational employment of the available labour resources.]
c. Provision of rational proportions and conjunction in the distribution of labour resources according to occupations. The distribution of labour resources according to occupation ---in the economy, schools of all levels, and the household---affords an opportunity to establish a correlation between the numbers of the able-bodied population and its employment in the economy and the household, and also to evaluate the provision of employment for the able-bodied population.
The higher the degree of employment in the economy, the more rational is the utilisation of the labour force. The number of active workers in the social economy is universely proportional to the number of students and people engaged in household work. The number of people engaged in household work, however, is limited.
d. Distribution of manpower according to social groups. The groups---workers and office employees, collective farmers, people working on family farmsteads, and others---are distributed according to the economic sectors.
e. Distribution of labour resources between production and services. Production comprises industry, agriculture, freight 49 transport, communications in production, trade, public catering, material and technical supply, and marketing. The services comprise education, culture, the arts, science, public health, sport, housing and communal services, passenger transport, management bodies, etc.
The share of the employed in the services is steadily rising---from 11.7 per cent in 1940 to 22.9 per cent in 1971. The number of workers in public health, education, and science has increased by more than 150 per cent.^^1^^
In future, the development of the society's productive forces and the growth of labour productivity will permit society to allocate more labour for services.
Priority will be given to the development of education, science, culture, the arts, public health protection, sport, social security, housing and communal services.
The growth rates of the number of employed in the services are not fixed arbitrarily; they are determined by objective circumstances---the level and growth rates of labour productivity, the level of the country's economic development, and the accumulation of national wealth. The number of the population and the level of its qualifications are important prerequisites for the growth of employment in services.
The correct redistribution of labour resources among material production and services is of great importance, since it influences the rates of economic development, the level of culture and the standard of living. Any unwarranted transfer of manpower into services can deprive society of a portion of material benefits. Unreasonable reduction of the number of workers in services can restrict the rates of economic development, since such a reduction retards the rise of the cultural and technical level, the advance of medical care, etc.
f. Determination of the correct proportions in the distribution of labour resources between industry and agriculture. The ratio of employed in these sectors reflects the process of industrialisation and the level of labour productivity in agriculture. One of the economic laws of the growth of social production in this country is the steady fall in the number of people employed in agriculture. In 1940, some 54 _-_-_
~^^1^^ National Economy of the USSR in 1922--1972, Moscow, 1972, p. 344.
__PRINTERS_P_49_COMMENT__ 4---0235 50 per cent of the working population were employed in agriculture (including family farmsteads), in 1960---39 per cent, and in 1971---only 26 per cent^^1^^.Agriculture will continue to release many workers for other sectors of the economy thanks to comprehensive mechanisation, electrification and labour productivity.
g. Provision of correct proportions in the distribution of labour resources between town and country. The transfer of labour resources from the country to the town is a natural outcome of the growth of employment in industry and construction and of the reduction of employment in agriculture. The migration of the rural population to towns, however, is affected by the increasing employment in the servicing sectors in rural areas.
A considerable number of people released from agricultural production find employment in the rural services. In addition, the countryside is developing industries for processing farm products and raw materials and for repairing machines and equipment. Large-scale building work stimulates the development of the building-material industry. Some employees of such enterprises do seasonal work in agriculture.
h. Provision of correct distribution of labour resources among different regions. This depends on the rates of development of productive forces, population growth and labour resources in different regions. The redistribution of labour resources among economic regions is necessitated by uneven distribution in the past and more rapid development of regions with rich natural resources but small population density.
i. Determination of the rates of raising the qualification level. This calls for the setting of proportions between the need and scope of training skilled workers. The scope of training young people is determined on the basis of two principal factors--- the needs of the economy and the available number of young people.
The planned development of the economy and culture ensures jobs in social production for the younger generation. Young people receive professional training in advance.
The country plans the complex and long-term development of technology and the training of skilled personnel. In doing _-_-_
^^1^^ National Economy of the USSR in 1922--1972, Moscow, 1972, p. 343.
51 so, the planning agencies determine the correlation between the development of technology and the training of skilled workers, the influence of technological progress on the size and skill of manpower, and the professional composition of the labour force, as well as the numbers of qualified workers required by industry, construction, transport and agriculture.The balance of labour resources should not be reduced to a mere statement of the proportions taking shape in the distribution of labour among economic sectors and regions or between town and country. It must actively influence the drafting of planned schemes for distributing the productive forces among regions and towns and among various economic sectors.
The solution of these economic problems requires the maximum efforts, as it involves a complex of inter-connected processes. Problems of labour are closely linked with all the sections in the national economic plan. The balance of labour resources, therefore, is an important component of the state plan for economic and cultural development.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 2. METHODOLOGY FOR DRAWING UP BALANCESThe first stage in drawing up balances of labour resources for projected periods^^1^^ is the determination of the availability of labour resources.
Assessments of labour resources are of primary economic importance. The growth of the able-bodied population, as well as the technological level and organisation of production determine the development of social production and the growth rates of labour productivity.
Determination of the total numerical strength of labour resources. The essence of assessing labour resources for short-term or long-term periods of planning lies in the determination of the possible growth of the able-bodied population and fluctuations of numbers in sex and age groups.
_-_-_~^^1^^ A detailed scheme of the balance of labour resources for the entire economy is given in Appendix 1.
__PRINTERS_P_51_COMMENT__ 4* 52The number of able-bodied labour force for the short-term and long-term planned periods is determined by an assessment of the changes in the structure and migration of the population.
According to the methodology employed by Soviet planning and statistical organisations, labour resources comprise:
1. able-bodied population of working age;
2. able-bodied people above retiring age but still working;
3. juveniles up to 16 engaged in production. Servicemen are excluded; the age qualification is from 16
to 59 inclusive for men, and from 16 to 54 inclusive for women.
The lower margin is determined by social as well as physiological factors. The law on compulsory 8-year education states that juveniles up to 16 have to go to school; they are not included in the able-bodied population, though some of them take part in productive labour.
The upper margin is fixed by the existing pension laws.
The able-bodied population of working age is calculated by subtracting the number of Group I and Group II war and labour invalids and the number of retired people receiving old-age pensions on privileged terms from the number of people in the working-age group.
The number of invalids for the short-term and long-term periods is calculated from the percentage of them in the working-age population in the preceding years. Possible changes in the projected periods are taken into account.
Calculations on the distribution of the labour force according to occupations and economic sectors. Establishing the right balance between the needs of the economy and the available manpower is one of the principal methodological questions in planning the distribution of labour resources by occupations.
The economy's need for manpower for each of the planned periods depends on two factors:
1. planned increase in industrial and agricultural output, and development of capital construction, transport, communications and other sectors of the economy;
2. growth of labour productivity.
The number of workers and office employees is determined individually for each sector of the economy in conformity with the calculations made in the plan for labour.
53Different sectors of the economy have different growth rates of labour productivity and output. This affects the distribution of labour resources among the different sectors of material production and services.
The number of workers for the service industries is determined by the growth rate of the volume of work and the norms for labour input. Each section has its own units of norms, and the norms are different for different towns and rural areas and for different regions (depending on the number and density of the population, etc.).
Balances of labour resources in collective farms. Correct estimates of the number of collective farmers employed in social production is of paramount importance. This is why the balances of labour resources in collective farms are drawn up.^^1^^
The balances show the degree to which collective farms are provided with manpower and the feasibility of releasing part of the labour force for other sectors of the economy or other collective farms and state farms. The balance covers the average annual requirements and the needs of the busiest month of farm work so as to determine additional sources of manpower for bringing in the harvest in the shortest possible time.
These balances are essential for drafting summary balances of labour resources in territories, regions, and republics.
The collective-farm labour resources comprise the following:
1. Inhabitants of collective farms of working age, excluding pupils and students of 16 and over, not employed in production; collective farmers working permanently in state enterprises, organisations or institutions; war and labour invalids of working age;
2. Collective farmers over retiring age and juveniles under 16 engaged in farm production.
Collective farms have their own industrial enterprises and repair shops; they carry out large-scale building work; inhabitants of collective farms are employed in trade, education, etc.
_-_-_^^1^^ The plan of such balance is given in Appendix 2.
54Thus, the requirements of manpower are calculated separately for agricultural production, industrial production, construction work and other sectors.
Manpower for agricultural production is calculated on the basis of volume of work, norms of labour input and planned growth of labour productivity.
The planned expenditure of labour is the sum total of direct arid indirect expenditures.
Direct expenditure is established by calculating the norms for the planned volume of work in crop-growing, cattle-breeding and other sectors of farm production, and the planned norms of labour input per hectare, per head of cattle, etc.
Indirect expenditure comprises general administrative and management costs (maintenance of the administration and management personnel, agronomists, engineers, technicians, service staff, workers in repair shops, etc.).
The growth of labour productivity is calculated from the following factors: level of mechanisation, improvement of technology, employment of advanced methods of cultivation and stock-breeding, improvement of labour organisation and the utilisation of working time during the year, reduction of indirect labour expenditure, etc.
The average annual number of collective farmers for doing engineering and construction jobs at the farm is calculated on the basis of planned volume of work, norms of labour input and planned growth of labour productivity.
Large collective farms maintain their own kindergartens, clubs, libraries and other cultural establishments. The number of employees for these institutions is calculated according to the planned expansion of the network of cultural and communal establishments, norms of labour input and the staff list. Norms of labour input are calculated on the basis of existing levels, staff norms and the actual situation in the operating network.
Excess or shortage of labour resources is established by comparing the need for manpower with the actual number of able-bodied people in the collective farm. In case of excess, plans are drawn up for organised transfer of labour to other sectors of the economy.
55Balance calculations indicate the sources from which collective farms can draw additional manpower when seasonal work is in full swing. The following groups of people take part in harvesting:
a. able-bodied members of farmers' families who normally work in the household or in family farmsteads;
b. farmers over retiring age;
c. schoolchildren of 16 and over;
d. juveniles under 16;
e. families of employees of state enterprises and organisations who live on collective farms;
f. pupils of rural educational establishments who come from families not employed on collective farms.
In case of need, employees of state enterprises and organisations are also mobilised for agricultural work.
Determination of the number of students of working age. When it comes to the distribution of labour resources among different occupations, it is very important to determine the number of students not engaged in production. This group comprises people of 16 and over who study in general secondary schools, vocational schools, higher secondary schools or special secondary schools. Students who join the staffs of enterprises or organisations to gain industrial experience during their courses are excluded from the total; they are counted as workers or office employees.
The average annual number of students of 16 and over is calculated from the planned number of pupils in the 9th and 10th classes of general schools and other educational establishments for the given and following academic years. In the year covered by the plan students of the given academic year study 8 months (from January to August, including vacations) or two-thirds of the calendar year, while students of the following academic year study 4 months (September to December) or a third of the year. The average annual number of students in the year under consideration is the sum of two-thirds of the students of the given academic year and one-third of students of the next academic year. The portion of students under 16 is determined from the age [distribution in the corresponding educational esta, bHshroents, ;
56Determination of the number of people engaged in household work. Household work also draws a portion of the ablebodied population away from the national economy. The size of this portion depends on the size of families, complex development of economic sectors in different regions, migration of the population, birth rates, number of large families, etc. The number of people occupied in the household decreases with the expansion of the network of children's institutions (kindergartens, creches, boarding schools, schools with extended hours, etc.).
The minimum number of people engaged in household work is determined by the number of women with children of a definite age. The size and structure of families also count. Estimates are made of the number of children of pre-school age to be enrolled in kindergartens, and the number of children between 7 and 14 in boarding schools and schools with extended hours. The fact that many women stay at home to take care of sick or aging members of the family is taken into account. Their numbers are established by an analysis of the able-bodied population not engaged in social production.
The summary balance of labour resources plays an active role in the elaboration of the economic plan by ensuring more rational use of labour resources. This is seen in the right correlations as regards distribution of labour according to principal occupations, economic sectors and different regions. Of particular importance is the formation of an optimal ratio of employment in material production and services. In material production the number of people employed in various sectors indicates the level of output and labour productivity; in the service industries it shows the scale of development of culture, public health, communal services, etc. The criterion of rational distribution among various sectors is that the maximum services are provided with the material and labour resources available. But this is only one aspect of the summary balance. Another, of no less importance, is that it serves as the basis for elaborating measures which provide the national economy with skilled personnel and ensure a redistribution of manpower among economic sectors and regions. These measures are embodied in economic plans for the training of skilled workers in 57 vocational schools, enterprises, on various courses, etc. For the summary balance of labour resources to be successful it is necessary to draw up a system of specific balance and to make additional calculations. One of them is the balance of skilled manpower.
The basic task of this balance^^1^^ is to determine the economy's need for skilled manpower in individual trades, and also to determine from which sources this manpower will come (vocational schools, courses, individual training, etc.).
The balance calculations on the additional need of skilled workers and sources of replenishment start at enterprise level.
The additional need for skilled workers in individual trades is calculated with due regard for the increase in the number of workers and replenishment of those leaving employment. The increase is established by subtracting the number of workers in different professions in the preceding year from the number in the planned period.
The calculations are made on the basis of the size and structure of the pool of machinery and equipment, the plan of organisational and technological measures, estimates of the volumes of production and the level of labour productivity, and the norms of labour input. The peculiarities of each sector of production are taken into account when choosing the calculation methods. The general principles of these calculations are expounded in Chapter Seven.
The provision of all sectors of the economy with manpower is based on the balance calculations of the additional requirement of workers and office employees and the sources for meeting this requirement^^2^^.
This balance is concerned with the growth and replenishment of manpower. The growth of workers and office employees is the difference between the general need in the preceding year and the year covered by the plan. The calculations for replenishment are made separately in accordance with the debit factors of manpower reduction---natural causes, people leaving to take up full-time studying, national service call-ups, or expiration of labour contracts.
_-_-_~^^1^^ A model is given in Appendix 3.
^^2^^ A model is given in Appendi? 4.
58Thus, the balance method in planning labour is essential for elaborating the national economic plan; it is a way of determining the rational utilisation of labour resources in the planned period. Therein lies its role and significance. The balance is not planned; it is an instrument for planning, and therefore one of the primary stipulations of high-level economic planning is the continual improvement of the methods of compiling balances.
[59] Appendix 1 PLAN OF THE GENERAL BALANCE OF LABOUR RESOURCES Period under review Period covered by the plan Total including Total including town country town country I. Labour resources (natural movement in-- clusive) Total including: population of working age (non-employed Group I and Group II invalids excluded) Employed people in the senior age groups and juveniles under 16 II. Distribution of labour resources according to occupation In the economy Total Per cent of all labour resources Students of 16 and over not engaged in produc-- tion Total Per cent of all labour resources Household and family farmsteads Total Per cent of all labour resources Family farmsteads III. Distribution of those employed (including people occupied in fa- mily farmsteads) among the spheres of produc- tion and economic sectors In the economy Total including: 60 Continuation Appendix 2 61 BALANCE CALCULATIONS OP LABOUR RESOURCES IN COLLECTIVE FARMS Period under review Period covered by the plan Total including Total including town country town country 1. Sectors of material production Total including: a) industry b) construction c) agriculture including: ---state enterprises ---collective farms ---family farmsteads d) timber industry e) transport arid commu-- nications (servicing production sectors) f) trade, public cater-- ing, purchasing and supply g) other sectors of ma-- terial production 2. In non-productive sectors Total including: a) education, training of personnel, the arts b) science and related services c) housing and commu-- nal services d) medical services, sport, social security e) transport and com-- munications (for ser-- vices and the public) f) organs of state, man-- agement bodies of co-operative and pub-- lic organisations, credit and insurance institutions Period under review Period covered by the plan average annual ' estimates he busiest month average annual estimates the busiest month 1. Requirements in labour force p. Total ] including: agriculture industry construction other sectors 2. Supply of labour force by: able-bodied collective farmers working farmers of senior age groups and juveniles seasonal workers including: student-farmers of 16 and over not engaged in production families of people employed in state enterprises students of 16 and over from families unaffiliated with collective farms employees of state enterprises and institutions unaffiliated with collective farms 62 Appendix 3 SUMMARY BALANCE CALCULATIONS OF ADDITIONAL SKILLED LABOUR REQUIREMENTS AND SOURCES OF MEETING THEM IN THE PLANNED PERIOD Number of skilled workers Additional requirements Sources Total including graduates of vocational schools secondary school leavers training on courses in enterprises for accretion for replenishment Total including: I. Industry of which; petrochemical oil oil processing coal engineering and metal working of which: engineering in the chemical and oil industries timber, paper, and wood processing building materials others II. Construction III. Agriculture Total including: 63 Continuation Number of skilled workers Additional requirements Sources Total including graduates of vocational schools secondary school leavers training on courses in -5 enterprises for accretion for replenishment 1. state farms and other state agricultural enterprises and organisations Total including: tractor and harvester drivers lorry drivers other skilled workers 2. collective farms Total including: tractor and harvester drivers lorry drivers other skilled workers IV. Transport including railway transport V. Communications VI. Trade and public catering 64 Appendix 4 SUMMARY BALANCE OF ADDITIONAL REQUIREMENTS OF WORKERS AND OFFICE EMPLOYEES AND SOURCES FOR MEETING THE REQUIREMENTS Period under review Period covered by the plan Number of workers and office employees in the Union republic (ministry or de-- partment) Additional requirement of workers and office employees Total including: accretion replenishment of losses (to education-- al courses, to the armed forces, due to the expiration of labour contracts, retirements or to natural causes) Sources of replenishment Total including: vocational schools general secondary school leavers incomplete general secondary school leavers day higher and special secondary school leavers and students of special secon-- dary schools who are employed permanently outside able-bodied population engaged in household work collective farmers released from work on their farms ex-servicemen, pensioners, others organised recruitment of workers overpopulation mobilisation of youth [65] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ CHAPTER FIVE __ALPHA_LVL1__ INDICATORS AND THE SYSTEMUnder the planned system of economy based on social ownership of the means of production particular attention is focussed on planning labour. Planned development of the economy allows one to assess the requirements in manpower, organise the training of the required number of workers of corresponding skills and grades, distribute them among sectors and regions, and guarantee rational utilisation of labour resources in each sector and sphere of production. These goals are set in the course of planning, the principal purposes of which are:
a) to ensure a steady growth of labour productivity;
b) the most rational use of labour resources;
c) the correct pay structure.
At each stage the elaboration of plans is in line with the clearly formulated tasks of economic development. The principal economic task of the current five-year plan (1971--75) is to ensure a considerable rise in the material and cultural standards of living on the basis of high growth rates of socialist production, greater efficiency, scientific and technological progress, and accelerated growth of labour productivity.
The tasks to be solved by the economic planning of labour predetermine the plan's content and the character of its basic indicators. The latter include the following:
a) growth of labour productivity;
b) number of workers and office employees;
c) wages fund and average wages.
In addition, the planning of labour incorporates the elaboration of plans for the training and redistribution of skilled __PRINTERS_P_65_COMMENT__ 5---0235 66 workers. Enterprises are familiarised with the principal tasks of planning labour through fixed indicators for raising labour productivity and the general wages fund. Other indicators are calculated by the enterprises themselves and are then included in sectoral and economic plans.
The labour plan is one of the most important components of the national economic plan. Its system of indicators is designed to give a correct representation of the economy of social labour, and the degree of utilisation of manpower in all sectors of the economy; it ensures optimal correlations between the growth of labour productivity and wages. The system is closely linked with the other indicators of the national economic plan, such as the volume of production and capital construction, design and use of new machinery, production and circulation costs, size of consumption and accumulation funds in the national income, plans for social and cultural development, trade turnover, and the financial plan (state budget, cash plan of the State Bank, balances of the population's cash incomes and expenses).
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 2. INTERRELATIONS BETWEEN ECONOMIC, SECTORAL,There are three principal stages in planning labour:
a) planning of labour for individual enterprises and production associations, ranging from the establishment of norms for working time per operation to the summary labour plan for the enterprise;
b) sectoral planning, ranging from plans for each enterprise and production association to the summary sectoral labour plan;
c) national economic planning---inclusion of sectoral plans in a single summary labour plan for industry as a whole, the republic and the national economy.
These stages are closely interlinked and co-ordinated. The new economic system requires a higher scientific level of planned assignments at all stages of planning, a conjunction of common state planning with full profit-and-loss accounting at enterprises, centralised guidance, local initiative and a greater role for production staff. But each stage of planning 67 has its own particular methods and methodology of calculating the plans.
At the enterprise, planning is based on work quota setting, i.e., establishment of norms of work time per operation or unit of product, and the calculation of manpower needed for the aggregate amount of work giving due consideration to the trades and qualifications of workers.
The enterprise determines the necessary expenditure of work time at each sector of production. This is an important prerequisite for the planned distribution of work time in the entire economy and among individual economic sectors and regions.
The norms of work time at the enterprise, which are set with regard for rising technological level and better organisation of production, determine the level of labour productivity; they serve as the basis for calculating the required number of workers.
The last stage of planning at the enterprise is the compilation of its summary labour plan which concurrently serves as the initial stage for the compilation of the sectoral labour plan. At this stage, labour productivity (the principal indicator) is expressed by the output (in terms of value) per average worker. The level and output growth rates per worker depend on the indicators of the volume of production and the calculated number of employees.
Calculations during the elaboration of sectoral and national economic plans are bmade in a ^different manner.
The sectoral plan indicators must provide a (generalised characteristic of the development of an aggregate number of enterprises. The indicators, therefore, must also be generalised.
The indicator of the output per employee, for instance, must generalise the final calculations in individual enterprises and concurrently reflect the peculiar aspects of the sector's development as a whole. This indicator ties the planning of labour at the enterprise to the sectoral planning of labour. It is an initial and generalised indicator for satisfying the requirements of sectoral and national economic planning of labour when it is impossible to apply direct norms of the expenditure of work time for certain processes or products in calculating the number of workers and the level of labour productivity.
__PRINTERS_P_67_COMMENT__ 5* 68At this stage it is impossible to take into account all the development tasks of the sector arising out of the economic development plan as a whole. The need for the priority development of one or another field of production or sector of industry necessitates changes in the existing distribution of working time among individual sectors of production. The changes within sectors require reviews, corrections and specifications of plans for individual enterprises and production associations. This is an important task of sectoral planning.
The enterprise plans are co-ordinated with the development plans of sectors and the national economy by correcting the corresponding indicators (having due regard for sectoral and economic factors which determine the necessary expenditure of working time) and also by co-ordinating the items in the economic incentive funds at all stages of planning.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 3. ELABORATION OF SUMMARY AND ORIENTED LABOURThe Administrative, sectoral and territorial aspects of labour planning are co-ordinated by a system of summary and oriented plans.
Oriented planning gives labour indicators for economic systems and organisations, i.e., for republics, ministries, departments, production associations and enterprises.
Summary labour plans reflect the correlations in the distribution of labour resources and wage funds in the whole economy. They fix the summary or final indicators for labour productivity, numerical strength of labour and the wages fund. The indicators result from an extension of the corresponding indicators in the oriented plans.
Summary and oriented planning supplement each other, and together they form a system which furnishes correct labour indicators for sectors and territories.
Sectoral planning has lately gained in importance in the USSR. It solves problems of production links and proportions in the plan, rational distribution of labour resources and wages funds among various sectors, priority development of key sectors of the economy, and correct correlations in pay for workers in different sectors.
69Sectoral indicators are given in plans for Union republics and the national economy as a whole, and for ministries, departments and other organisations.
This requires a common grouping of economic sectors compulsory for all organisations which draw up plans. The groups are as follows: industry, construction, agriculture, transport (all types), communications, trade, public catering, purchasing, supply, housing and communal services, public health, education, the press, cultural institutions, science and scientific services, credit and insurance agencies, state and economic management bodies and others.
The composition of oriented plans must ensure the compilation of the summary labour plan. Each organisation (enterprise), therefore, is allocated a definite wages fund and a definite number of primary workers (workers engaged in the basic activity of the given organisation) and secondary workers.
The number of indicators in oriented plans depends on the nature of ministries' activity and the structure of their subordinate organisations and enterprises.
With common grouping of activity sectors it is possible to include in the enterprise and organisation plans the sum-total of workers and their wages, and also to compile on this basis a summary labour plan with assignments independent of administrative subordination. It gives an accurate reflection of the distribution of labour resources and wages funds among organisations and sectors and actively influences this distribution.
Union ministries and departments calculate the number of employees and the size of wages funds for enterprises in the Union republics. The summary calculations cover all enterprises on the territory of the republic, irrespective of their subordination.
The area indicator---for republics and economic regions--- is essential for the elaboration of the summary labour plan for the country as a whole. It determines the additional need for personnel with due regard for local resources, ensures faster development of formerly backward regions; correct location of educational establishments, housing and cultural 'facilities; regulates trade turnover, cash income of the population, etc.
70 __ALPHA_LVL2__ 4. METHODS OF PLANNING THE INDICATORSCalculations of the number of employees, which are closely linked with the elaboration of the labour resources balance and the personnel training plan, are essential for planning labour. The corner-stone of these calculations is the substantiation of the additional requirements for manpower.
Labour plans cannot be drawn up without a reliable system for accounting labour resources. The actual correlations in the distribution of labour resources and their employment in sectors and regions are based on the labour resources balance.
|
The labour resources balance is becoming increasingly intense with high economic development rates. The opening of new enterprises and enlargement of old ones provide additional jobs; the demand for manpower is increasing both in production and in the services. Economists estimate that in the next few years the number of employed among the able-bodied population will reach its natural limit.
In view of this, the operating enterprises plan expansion of output on the basis of higher technical standards and labour productivity without increasing the number of workers. Steps are being taken to improve employment of labour resources; the system of economic incentives is being reviewed; enterprises are being encouraged to reduce the number of employees while retaining relatively unaffected funds of wages; they are permitted to use the portion of the wages fund which they save to provide workers who combine professions and perform additional functions with additional pay.
The methods of determining the number of workers for each sector of production are differentiated according to the specific nature of labour and production. Assignments for labour productivity in industry, construction, agriculture, etc., are calculated on the basis of the planned volume of work and the level of output. The planned numerical strength of the industrial and production personnel in industrial sectors, for instance, is determined by dividing the total output in the planned period by the average output per worker in the same period. If the total output is valued 71 at 875 million rubles, and the average output per worker, at 3,500 rubles, then the number of employees will be 875,000,000 : 3,500=250,000.
The calculations can be made from the percentage growth (indicators) of output, labour productivity and the base numerical strength of employees. If output is to be increased by 15.5 per cent and the average output per worker, by 10 per cent, then the number of employees must be increased by 5 per cent [(115.5 : 110) -100--100].
If the numerical strength of employees during the base period was 250,000, in the planned period 262,500 workers [(250,000--105) : 100] will be required.
Calculations are also made of the number of employees in other enterprises and organisations (workers in housing and communal services, children's institutions, research organisations) on the basis of existing staff registers and the norms of services.
These methods are applied in the services (medical care, culture, education, etc.) where labour productivity is not planned. The number of teachers for general schools, for instance, depends on the planned number