__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 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 of classes and the curriculum. Every primary school class (1-3 classes) must have one teacher; the number of teachers in these classes must correspond to the number of classes. In the senior classes, the number of teachers depends on the number of hours per week on the curriculum and the number of hours per week per teacher. The number of teachers for each subject depends on the number of hours per subject set in the curriculum. Additional hours for group lessons in physical culture, foreign languages and labour are also taken into account. Similar calculations are made in determining the number of teachers or instructors in other educational establishments.
In the public health service the number of medical personnel is determined from the planned number of beds in hospitals and sanatoria, and available accommodation in children's institutions, holiday hotels, etc., in conformity with the staff norms and the available personnel, as well as part-time 'workers.
The number of workers for research, cultural, educational and entertainment organisations is planned on the basis 72 of staff registers with an eye to the expansion of the network of these institutions.
In the labour plans of ministries, departments and Union republics the number of workers and office employees for economic sectors is given in average annual figures derived from the balance calculations of additional requirements for manpower and sources of replenishment.
The sources comprise educational establishments, youngage volunteers, demobilised servicemen and labour recruitment; local opportunities at enterprises and organisations are also taken into account.
All these calculations serve as the basis of plans for training personnel and raising their qualification, for providing jobs for school-leavers and for redistributing manpower between economic sectors and regions. The calculations are based on data which enterprises, building agencies and other organisations supply together with draft plans for the corresponding year, and on data provided by state statistical organisations.
Labour plans are drawn up together with the wages funds, which serve as approved indicators for enterprises, and the average level of pay. These indicators are calculated both for the national economy as a whole and for Union republics, sectors and each category of workers.
The planned state regulation of wages in the Soviet Union aims at ensuring correct distribution of manpower among economic sectors and the level of wages which corresponds to the conditions and quality of labour.
In this connection labour planning pursues the following ends:
a) provision of correlations under which the growth rates of labour productivity outstrip the growth rates of average wages;
b) consistent implementation in all sectors of the economy of the principle of pay for the amount and quality of labour, and the establishment of correct correlations in the level of pay in economic sectors and regions, as well as for all categories of workers;
c) strict control over the expenditure of the wages fund.
The wages fund plan, which is a component of the labour plan, is co-ordinated with the assignments for increasing 73 output and the number of employees so as to ensure faster growth rates of output than the growth rates of the wages fund. This is a prerequisite for the reduction of production costs and the growth of accumulations, which in turn provides more opportunities for raising the standard of living.
The wages fund, which is endorsed by central authorities, serves as the basis for calculating the material incentives fund and the social, cultural and housing development fund, which is replenished by deductions from profits in conformity with norms fixed as percentages of the planned wages fund.
Bonuses to engineers, technicians and office employees are paid out from the material incentives fund.
In practice, the wages fund in the national economic and sectoral plans is determined from the average number of workers over the year and the average pay; in some sectors, it is determined from the norms of expenditure of wages per unit of work (per one million rubles, per class in schools, per hospital bed, etc.).
Experiments are being carried out to plan the wages funds of enterprises on the basis of the norms of correlations between the wages fund and the volume of output, and between labour productivity and the growth of average wages.
The calculations of average wages in sectors with fixed assignments for labour productivity are made in conformity with the latter's indicator. Comparison of the indicators of average wages and growth of labour productivity is reckoned per worker. The changes in the structure of wages and 'the share of workers whose wages are increasing are taken into account.
In 'order to compare their planned growth rates with the growth rates of labour productivity average wages are calculated on the basis of the approved wages fund supplemented by the sum of bonuses and other payments ( excluding material assistance) from the material incentives fund.
In economic sectors with fixed assignments for labour productivity the average wage is calculated in accordance with the existing salaries and wage rates, additional remuneration being made for certain categories of workers as required by law.
74The wages fund must be co-ordinated with the plan for trade turnover and services (transport, postal services, housing, gas, electricity, entertainment, etc.) and also with the cash circulation plan. The Union republics have fixed wages funds for all enterprises on their territories, irrespective of departmental subordination. In turn the Union ministries and departments calculate wages funds for subordinate enterprises in each republic.
The material incentives fund which derives from profits is a component of the wages fund. According to the economic development plan for 1971--75, the size of material incentives funds is determined for each year on the basis of the approved indicators (growth of output and labour productivity, profits, and the size and structure of wages funds) and the state policy on wages in different sectors and regions.
Ministries (departments) make deductions from profits into the material incentives fund at stable norms fixed as percentages of base wages funds in operating enterprises. The ministries approve the corresponding indicators for forming these funds in subordinate enterprises and production associations. Enterprises are encouraged to overfulfil assignments for raising labour productivity and to be economical with the wages fund. The size of the material incentives fund is taken into consideration in compiling the balance of cash incomes and expenditures, planning commodity operations and determining living standards.
The expenditures from the wages funds are supervised by planning organs, ministries, departments, agencies of the State Bank, and organs of people's control. Control is first of all extended to the expenditure of the wages fund at various stages of the production programme; a comparison is made between the planned and actual structure of wages in enterprises, organisations, economic sectors, economic regions, and republics.
The planning of higher labour productivity plays an important part in labour planning. Given fixed volume of production, the indicator of labour productivity growth prescribes the number of workers and employees, and the distribution of manpower among economic sectors and regions. It is needed to solve many important problems of economic development (planning the sum and growth rates 75 of national income and social product, rational distribution of production and labour resources among sectors and regions, etc.). At present enterprises also establish the relationship between the size of material incentives fund and the accretion of output due to higher labour productivity.
The increased attention being paid to the planning of labour productivity is the result of a general trend towards raising the efficiency of production. When the Ninth FiveYear Economic Development Plan was in the stage of elaboration, it was decided that labour productivity should be included among the basic indicators in the prescriptions for enterprises. The assignments for labour productivity on a national scale are fixed for ministries which, in turn, approve yearly assignments for enterprises and associations.
In practice, the planning agencies determine the ratio of the volume of output to the amount of working time (expenditure of live labour) needed for its production, i.e., they determine the volume of output per unit of time. In some cases they do just the opposite, i.e., determine the amount of time needed per unit of production (the labour consumption indicator).
The method of estimating value is the most commonly used in assessing labour productivity. The planned indicator of labour productivity for industry and its sectors is determined as the annual output in comparable wholesale prices per employee. This method is universal because it determines labour productivity in manufacturing the most varied commodities. In addition, it provides a common indicator unit of labour productivity for all sectors, economic regions and industry as a whole. It allows labour productivity to be compared over different periods in different enterprises and associations.
Enterprises which manufacture one single product employ physical or conditional-physical indicators of labour productivity expressed in pieces, tons, metres, etc.
Indicators of expenditure of working time are measured in output per man-hour, man-day or per employee. These indicators are essential for analysing the reserves of working time.
In planning labour for sectors calculation of the dynamics of output per employee is of particular significance because the dynamics indicator characterises the 76 development of the sector and the industry as a whole. Analysis of the dynamics of labour productivity, therefore, is a basic method in planning labour for sectors. The analysis covers data on technological progress, growth of electric power available per worker, fixed assets per worker, improvement of technology, labour organisation, etc.
Planned indicators are verified by making technological and economic calculations of the growth of labour productivity from the factors which determine this growth. The calculations take into account the impact of new machinery and technology, reduction in losses of working time, modernisation of equipment, improved organisation of production, changes in the co-operation of production, structural changes in production, etc. The planning agencies determine the extent to which the number of workers is to be reduced due to each of these factors individually and to all of them as a whole. Labour productivity for the planned period is established by dividing the planned volume of output by the reduced number of workers.
The level of social labour productivity in the national economy in general and in the Union republics in particular is indicated by the annual volume of national income per employee in production. This indicator can be fixed as an average arithmetical magnitude of the level of labour productivity in different sectors calculated from the planned number of employees.
The level of labour productivity for different sectors of material production is found by dividing the volume of net output '(in comparable prices) by the total number of employees in the given sector.
The planned rise in labour productivity for the economy of Union republics and the country as a whole is calculated from labour productivity in different sectors taking account of the economic factors which stimulate it.
The five-year plan is the principal form of planned, state management of the economy. To begin with, enterprises are familiarised with drafts of principal assignments which serve as the starting point for elaborating their economic activity plans. The employees take an active part in discussing and drafting the plans which accommodate their suggestions for improving production.
77Sectoral departments, ministries and the state planning committees of the Union republics make a detailed analysis of the plans for enterprises and make the necessary amendments in conformity with the existing factors in sectors and the ^national economy. Thus ,they formulate departmental plans on the basis of of which summary plans for economic sectors and the national economy as a whole are drawn up.
The interdependence of all stages of planning supposes a common methodology of determining the basic indicators (they must be of similar content, the methods of measuring must be common, and they must cover the same periods).
In practice, the methodology of planning labour is determined by a common list of indicators, forms and instructions worked out and approved by the State Planning Committee and the Central Statistical Board; it is also determined by the decisions of the USSR Council of Ministers which regulate the order and time-schedule for drawing up plans and reporting on their execution. On this basis planning agencies in ministries, departments and Union republics compile, compare, analyse and co-ordinate the plans drawn up by enterprises, building agencies, organisations, etc.
Correct accounting is one of the most important factors in this work. The collection and systematisation of reported data forms the basis for control of the plan's execution and its elaboration for the successive period.
Drafts of plans are elaborated long before the advent of the current plan period. Planned labour indicators are based on the number of employees, labour productivity and wages during different periods of the current year. This requires estimates of the expected fulfilment by fixed periods (six months, nine months, etc.).
Since it is essential that the estimates should be correct, the planning agencies are obliged to furnish the calculations, on which the estimates were based, together with the labour plan.
Promptness, accuracy and soundness of all analytical and planned calculations are ensured by computer technology, economic and mathematical methods, automated systems of management, and collation and processing of information, all of which find widespread appreciation thanks to the advantages of the socialist system of economy.
78Technological and economic analysis and planning together form a single complex. The purpose of the analysis is to regularly control the execution of plans, ascertain the results of economic activities and find ways of expanding production. The analysis covers all the indicators in the labour plan.
To raise the scientific level of labour planning and the validity of its indicators large-scale application of norms (of labour expenditure per unit of product, number of workers, expenditure of wages, ratio of growth rate of labour productivity to growth rates of wages) and balance calculations are needed, particularly in the analysis and planning of the utilisation of labour resources.
Development of the material and technical base of the economy and improved management of production continually enhance the methods and organisation of labour planning.
[79] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ CHAPTER SIX __ALPHA_LVL1__ PLANNING OF LABOUR IN SECTORAL MINISTRIES __ALPHA_LVL2__ 1. ESSENCE AND TASKSThe management of industrial enterprises in the Soviet Union is based on the sectoral principle, i.e., each ministry directs the work of enterprises and research institutions in a definite sector of the economy. Plans are formulated with the active participation of enterprises, research organisations and design offices in the given sector, the central apparatus of the ministry and all its subordinate departments and agencies. This complex planning is based on primary plans drawn up at enterprises. It comprises a whole system of indicators for all aspects and processes of development.
The labour plan is a substantial section of the complex plan. The main purpose of the labour plan is to raise labour productivity. Another aim, of equal importance, is to ensure a continual rise in wages. Central organisations fix two principal indicators for labour plans in economic sectors--- growth rates of labour productivity for the sector as a whole and for each enterprise, and ,the size of wages funds for enterprises (the so-called general wages funds). All the other indicators (number of employees, average wages) are fixed by the enterprises themselves. In elaborating the different sections in labour plans, however, the enterprises have to adhere to the common scientific and technological policy pursued by the sectoral organs of management.
It is the enterprises that begin to elaborate labour plans and all the sections of the complex plan for the development of the economic sector in question. The drafts are sent to the All-Union industrial associations which, after 80 making the necessary corrections, formulate summary plans, and pass them on to the planning agencies in the ministries. The latter draw up draft labour plans for the sectors as a whole and submit them to the State Planning Committee and other central organisations. The USSR Council of Ministers endorses labour plans for each economic sector. The approved versions are then sent back to the enterprises.
The system of indicators is designed to ensure rational employment of labour resources at all enterprises, maximum output, maximum quality and minimum production costs. All the indicators in the plan must be co-ordinated, and there must be a strict proportion among various resources. The indicators must ensure one another's practicability and must stimulate the quest for the most efficient methods of production. This is done by an analysis of the level of labour productivity and prospects of raising it. The analysis, conducted at all stages of planning and execution, covers the fulfilment of preceding plans, use of labour resources and ways of improving their use. The results are used in working out a system of norms and standards which, in the final analysis, reflect the expenditure of minimum working time for the planned assignments.
The assignments for the growth of labour productivity are obligatory. This is one of the strictest requirements for ensuring discipline in the execution of plans by enterprises and the economic sectors in general. One of the requirements is that the ministries must distribute their overall assignments among all subordinate enterprises, i.e., the sum-total of plans for enterprises must strictly correspond to the aggregate plan for the ministry. If, for instance, the ministry's aggregate plan envisages a 10 per-cent rise in labour productivity, then all enterprises subordinate to the ministry must also raise labour productivity by 10 per cent.
Another aspect of discipline is that plans must be assigned to enterprises in good time. The fixed time limits for the assignment of plans are designed to give the enterprises sufficient preparatory time for execution. Quarterly plans, for example, must be assigned at least six weeks in advance.
Stability of plans is a vital requirement. Plans are drawn up in advance, and so they must remain unchanged during 81 the periods they cover, except for minor corrections. The time limits for such corrections are very strict. Monthly plans, for instance, can be corrected not later than 20 days before the end of the preceding month. The corrections, of course, must not affect aggregate assignments for the ministry at each given period.
The task of the planning agencies of ministries is to ensure efficient elaboration of labour plans in enterprises, summarise the plans, co-ordinate them in central planning organisations, and return them to the enterprises in the form of fixed assignments. In addition, they supervise the establishment of norms for labour planning, and work out technical and other measures for raising labour productivity and using labour resources more efficiently.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 2. PLANNING OF LABOUR PRODUCTIVITYLabour productivity is an expression of the effectiveness of labour and the ability to produce in a unit of time certain material values (use-values). It is measured in the amount of products manufactured during a unit of working time or labour intensity per unit of product, i.e., by the amount of time needed for the manufacture of a unit of production.
The first method is a direct measurement, whilst the second is an inverse measurement.
Rising labour productivity is essential for the
development of production. Its influence on the accretion of
industrial production is expressed by a special indicator used
in planning and analytical work---the specific share of the
accretion of production due to higher labour productivity.
The indicator is given by the equation:
Ls=(l-JL)xlOO,
where Ls is the specific share of labour productivity in the
total accretion of output;
E---accretion of the number of workers in per cent;
V---accretion of output in per cent.
Example: if the accretion of production is 15 per cent, and the accretion of workers 3 per cent, then the specific __PRINTERS_P_81_COMMENT__ 6---0235 82 share of labour productivity in the total accretion of output will be 80 per cent [ ( 1 -- 3 / 15 ) X 100 ] .
Growth of labour productivity is the principal lever for reducing production costs and the product price. The quantity of products manufactured and the time required for their manufacture can be measured by various indicators. Consequently, the indicators of labour productivity are also different, each having its own advantages and disadvantages. Different sectors of industry employ their own specific indicators. One of them is the output per worker in physical or conditionally-physical units, e.g., output of pig iron recalculated in terms of conversion pig iron, output of fabrics in standard units of measurement, etc. In other sectors, indicators reflect labour input per unit of product in norm-hours and actual labour input. In industry in general, however, and in most of its sectors labour productivity is established from the annual output of commodities per employee (per worker of the production personnel). The output is expressed in terms of value of all manufactured items calculated in wholesale prices, while the amount of labour is expressed in terms of the number of man-years needed for the manufacture of these products. Additional indicators in the analysis and calculations are the output of net product per employee, the output of products per worker, and the output of commodity products per man-day, man-hour, etc.
The principal indicator is the annual output of gross or commodity products per employee, but this has its drawbacks since the indicator is fixed on the basis of wholesale prices. The price of a definite product depends on the kinds of material employed and the sum of wages---changes in the structure of the manufactured product change the cost value of output per worker. These drawbacks, however, can be easily offset with the help of the calculation methods, worked out and used in the USSR, and the analysis of labour productivity on the basis of principal technological and economic factors. Since one of the primary purposes of assessing and planning labour productivity is the 83 determination of the growth rates or the dynamics of labour productivity, we must use the same prices for different years. At present, labour productivity in the USSR is assessed in prices as of July 1, 1967.
The planned growth of labour productivity for the year covered by the plan is one of the basic indicators for each sector and enterprise. It is the ratio of the planned level of labour productivity to the expected level expressed as a percentage.
The plan for labour productivity is drawn up in the following order. First, it is necessary to establish the expected level of labour productivity in the base year and to analyse the factors which determine this level. Secondly, plans for raising the efficiency of production in enterprises are elaborated (the technological development plan and the plan for scientific organisation of labour). Thirdly, calculations are made for saving working time (reduction of manpower) due to factors generated by the plan for higher efficiency of production and by all other factors. Fourthly, the planned number of workers for the year in question and the planned growth rates of labour productivity, as well as the absolute magnitude or the absolute level of labour productivity, are determined from the calculated reduction of manpower due to the uncovered factors.
Standard classification of factors of the growth of labour productivity is employed at all stages of planning. The factors are divided into 5 groups. The first group comprises factors which ensure higher technical level of production. These include mechanisation and automation of production processes, employment of advanced technology, modernisation of the equipment in operation, changes in the design and technical parameters of products, better utilisation of materials and fuel, and use of new and more efficient materials, fuel, power, etc. Thus, the planning of labour productivity is closely linked with the planning of technical modernisation.
The second group comprises measures for improving the organisation of production. These include improvement of management, extension of the areas and norms of servicing, and greater specialisation of production (promotion of standardisation, for example) with regard to change in the __PRINTERS_P_83_COMMENT__ 6* 84 specific share of co-ordinated deliveries from other sectors, and of purchased semimanufactures, reduction of time losses (during shifts and 24-hour operations), and reduction of spoilage.
The third group comprises factors connected with the changes in the volume and structure of output.
The fourth group comprises natural conditions.
And, finally, the fifth group comprises the so-called sectoral factors which include the development of new industrial concerns and changes in the location of different sectors.
In all cases, the assessment of the influence of different factors is determined by the relative reduction of required manpower resulting from a particular measure or change in the conditions of production. This is calculated from the number of workers which the sector would have required in the year under consideration, if the level of labour productivity 'were to remain the same.
For example, if 100,000 people were employed in the base year while output was to go up by 15 per cent in the year under consideration, given the same level of labour productivity the number of workers would be 115,000 in this year. This figure determines the economy to be derived from each factor individually and from the sum-total of factors which influence labour productivity.
Calculation of the economy in labour input, known as the rise'of the technical level of production, is of particular importance. In all cases, the influence of technical measures is assessed together with the time factors. The shorter the time needed for implementing a certain measure, the greater its effect in the planned year. In general its influence is assessed, irrespective of the nature of the technical measure, as a possible reduction of the number of workers. The formula is: Nr = (L1-L2)xNprxT, where Nr is the conditional release of manpower; Lj and L2---labour intensity in physical or monetary units, before and after the execution of the measure; Npr---number of product units or the volume of production in the planned period; 85 T---period in the plan during which the measure is being implemented.
Labour intensity can be expressed either in man-years (number of workers) or in norm-hours. In the latter case, the reduction of manpower is found by dividing the economy in norm-hours by the budget of working time of one worker corrected by the coefficient for the possible modification of norms.
The number of workers is calculated for each technical or organisational undertaking. Standard indicators which characterise changes in labour productivity due to technical or organisational measures are used for calculating largescale release of manpower.
The next step is to calculate the possible growth of
labour productivity in the sector as a whole. The formula
is as follows:
,. E x 100
A- N-E
where A is the accretion of labour productivity expressed
as a percentage;
E---possible economy, i.e., relative reduction of
personnel in general as a result of the influence
of all factors of labour productivity growth;
N---number of employees for the given volume of
output in the planned period calculated from the
number in the base period (initial number).
Then we determine the absolute level of labour productivity by multiplying the base level of labour productivity by the planned growth rate.
For example, if the base level of labour productivity is 8,000 rubles per employee, and the growth rates of labour productivity have reached 10 per cent, then the planned level of labour productivity will be 8,800 rubles per employee per annum.
The base level of labour productivity is, however, determined before the completion of the planned year, i.e., when no reports on the results are available. Therefore, the calculations are based on the so-called anticipated level. The anticipated level is determined from the planned labour productivity and actual accomplishment up to the point when the elaboration of the new plan was started. The 86 simplest method is to raise the planned level by the percentage of overfulfilment. For instance, if the plan for 1974 is drawn up in July 1973 and labour productivity for 1973 was planned at 7,900 rubles, and if in actual fact the plan for the first six months was overfulfilled by 101,3 per cent, then the anticipated level of annual labour productivity per worker will be approximately 8,000 rubles (7.900 X 1,013). In practice, however, some other factors have to be taken into consideration (structural changes in the plan in the remaining six months, revised proportion of new machinery in the production plan, possible changes in the level of co-ordinated deliveries, and material and technical supply, etc.). Ascertaining the anticipated labour productivity is an important stage in the elaboration of plans for coming periods.
In principle, the calculations of technological and economic factors are common for all enterprises under the sectoral ministry. Labour planning for the ministry in general is, however, based on additional factors, such as commissioning of new enterprises and the changes in the proportion of individual types of production. This is because the enterprise plans take into account only reserves within the factory, and their sum-total is not equal to the sumtotal of sectoral reserves for raising labour productivity. Intra- and cross-sectoral reserves owe their origin to the development of intra- and cross-sectoral specialisation, structural changes, and rational siting of enterprises. They can only be ascertained and provided for in sectoral plans, i.e., in the aggregate plans of ministries. The sectoral indicators for labour productivity are also necessary for the planning of labour resources in economic regions.
Under the term ``new enterprises" we mean those which are to be commissioned in the planned year. The output of these enterprises gradually rises to full capacity. Every sector of industry has its own time norms for achieving full-capacity output. The norms set the time limits between the commissioning of the enterprise and the beginning of full-capacity operation.
Example. In the first 12 months of operation factories manufacturing cutting tools work at 60 per cent of the design capacity; according to the existing norms, they must achieve full capacity in 24 months. Manpower at the moment 87 of commissioning must, however, comprise at least 40 per cent of the total staff planned for the enterprises. Since it takes four or six months to train employees for work at new enterprises, by the end of the first year at least 85 to 90 per cent of the work force should be available. In the initial period, therefore, when the new enterprises are heading towards full-capacity production, labour productivity is somewhat lower than envisaged in the projects. The increase in the number of workers in the sector due to the commissioning of new enterprises is the difference between the planned manpower for new enterprises and the work force obtained by dividing the planned output of new enterprises by the average labour productivity in the given sector during the period under review. If, for instance, the work force at new enterprises amounts to 20,000 people and their planned output stands at 8 million rubles, then the actual average output per worker will be 4,000 rubles per annum. If, however, the average output in the base year was 8,000 rubles, then the required number of workers will only be 10,000. This is the additional number of people required due to the commissioning of new enterprises.
The influence of the specific share of groups of enterprises in the total volume of output on labour productivity in the sector in general is determined in the following way. First, it is necessary to establish the number of workers required for the planned year from the output by every group of enterprises during the base year. The next step is to determine the number of workers required for the year's ministry programme as a whole on the basis of the ministry's accomplishments in the preceding year. The difference between these two quantities is the increase or decrease in the number of workers due to the changing proportions of different enterprises. In general, calculations of labour productivity according to the different factors, made in the sectoral ministries, give an indication of available reserves for intensifying labour productivity.
When they examine the plans submitted by enterprises the ministries check and refine the calculations and make allowances for the growth of labour productivity due to the influence of factors peculiar to the particular sector of the economy. Then the calculations are summarised in 88 a single factor-scheme of labour productivity for the sector as a whole. The final plan provides for the smallest possible expenditure of labour in production.
Planning of labour productivity is supplemented by planning of the number of employees. The indicator here is the average number of employees on the register. The number of workers is calculated separately for the production and non-production. The number of production workers helps to determine labour productivity. It is calculated in direct conjunction with the planning of labour productivity. Planned labour productivity multiplied by the number of production workers is equal to the planned volume of commodity output. From this equation we can establish the planned number of production personnel. In planning labour productivity economy, the number of production workers is calculated for each factor. Thus, it may be said that within a sector there is no separate question concerned with methods of calculating the production personnel. However the ministries have to establish not only the total number of production workers, but also the increment. The increment has to be distributed among the industrial enterprises in different parts of the country. Two factors should be taken into consideration. First, the greatest increment of workers must be provided for enterprises with the greatest increase in the volume of production. Growth rates of output in different enterprises are different. Secondly, enterprises' real potential for increasing the number of workers must be taken into consideration, i.e., stock must be taken of the available labour resources in economic districts, towns or settlements. This latter task cannot be accomplished without close cooperation between central (ministerial) and local ( territorial) planning organs, and between the State Planning Committee and the planning committees in territories and regions.
The second element in the total number of employees of a ministry is the service staff which comprises employees of children's institutions, medical establishments, housing and communal services, etc., in industrial enterprises, and instructors for training workers for construction projects.
The number of workers for auxiliary services are fixed in staff registers. The registers enumerate all the available 89 jobs. They are based on standard schemes and norms approved by the ministry.
We have already mentioned that ministries also incorporate research institutions, and design and technological organisations. The staffs of these organisations are listed in the services group. When the work of designers is subject to rate setting, their number is calculated and planned directly from the norms of labour intensity, i.e., in a similar way to the number of workers for industrial enterprises.
In all other cases, the number of employees for research and design organisations is calculated on the basis of staff registers.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 3. METHODS OF PLANNING THE WAGES FUNDThe wages fund includes: all cash payments to employees of enterprises and organisations at basic wage rates, piece rates, and salary rates; bonuses (excluding bonuses from the material incentives fund and certain other bonuses on top of wages); additional payments and allowances of all kinds. It is a synthetic, centrally approved planned indicator of the quantity and quality of labour required for the fixed volume of work which ensures a rising level of labour remuneration for higher efficiency.
The planning of the wages fund must provide for a correct correlation between the growth rates of average wages and labour productivity.
Sectoral industrial ministries plan separately wages funds for production and service staff of enterprises and organisations and employees not on the register. When the ministry is engaged in designing and building new enterprises, it plans a separate wages fund for designers, engineers and building workers.
The wages fund for production personnel comprises more than 80 per cent of overall allocations. Two supplementary methods are employed in calculating this fund: one is based on the number of workers and their average wages, and the other is based on direct calculations 'of the items in the planned wages fund.
Since the number of production personnel is determined in the calculations of labour productivity, the first method is concerned with the determination of planned average 90 wages. The planned wages fund is the product of average wages and the number of workers.
The calculations begin with analysis of the actual level of average wages at the moment when the plan is being drawn up. The analysis covers the correlation between the achieved growth rates of labour productivity and average wages, the impact of the fulfilment of the output plan and the assortment plan on the level of average wages, the influence of new machinery and changes in the numerical Structure of production personnel. Particular attention is paid to analysis of the actual correlations in the level of average wages in different enterprises, and the correctness of these levels.
The plan makes provision for a definite annual increase in wages (usually between 2 and 4 per cent p.a.). The increase must be correctly distributed among different enterprises. The differences in pay due to the different rates of work (the varying degrees to which plans are fulfilled by enterprises) are ensured primarily by the different sizes of the material incentive funds which are set up in sister enterprises according to common norms valid for a number of years. Payments from the material incentive fund are made on top of the wages fund; they are not included in the calculations of average wages. Their sum is calculated during the planning of economic incentive funds.
All the other factors influencing the size of average wages are reflected in the planned indicators, which are used in calculating the average wages.
A number of more or less unco-ordinated requirements must be kept in mind in planning the average wages. On the one hand, the principle of equal pay for equal work must be strictly observed. In other words, the plan must make provision for equal pay in all enterprises for workers, engineers, technicians and office employees (given equal district coefficients, equal qualifications and equal complexity of work). But on the other hand, the average wages must stimulate labour productivity; consequently, enterprises with higher growth rates of labour productivity must enjoy a higher accretion of average wages.
The different factors in the growth of labour productivity depend to different degrees on the enterprise's own efforts. 91 So they play different roles in the calculations for the increase of average wages.
When labour productivity rises due to factors which primarily depend on the magnitude of working time spent or the efficient planning of the working day, the average wages grow at the same rate as labour productivity of the corresponding groups of workers. Thus, an increase of the mean percentage of the fulfilment of time norms or output quotas implies a proportional increase of average wages for pieceworkers. Reduction of absenteeism and increase in the number of working hours per worker p.a. is accompanied by a proportional increase of working time spent and of average wages.
The growth of the technological level of production is quite a different matter. In this case, labour productivity is raised primarily by the allocation of additional fixed assets created by the employees of other enterprises and even other sectors of industry. The increase in average wages, therefore, depends on the employment of new equipment and ensuing higher standards of skill, and not on growing labour productivity.
The ministry calculates expanded norms for raising average wages when labour productivity increases due to the employment of new equipment. The way in which these norms are calculated can be seen from the following example.
If 300,000 people are employed in the sector, and the number of workers is cut by 6,000 due to the introduction of automatic equipment, then labour productivity in the sector as a whole will rise by 2.1 per cent: 6,000 XlOO. 300,000---6,000
The qualification of workers who look after the automatic equipment is raised by one grade. This means that wage rates are raised by 16 per cent, and average wages, including bonuses, by 30 per cent. The new automatic equipment will be served by 2,000 people, or by 0.7 per cent of the total number of production personnel in the sector. Thus, the overall increase in average wages in the sector will amount to 0.21 per cent (30 X 0.007).
92Consequently, average wages must increase by 0.1 'per cent for every additional per cent in the growth of labour productivity due to automation 1 -^j J .
This is precisely the norm that is used in major calculations for the sector and its divisions. Calculations for individual enterprises are made in a similar way but with due regard for specific conditions.
Finally, a number of factors raise labour productivity but do not affect average wages. These include changes in the structure of the manufactured products (if they do not affect the trade skills in the sector), changes in the share of co-operated supplies, changes in the location of the sector, etc.
The differences in pay between various districts are also taken into consideration. These differences arise from wage coefficients applied in remote districts and in places with severe climate conditions.
Average wages also depend on the structure of production personnel. For instance, an increase in the share and number of designers increases average wages of the entire production personnel. The structure of the personnel, therefore, is also taken into account. To begin with, average wages are calculated for every category of workers. The average wages in thesector in general are calculated as an estimated mean magnitude.
The planned wages fund is derived by multiplying average wages by the planned number of workers.
The size of the planned wages fund is calculated parallel to this by elements, i.e., by various payments. The calculations begin with analysis of the fund's structure during the period under review. The basic elements are as follows:
1. pay for piece-work;
2. pay for time-work at fixed wage rates;
3. salaries for engineers, technicians and office employees;
4. bonuses to workers from the wages fund;
5. additional payments and grants prescribed by law (for night shifts, training of apprentices, long-service record, government or public assignments, etc.);
6. paid vacations;
7. additional payments and grants due to drawbacks in the organisation of production and labour (idle time, 93 overtime, inferior conditions of work, defects for which the worker cannot be blamed).
Additional payment and grants due to drawbacks in the organisation of production are excluded from the planned wages fund.
Calculations begin with the first element, i.e., the pay for piece-work. The size of this element achieved in the preceding period is increased in accordance with the expansion of output, amendments in the structure of the production programme, and planned reduction of labour intensity.
Example. The pay for piece-work in the preceding period amounted to 100 million rubles; output increase is planned at 15 per cent, the changed structure increases labour intensity by 4 per cent, and labour intensity is to be lowered by 12 per cent. Then, in the planned fund the size of this element will amount to (100 X 1.15 X 1.04 x 0.88) = 105.2 million rubles. The figure 0.88 indicates the planned labour intensity ior the total output after labour intensity had been lowered by 12 per cent.
The next step is to calculate the sum of salaries and the total pay for time-work with due regard for the average grades of time-workers, their number and the planned number of working days or hours. The sum of salaries depends on the number of engineers, technicians and office employees on the staff register.
Additional payments are also included in the calculations. Their structure is fixed by sectoral instructions, while the amount is determined by analysing the existing level and the planned changes in labour conditions during the scheduled period.
In this way, the size of all elements in the wages fund for production personnel is determined and hence the aggregate size of the fund.
The results obtained by the two methods are compared, and then the final sum is established.
The other elements are determined by analysing the achieved level and inserting the necessary corrections which ensue from the plan. The scheme for determining the wages fund for the service personnel of industrial enterprises is as follows. First comes the analysis of the 94 existing level of the wages fund for this category of workers; all unwarranted payments are excluded; then an assessment is made of the assignment in the capital construction plan for the commissioning of housing facilities, children's institutions, etc., and on this basis the increase in the number of workers is ascertained. The resulting data is used to calculate the planned wages fund.
The wages fund for training building workers is calculated from the number of instructors required for training the personnel before the commissioning of the enterprise and the average wages fund for this group.
The wages fund for research and design organisations is also planned on the basis of the existing level and the planned changes in the staff registers during the period under consideration.
The wages fund for workers not on the staff is a separate item. It covers payments for piece-work unrelated to the enterprise's basic activities and performed by workers from other enterprises and organisations who are not on the staff register (planned or actual) of the given enterprise. This includes, for instance, payment to instructors from ©utside for the training of personnel. The allocations for these purposes are restricted.
In some sectors the wages fund is planned on the basis of proportions---the share of wages expenditure per unit cost of the manufactured product. In this case the basic assignment from the central authorities is the norm for the formation of the planned wages fund, and not its size. This method is designed to stimulate the interest of sectoral organisations and enterprises in increasing the volume of output.
The norms of the proportional expenditure of wages are fixed for the sector as a whole from calculations made for the five-year plan. The nature of these calculations and the planning methods can be grasped from the following example.
Let us suppose that the following magnitudes are envisaged for the sector's five-year plan:
1974 1975 Commodity output---mln rubles 2,000.0 2,300.0 Personnel---'000 workers 200.0 206.0 95 Average wages---rubles per worker 1,800 1,850 Wages fund for the production personnel---mln rubles 360.0 401.1 The expenditure of wages norm in 1974 will beThis means that the planned wages fund will amount to 0.18 rubles or 18 kopecks per ruble of commodity output envisaged in the plan. In 1975 it will amount to 0.174 rubles. If in checking the plan for 1975 an opportunity is found to raise the magnitude of commodity output to 2,350.0 rubles instead of 2.300.0 rubles, then the planned wages fund will total 408.9 million rubles (0.174 x 2.350), 7.8 million rubles more than in the original computations.
This method, as we see, simplifies the calculations, and the wages fund thus calculated stimulates greater output.
The employees are also encouraged by the material incentives fund which goes on monthly, quarterly and annual bonuses and remunerations on top of the wages fund. This fund is from 9 to 12 per cent the size of the wages fund, but in the case of profitable enterprises the incentives fund is considerably greater. The size is fixed in conformity with special norm. In the course of the five-year plan amendments are made so as to incorporate the degree to which the plan is fulfilled.
The wages fund is the principal source of stimulatingproduction, and therefore it is reviewed every three months so as to gauge the extent to which the production plan is being fulfilled. In some engineering branches the wages fund is increased by 0.6 per cent for each per cent of overfulfilment. Thus, enterprises which overfulfil their production assignments receive additional sums for remunerating labour.
Ail-Union industrial associations have the right to set up reserve wages funds, but the total reserve in the sector (at the disposal of the minister or chiefs of industrial associations) must not exceed 2 per cent of the total wages fund in the sector.
The reserve is used in the course of the year to replenish wages funds in enterprises which get additional assignments, or which are faced with unforeseen circumstances.
96Ministries have many other functions in planning labour. They arrange systematic training of workers and specialists, set up advanced courses and distribute graduates among enterprises. They direct reviews of labour norms in enterprises (including rates for piece-work), examine methodological questions of planning labour in enterprises, and study and popularise advanced methods of planning.
The growth of labour productivity is, of course, the direct result of the efforts of employees, but the sectoral ministries direct the campaign for higher labour productivity and efficient employment of labour resources; they concentrate their efforts in the most important and effective directions, and they combine the activities of workers and specialists into a single complex of measures which ensure higher efficiency of social production.
[97] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ CHAPTER SEVEN __ALPHA_LVL1__ PLANNING OF MANPOWER FOR ENTERPRISES __ALPHA_LVL2__ 1. INDICATORS FOR DETERMINING THE AMOUNTThe labour plan which is one of the principal sections of the industrial and financial plan, incorporates indicators for the growth of labour productivity and wages, and for the number and composition of personnel in conformity with the needs of the given enterprise and the requirements of the production plan.
In planning the personnel for an enterprise it is first necessary to determine the so-called staff list which includes all regular, part-time and seasonal workers employed at the given time (the so-called attendant personnel) and absentees due to illness, vacations, business trips, etc. In dealing with the methods of calculating the required number of various categories of workers, we shall be referring to the staff list as a whole.
It would be noted that the staff list is not fixed, as workers come and go continually. It is therefore necessary to calculate the average number of staff employees per month, quarter or year. The monthly average is found by dividing the sum-total of staff list during a month by the number of calendar days in the month. The quarterly (annual) average is found by dividing the sum-total of staff list during a quarter (year) by 3 (12).
The number of employees is planned by groups and categories, depending on the character of their functions. The categories are as follows:~
1) production personnel, comprising the entire staff engaged in production and auxiliary production;~
__PRINTERS_P_97_COMMENT__ 7---0235 982) services group, comprising employees not involved directly in production. These include the personnel of the enterprise's medical, cultural, educational, housing, communal, and children's institutions.
The production personnel, which constitutes the principal portion of staff employees, is subdivided into the following categories:
a) workers, i.e., people directly engaged in fulfilling the production programme and servicing production;~
b) engineers and technicians, i.e., employees who direct production, and specialists (engineers, designers, etc.)~
c) office employees who are engaged mainly in technical and executive work in the administration and its subdivisions (accountants, secretaries, typists, etc.);~
d) junior auxiliary personnel (cleaners, cloak-room attendants, etc.);~
e) security personnel;~
f) apprentices.
The category of workers, in turn, is subdivided into principal workers, engaged in direct production, and workers engaged in auxiliary production. Auxiliary workers supply the principal workers with everything they need for production (raw materials and manufactured materials, repairs and maintenance, transport services, tools, etc.). Auxiliary workers work either in main or auxiliary shops.
Workers are subdivided into two groups according to form of remuneration: piece-workers, i.e., workers with fixed standard time or output quota paid for piece-work, and time-workers, i.e., workers with no fixed time or output norms whose labour is, consequently, paid for time-work.
Workers are subdivided into technological groups according to their professions (turners, fitters, millers, etc.).
Technological groups are subdivided into qualifications groups of workers with similar skill grades (3rd grade turners, 5th grade millers, etc.).
Workers account for the major portion of the production personnel. Their number, especially the number of principal workers, depends on the volume of production; the number of other employees is not dependent on this indicator to such a great extent.
99Since the number of workers greatly depends on the use of working time, the planning of the requirements of manpower is connected with the computation of the balance of working time (under review or^ planned). Table I gives an approximate picture of this balance (given a five-day working week).
Table 1 BALANCE OF WORKING TIME OF AN AVERAGE ANNUAL STAFF WORKER Indicator Unit Actual Plan Calendar Time days 365 365 Holidays `` 112 112 Nominal time )7 253 253 Absenteeism: Routine or additional vacations » 14.7 15.0 Vacations for studenU » 2.0 1.9 Maternity leave J) 4.0 4.0 Temporary disablement `` 8.4 8.2 State and public duties `` 1.6 1.6 Absenteeism with permission » 0.8 --- Absence without leave » 0.4 --- Idle time `` 0.3 --- Total » 32.2 30.7 Attendant Time » 220.8 222.3 Average duration of work-day hours 7.97 7.98 Time-off for nursing mothers `` 0.03 0.03 Idle time during shifts `` 0.15 --- Actual working hours per day `` 7.79 7.95 Useful working hours p. a. » 1,720.0 1,766.3The planned balance of working time of one average annual staff worker is calculated in order to establish the planned number of working days or hours which on average one man must work every year.
The first step is to determine the nominal number of working days in the planned year. This is done by subtracting holidays from the number of calendar days in the year. In our example (see Table I) the nominal number of working days is 365---112=253.
__PRINTERS_P_253_COMMENT__ 7* 100 Emacs-File-stamp: "/home/ysverdlov/leninist.biz/en/1975/PMSU147/20070507/147.tx" __EMAIL__ webmaster@leninist.biz __OCR__ ABBYY 6 Professional (2007.05.07) __WHERE_PAGE_NUMBERS__ top __FOOTNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+ __ENDNOTE_MARKER_STYLE__ [0-9]+The second step is to determine the attendant number of working days in the planned year. This is done by subtracting the various days of planned absenteeism (per worker) from the nominal time. Planned absenteeism includes the following:
a) routine and additional vacations. This is the ratio between the total number of vacation days and the average staff list of workers^^1^^;~
b) vacations for workers who attend evening or correspondence courses. This is the ratio between the total number of vacation days and the average number of workers;~
c) maternity leave calculated from data for the period under review and possible fluctuations in the number of women employees;~
d) temporary disablement calculated from current figures and possible reduction of illnesses and occupational injuries due to planned improvement of working conditions, and safety precautions;~
e) time allocated for state and public duties on the basis of the current level and coming events (e.g., election campaigns).
Other types of absenteeism also affect utilisation of the annual working time. They include, for example, absenteeism with leave, absenteeism without leave, and idle time due to defective organisation of production. Such losses of working time must be eliminated. They are not allowed for in the plans and are represented only in the budget of working time for the previous period.
Thus, the attendant time is the planned fund of working time expressed by the number of working days per worker per annum. In our example (Table I), the attendant time is 222.3 days (253--30.7) a year.
The third step is to determine the average duration of the working day in the planned year. The Soviet labour laws fix various working days for different categories of employees, depending on working conditions and other factors. If, for example, 98 per cent of workers of an enterprise have _-_-_
~^^1^^ Under Soviet labour laws,.the duration of vacations for different categories of workers is different. Workers with hazardous working conditions are entitled to the longest vacations.
101 a working day of 8 hours, and 2 per cent, of 7 hours, then the average (nominal) working day will be 7.98 hours (8x0.98 + 7x0.02).In practice the working day may be shorter due to certain inevitable losses. These include the time-oft allocated by law to nursing mothers. In calculating this duration allowance is made for possible fluctuation in the share of women in the total number of workers (0.03 hours in our exampie).
In our example, therefore, the actual average working day in the planned year will be 7.95 hours (7.98---0.03).
The fourth step is to determine the useful fund of working time (in hours) in the planned year. This indicator can be found by multiplying the attendant working days by the average duration of the working day. In our example it is 1,766.3 hours (222.3 x 7.95) per worker per annum.
This is an important indicator for determining the requirements for manpower.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 2. METHODS OF CALCULATING THE NUMBERCalculations of the principal categories of piece-time workers. There are several methods depending on specific conditions---the availability and standards of labour norms, specific aspects of labour organisation and other factors. Let us examine some specific methods of establishing the number of principal piece-time workers.
1. Calculations from labour intensity. This method requires the following data:
a) planned volume of work;
b) planned standard time;
c) average working hours per worker in the planned year;
d) plan of organisational and technical measures on whose basis the norms are reviewed;
e) planned coefficient of the fulfilment of norms.
The equation is:
N p 1 = T p1 / A p1 X K (1),
102
where Npl is the planned number of workers;
Tpi---planned labour intensity in norm-hours;
Api---working hours per worker;
K---planned coefficient of the fulfilment of norms.
The planned labour intensity for the given item is the standard time needed for its manufacture. Labour intensity of the production programme (Tpl) is the sum of labour intensity for each type of item, including the time needed for increasing the volume of goods in process.
Calculations of the number of workers in each profession and grade are based on the planned labour intensity of the given type of work and the given level of skill (e.g., planned labour intensity of 5th grade turners, 3rd grade fitters, etc.), and not on the labour intensity of the entire production programme.
Example. If planned labour intensity of 5th grade turnery work is 35,320 norm-hours, the annual number of working hours per worker is 1,766 and the planned percentage of overfulfilment is 20, then the required number of 5th grade turners will be 35,320 / 1,766 X 1.2 = 17
where Npi is the planned number of workers;
Vpi---planned volume of work in standard units;
N0---planned output norms per hour in the same units;
K---planned coefficient of fulfilment of norms;
Apl---working hours per worker p. a.
The number of principal piece-time workers in each profession and grade is calculated in a similar manner. The results are used to calculate the total number of principal piece-time workers.
2. Calculations from output norms.~^^1^^ In certain cases the number of piece-time workers can be determined from planned output norms by using the following formula:
N r---VP'
\
! -
_-_-_~^^1^^ Output norms are inversely proportional to standard time. Standard time is expressed by the amount of time required by a worker to manufacture a unit product (or to do a piece of work); output norms express the amount of products manufactured by a worker during a unit of time.
103 Example. According to its production programme an
enterprise has to produce 120,000 of A items in the planned
year. Output norms are fixed at 5 items per hour, useful
time fund per worker is 1,850 hours and the planned
coefficient of fulfilment of norms is 1.1. In this case the planned
120,000
11.
number of workers will be
. 6
t) X 1.1X l,
For some categories of principal workers standard time and output norms cannot be fixed because of the specific aspects of their work. In such cases their number is established with the help of methods applied in determining the number of time-workers. We shall deal^with these methods later on.
Calculations of the number of auxiliary workers. This can be done in several ways. The principal ones are as follows:
1. Calculations from labour intensity of'auxiliary work. These are made using Formula 1.
2. Calculations from output norms. These are made using Formula 2.
3. Calculations from norms of servicing a fixed amount of equipment (units of premises, etc.) by one worker, or fixed number of workers per unit equipment. In this case the formula is as follows:^^1^^
._UXSXKSP
where Npi is the planned number of auxiliary workers; U---number of units served; S---number of shifts per day; Ksp---coefficient of staff list;
Ns---servicing norm.
The indicator Ksp needs some explanation. Without this coefficient Formula 3 gives only the attendant number of workers; but we have to find the number of staff workers. Ksp is precisely the coefficient which indicates the excess _-_-_
^^1^^ The same method is used to determine the number of prinpjpal workers with fixed servicing norms.
104 of staff workers over attendant workers. It is determined by the following formula: where Fn---nominal time fund per worker p.a.;
Fpi---average number of working days per worker
in the planned year.
The figures for Fn and Fpi are taken from the balance of working time; the method used for calculating it has already been explained earlier. In our example (see Table I) Fn = = 253 days and Fpi equals 222.3 days. Consequently, KSp = 1.1. If there are 10 lathes and a norm of 5 lathes a snift to be served by one lathe fitter then the number of lathe fitters for a three-shift day will be 10x3x1-1 = 7.
O
4. Calculations based on the number of available jobs. This method is used when standard time, output norms and servicing norms cannot be applied to auxiliary workers. Such workers are in charge of particular jobs (crane operators, crane hands, storekeepers, etc.). The formula for calculating the number of these workers is Npl = JxSxKs (5), where J is number of available jobs; S---number of shifts per day; Ks---staff list coefficient.
If there are two overhead cranes, three shifts a day and Kg = 1.1, the required number of crane operators will be 2 x 3 x 1.1=7.
Calculations on the required number of engineers, technicians, and office employees. As a rule, these calculations are based on a fixed normative ratio between the number of employees in this category and the number of production workers. However it has many drawbacks and is now being replaced by norms and standard structures of administrative staffs.
The norms for the number of engineers, technicians and office employees are fixed for the respective sectors of industry; 105 they cover the specific functions of management and not the administrative apparatus as a whole. These functions include, for example, general (linear) management of the major part of production; design of products and improvement in design; technological preparation for production; organisation of labour and wages; and technical and economic planning.
The norms are calculated using statistical methods, and they depend on various factors which affect the requirements for various categories of workers. The factors are different for workers performing different functions. Only one factor, for instance---the total number of employees---is taken into account in determining the number of workers dealing with labour organisation and wages. Two factors---the number of jobs available in the main part of production and the cost of fixed assets---are considered in determining the number of people involved in technical and economic planning; and three factors---the number of workmen; the amount of basic and auxiliary materials and semifabricates and products in process, and the volume of output; the number of suppliers and consumers---are considered in establishing the staffs of supply and marketing departments.
Sectoral norm-research organisations draw up the required formulas and tables of norms for calculating the number of workers needed for each function of management.
Standard administrative structures for various sectors of industry are designed for groups of enterprises, depending on the volume of their output or the number of employees. They recommend optimal numbers of engineers, technicians and office employees for all structural subdivisions in the enterprise.
Determination of the required number of junior auxiliary personnel. The methods vary depending on the specific nature of the given enterprise.
1. Calculations from the servicing norms. The number of cleaners, for example, is determined from the norm for cleaning (floorspace for cleaner). If a workshop is 1,200 sq.m. in area, the norm per cleaner is 300 sq.m. and Ks = 1.1, then the required number of cleaners will be 5. The number of stokers depends on the number of furnaces and the servicing norms.
1062. Calculations from the number of available jobs can be made using Formula 5 (for auxiliary workers). The number of lift operators depends on the number of lifts and shifts, as well as on the staff list coefficient.
Determination of the number of watchmen. The elements involved are the number of posts and the regime of work (shifts, intervals, etc.). The number of firemen depends on the number of fire engines, norms of servicing and the work routine.
Determination of the number of workers not engaged in the main part of production. This is done separately for each group (housing and communal services, children's institutions, transport not concerned with the main part of production, and cultural, welfare, medical and other services). The methods are the same as those used for calculating the main production personnel, i.e., they are based on planned labour intensity, norms for staffs, servicing, etc.
Planning of additional manpower. The need for additional manpower arises out of the growth of production, and the vacancies occurring when people leave the enterprise for various reasons (military duty, studies, etc.).
The engineering and technical staff is replenished primarily by graduates from higher or special secondary educational establishments who are distributed among the enterprises in conformity with fixed plans. Office staff is replenished by the 'enterprise management.
The total additional number of engineers, technicians, office employees, junior auxiliary personnel and security staff depends on the number of vacancies and the likely wastage due to various factors. It is calculated as an annual average figure. Replenishment is planned from the results of the previous period and estimates for the future.
In the case of workers the calculations are slightly more complicated because the level of output and the number of departures may fluctuate during the year. It is essential that these factors be taken into account since fulfilment of the production programme depends on the number of workers in this very category.
The number of employees of all categories is calculated as an average figure for the whole year; the number of workers is in addition calculated for every, quarter.
107The additional number of workers is determined by the so-called chain method, the essence of which can be grasped from the following example.
Given: Expected number of workers by the beginning of the planned year = 1,020.
Average number on staff list in the planned year = 1,065.
Quarterly distribution of manpower in conformity with the production programme:
First quarter = 1,030;
Second quarter = 1,050;
Third quarter = 1,080;
Fourth quarter = 1,100.
Knowing that the actual number of Jworkers for the beginning of the first quarter is 1,020 and that the arithmetic mean of the numbers at the beginning and end of the quarter is 1,030, one may derive the planned number for the end of 'the first quarter from the following equation:
1.020+x CBl>Q30. x = 1,030x2-1,020 = 1,040.
LI
Calculations for the other quarters are made in a similar manner:
Second quarter: (1,040 + x) : 2 = 1,050
x = l,050x2-l,040 = l,060;
Third quarter: (1,060 + x) : 2 = 1,080 x= 1,080x2-1,060 = 1,100;
Fourth quarter: (1,100 + x) : 2 = 1,100 x= 1,100x2-1,100 = 1,100.
The results can be used to determine the additional number of workers for every quarter and for the whole year (see Table II, p. 108).
Once the additional number of employees _has been ascertained, the task is to find the sources of replenishment and to draw up quarterly and yearly replenishment' schedules.
108 Table II Replenishment Quarter Increase as a percentage of the average absolute Additional manpower requirement staff list I~ 1,040-1,020 = 20 1.0 10 30 II~ 1,060-1,040 = 20 1.0 11 31 III~ 1,100---1,060 = 40 1.0 11 51 IV~ 1,100-1,100= 0 1.0 11 11 Total 1,100-1,020 = 80 4.0 43 123In determining the sources of replenishment one must first consider the possibility of drawing from the local population. The number of apprentices is calculated from the final results. It is usually smaller than the number of additional workers because vocational and technical schools provide skilled workers who need no further training; many workers recruited by the enterprises themselves need no training either.
Let us suppose that 123 is the number of additional workers planned for the following year; 43 of them are to come from vocational and technical schools and they, of course, need no training; of the remaining 80 the enterprise expects to recruit 16 skilled workers. So the planned number of apprentices will be 64.
In planning the training of new workers the trades needed by the enterprise and the trades of the new arrivals from vocational schools are taken into 'consideration. In the labour plan the number of apprentices is calculated as an average figure depending on the time required for training.
Plans for Training and Up-Grading the Personnel. These are components of\ labour plans and they are divided into two sections:
a) training and up-grading 'of 'workers;
b) up-grading of engineers, technicians and office staff.
Plans for training and up-grading workers are based on an analysis of the existing level of skill and the professional structure. Once the analysis is done, the next step js to determine the professional 'and grade structure of
109 workers in the period covered by the plan. The calculations are made from the balance of skilled workers which indicates the number of workers to be trained or enlisted on advanced courses.The plan for up-grading engineers, technicians and office employees is drawn up after an analysis of the enterprise's prospects for development, the existing composition of this category of workers, achievements of science and technology, etc.
Enterprises also draw up long-term plans (covering periods of from three to five years) for raising the educational, cultural and technical level of employees by enrolling them in various evening classes or on correspondence courses. To do this they determine the required present and future levels of general and special knowledge for workers of all trades and professions. The results are incorporated in the enrolment plans. The employees are, of course, asked about their particular wishes and attitudes. ^The summary plan for training and up-grading the employees is drawn up on the basis of plans presented by different shops. Provision is made for all forms of education---at the enterprise itself and in educational establishments.
[110] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ CHAPTER EIGHT __ALPHA_LVL1__ LONG-TERM PLANNING OF MANPOWER __ALPHA_LVL2__ 1. TASKS AND PURPOSESLong-term planning of manpower is designed to determine the prospective number and composition of labour resources. Changes in the number and composition of labour resources are linked with demographic, social and economic conditions which determine the birth and mortality rates and the natural growth of population (by the natural growth of population we mean the difference between the number of births and the number of deaths per 1,000 people).
According to ,the USSR Statistical Board, the natural dynamics of population ,are characterised by the data supplied ,'in ,Table III (on page 111).
The formula for the average growth rate is
N == n /' p
where N is the average growth rate, per cent;
n---the period in years between two censuses;
p---the population growth in the period between two
censuses, per cent.
In the period from 1926 to 1939, for example, the average growth ! rate was 1.23 per cent (12>0y/l5lJ = 1.23), and for the period between 1959 and 1970, it was 1.28 per cent (\Kl6~ = 1.28). These figures indicate that the growth rates of the population in the USSR are increasing.
Besides influencing demographic processes, social and economic factors determine the nature of the expanded reproduction of labour resources. In the USSR the latter process is characterised by high population growth rates, full employment, compulsory work, expansion of the area 111 Table III NATURAL DYNAMICS OF POPULATION IN THE USSR Year Births per '000 Deaths per '000 Natural growth % 1961 23.8 7.2 16.6 1902 22.4 7.5 14.9 1963 21.2 7.2 14.0 1964 19.6 6.9 12.7 1965 18.4 7.3 11.1 1966 18.2 7.3 10.9 1967 17.4 7.6 9.8 1968 17.2 7.7 9.5 1969 17.0 8.1 8.9 1970 17.4 8.2 9.2 1971 17.8 8.2 9.6 of application of labour in all fields of human activity, raising of cultural and technical level, improvement in the skill, planned training, distribution and employment of manpower.
One of the most important aspects and prerequisites for long-term planning of manpower is a detailed study of the process of expanded reproduction of the country's population and labour resources. Because of this the appraisal and maintenance of definite proportions (both quantitative and qualitative) in social labour are the main trends in longterm planning of the labour force.
Quantitative proportions in social labour are seen in the ratios between the size of the population and labour resources; between labour resources as a whole and the portion engaged in material production; between the number of able-bodied people in material production and in the service industries; between urban and rural labour resources; between labour resources of various economic or geographic regions, etc.
In other words, if we wish to establish the quantitative proportions, we must know the distribution of the population into groups reflecting the degree of their participation in social labour, as well as the total number of the population. The population is divided into the following groups: 112 able-bodied population of working age; labour force of working age; civil labour force; economically active population; gainfully employed population.
The able-bodied population of working age comprises all men between 16 and 59 inclusive, and women between 16 and 54 inclusive. Non-employed invalids are excluded from this group.
Labour force of working age is determined by subtracting the number of people occupied in the household and family farmsteads, students and able-bodied dependents who obtain their livelihood from secondary distribution of incomes from the total number of the able-bodied population. Thus, this group is numerically smaller than the able-bodied population of working age.
The numerical strength of the civil labour force is the difference between the labour force of working age and the portion of the population in the armed forces and employed in organisations concerned with the maintenance of public order.
Economically active population comprises civil labour force and people who take part in social labour though they are not in the legitimate working-age group (juveniles, people over retirement age).
Gainfully employed population is established by subtractin i the number of unemployed citizens of working age from the number of economically active people.
The size of the population and labour resources in the USSR is given in Table IV. The data is taken from the results of the census of January 15, 1970.
Table IV Number Groups mlns ln% Total population 241.7 100.0 People of working age 130.5 54.0 Able-bodied people of working age 115.0 47.8 Labour force of work-- ing age 111.0 44.5 113The data helps the directing and planning organs to determine the field of employing labour so as to ensure universal employment and rational utilisation of labour resources.
Evaluation of the physical movement of the population (migration) is important in long-term planning. Migration takes place on an action-wide scale and within republics, territories, regions and towns. Migration in the sense of change of abode can even take place within small districts. It is manifested in the regular movement of able-bodied population from places of residence to places of work (the so-called pendulum migration). It must be taken into consideration in long-term planning of labour force, particularly in planning for towns and villages.
Sorting out is expressed in the ratios of numbers of workers, peasants and intelligentsia, and also among various professionals.
In long-term planning of the labour force it is important to make an economic analysis of the processes of its expanded reproduction in all links, ranging from enterprises and construction sites to the national economy as a whole. It is important to determine what influence scientific and technological progress and changes in the structure of production have on the trends and movements which affect the total number of employed in production. At the same time one must establish the trends and movements in the increasing number of workers in the service industries due to the growth of the population and improved methods of economic management. This requires information about the volume of work, labour productivity, scope of services, etc. In some cases, the number of workers in production and certain services can be calculated directly, but in most cases it can only be done by indirect calculations with the help of statistical data and mathematical (correlation) methods.
Thus, long-term planning of the labour force has three principal aims:
1. to provide employment for the entire able-bodied population;
2. to maintain the requisite proportions in social labour;
3. to utilise all labour resources in the most rational way possible so as to accelerate expanded reproduction and higher living standards.
__PRINTERS_P_113_COMMENT__ 8---0235 114 __ALPHA_LVL2__ 2. LONG-TERM PLANNING OF LABOUR RESOURCESPlanned economy is based on information about labour resources available at definite periods. Without such information it would be impossible to establish the rates and proportions in the development of the national economy, its different fields and sectors, and of economic regions. Censuses, which are usually carried out once every ten years in the Soviet Union, fail however to supply answers to all the questions arising out of planning and economic management. It is therefore necessary to resort to long-term planning of the labour force, usually for periods of five years.
In determining labour resources for future periods it is necessary to establish the growth of the population using the coefficient of viability. It is expedient to make such calculations in the interim periods between censuses, i.e., once every 5 or 10 years.
As an example, let us calculate the number of the population according to five-year age groups for a period of five years. We multiply the number of people in each age interval by the coefficient of viability (given in the table of coefficients of viability). Let S0_4 be the number of children under the age of 4 (according to the census) and S6_9---the number of children between 5 and 9, etc. Px is the coefficient of viability. In this case the number (L) of children in the given age interval will be:
L = SxPx
Px is determined in the following way: Suppose 95,114 is the viability figure per 100,000 infants under 3, and 94,957---the figure for infants under 4. Hence,
Let us further suppose that 89,200 is the number of boys from the age of 0 to 4 inclusively. The coefficient of viability in this age interval is 0.99833; the number of boys between 5 and 9 is 97,000, and the coefficient of viability is 0.99937; the number of boys from 10 to 14 is 84,400, and the coefficient of viability is 0.99864. Our task is to employ these 115 figures in moving the population from one age-group to another, and in this way to determine the size of the male population five years henceforth.
a) Lx = S0_4 X Px = 89,000(89,200 x 0.99833);
b) L2 = S5_9 X Px = 96,900(97,000 X 0.99937);
c) L3 = S10_14 x Px = 84,300(84,400 x 0.99864).
In five years' time, therefore, the male population in the age group of 5-9 will reach 89,000; in the age group 10--14--- 96,900; and in the age group 15--19---84,300.
To determine the size of the population in the next five years the results must be once again multiplied by the coefficient of viability. Thus, application of the coefficient of viability in the age-shift method gives us the number of men (women) in the period under review.
Further calculations are done by using coefficients, taking into account the number of people injured in work or in war, with a correction introduced for the improvement of working conditions, labour protection and safety engineering, and also for the time that has passed since the end of the last war. Corresponding coefficients are used to calculate the labour force from census data.
The following documents list the indicators and composition of labour resources for long-term periods:
a) aggregated labour and personnel plans;
b) aggregated balances of labour resources;
c) balances and sources for the labour force required by collective farms;
d) calculations of additional requirements in numbers of workers and office staff and sources of replenishing them;
e) balance calculations for additional skilled workers and sources of replenishing them;
f) plans for training skilled workers in vocational schools;
g) balance calculations for providing jobs to general secondary school-leavers and technical college graduates;
h) balance calculations for the number of specialists and sources of replenishment.
The sources for replenishing the work force consist of: the younger generation; the work force released from other sectors and fields of the economy due to higher labour productivity; the work force released from household work due to the employment of housewives; and employment of __PRINTERS_P_115_COMMENT__ 8* 116 dependents, demobilised servicemen and invalids who retain partial capacity for work.
The younger generation is the most important source, since it increases the absolute numerical strength of labour resources.
In the USSR the sources of replenishment have two distinct features.
Firstly, they are internal, as there is no emigration or immigration of the work force from or to other countries. A limited number of specialists and skilled workers go to other countries on agreements involving economic assistance but their number does not affect the balance of labour resources.
Secondly, the release of the work force and provision of jobs to citizens of working age do not affect the amount of labour resources; they only change the structure of employment in economic sectors.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 3. METHODS OF CALCULATING LONG-TERMFirst it is necessary to determine the general and additional labour force requirements and to establish the sources of replenishment. The calculations are made for each sector of the economy.
The general requirement is ascertained from the volume of output, growth of labour productivity and the number of employees. The formula ,is:
SQ = S(Sh; Sft = ----, ->«
where SQ is the indicator for the physical volume of output;
Sj---the indicator for labour productivity;
S/i---the indicator for the number of workers. Example. 80,000 people were employed in the given sector as of the beginning of the planned period. It is planned to increase output by 80 per cent and raise labour productivity by 40 per cent. In the circumstances the number of workers will be increased by 28.6 per cent (iS°^Q°°} to a total of 80,000 x 1,286 = 102,880.
5 = 1.131; 1.131-1 = 0.131.
117General data is, however, insufficient for calculating the long-term labour force requirements. It is vital to make detailed calculations for each term in the period. This can be done with the help of the average growth rates of the physical output and of labour productivity. The formula in this case is:
where K is the average growth rate of labour productivity (physical volume of output);
n---the number of time units into which the period |is divided;
L---the coefficient of the growth of labour productivity (physical volume of output) during the entire period.
Example. Labour productivity (average output in value per employee in industry) is to increase by 85 per cent in five years. Then L = LP6 : LP0 = 1.85. (LP5 is the level of average output by the end of the five years, and LP0 is the level of average output at the beginning of the period).
The increase of average output is planned as a geometrical progression, i.e., the annual increment is calculated not from the average output p. a. in relation to the initial period, but from every succeeding year in relation to the preceding year. The coefficient of growth of average output (L = 1.85) must therefore be equal to (1 + K)n, where 1 is the existing level of average output per year in relation to the preceding year, K is the annual increment in average output, and n is the number of years in the planned period (5 in our example). The equation 1.85---(1 + K)5 gives us the figure for K:
K=j/T85-l;
This means that the average annual growth rate in output will be 13.1 percent. In the same way we find the average growth rates of the physical volume of output, the average output and the numerical strength of the labour force, 118
These calculations, however, do not give us a sufficiently clear picture of the long-term labour force requirement. Specific calculations have to be made for the changes in the structure of employment. This is important because further development of all sectors of the economy is closely linked with wide application of automation and mechanisation which influence the composition of staffs. Most Soviet economists believe that in establishing the future requirements for industrial workers it is important to ascertain the internal processes in staff structure which lead to qualitative changes in the existing proportions, generate or eradicate various classes of jobs and radically change the existing division of labour. The fact that the numerical strengths of different groups of workers in production change at different rates must be taken into account in planning the long-term labour force requirements. Of no less importance are the dynamics of the growth of labour productivity which saves a considerable amount of labour. It is sufficient to mention that during the Ninth Five-Year Plan the labour of 32 million workers will be saved thanks to higher labour productivity; it will also account for 87 per cent of the growth in industrial output, and 95 per cent in buildingwork. In industrial enterprises, railway transport and agricultural production growth will not entail any increase in the number of employees. Nonetheless, economic development will require additional manpower due to the increase in the volume of output and natural wastage (old-age, retirement, disablement, education, service in the armed forces, etc.). The requirements can be met by an absolute increase in the numerical strength of the labour force or by thrifty employment of the aggregate labour force in production.
A study of the principal cruestions of long-term planning of the labour force in the USSR shows that the developing scientific system of planning and economic indicators ensures full employment for the able-bodied population of the country; it contributes to an extremely rational use of labour resources for securing the highest possible rates of economic development and raising living and cultural Standards.
[119] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ CHAPTER NINE __ALPHA_LVL1__ PLANNING OF THE TRAININGSpecialists play an extremely important part in solving the scientific, technological, social and economic tasks which the CPSU set for the immediate future and long-term periods. Qualification requirements are becoming more exacting as science increasingly becomes a direct productive force and the scientific and technological level of production becomes more and more crucial.
Specialists play a leading role in the solution of major development problems of Soviet society---elevation of cultural and technical standards, eradication of the essential distinctions between town and countryside and between manual and intellectual work, and the development of education, public health and welfare services for the people.
Qualified people are expected to improve the forms and methods of organising production, develop and introduce modern methods of economic management, and raise the efficiency of social 'production.
The need for specialists is constantly growing. In recent years the growth rates of the number of scientific and engineering workers has outstripped the growth rates in all the other social groups. This is a natural trend born of the policy of the CPSU which is aimed at the acceleration of scientific and technological progress and achievement of higher educational and cultural standards.
The training of specialists is planned to meet the needs of the economy as laid down in the country's economic development plans. The Directives of the 24th Congress 120 of the CPSU state that ``Higher and secondary specialised education shall be promoted in accordance with the requirements of scientific and technical progress, and the quality of the training and ideological and political education of future specialists shall be improved."^^1^^
The construction of communism requires that the Soviet state make great efforts to expand the training of specialists in higher or secondary education. In the period from 1918 to 1971, Soviet educational establishments turned out 9.8 million specialists with higher and 15.9 million with secondary education, thus raising the number of specialists from 190,000 in 1913 to 17,900,000 in 1971. The number of specialists with higher education increased from 136,000 to 7,300,000. In 1971, there were 2,650,000 engineers with institute diplomas. In the same year 672,000 graduates with higher education and 1,083,000 with special secondary education received jobs in the national economy.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 2. PLANNING OF THE SCOPE OF TRAININGThe plans for training specialists cover periods of five years and over. The Soviet Union is now preparing a perspective economic development plan covering the period from 1976 to 1990 so that the requirements for specialists also cover the period up to 1990; measures are being outlined to expand the facilities of higher and special secondary schools. This is linked with the rapid advance of science and technology and with the longer study periods in education. Yearly economic plans specify the figures for enrolment and graduation, and the distribution of graduates.
Specification of the required number of specialists. Longterm calculations are made on the basis of draft plans for the development of production, and science and technology. These are drawn up by ministries, departments and Union republics with the participation of enterprises and construction sites.
_-_-_^^1^^ 24th Congress of the CPSU, p. 294.
121The requirements must be substantiated scientifically, and they must be co-ordinated with the plans for developing material production and expanding the sphere of services. This is one of the principal tasks of the USSR State Planning Committee and the USSR Ministry of Higher and Specialised Secondary Education. The calculations cover, as a rule, ten-year periods. This is to ensure correct estimates of the number of students enrolled by universities and specialised secondary colleges and establish the required material and technical base and the size of the teaching staffs.
The calculations are based on methodological instructions, forms and indicators issued by the USSR State Planning Committee, and on the list of specialities approved by the Ministry of Higher and Specialised Secondary Education on agreement with the State Planning Committee. The lists are drawn up in such a way as to provide all sectors of material production, educational establishments, science, culture, the medical service, trade and administration with the required number of specialists. They are periodically reviewed; obsolete specialties are crossed off the lists and new ones added as dictated by the advance of science and technology.
Specialties in higher 'educational establishments >are divided into 22 groups: 1) geology and prospecting; 2) development of mineral deposits; 3) power engineering; 4) metallurgy; 5) engineering and instrument-engineering; 6) electronics, electric instrument-making and automation; 7) radio engineering and communications; 8) chemical engineering; 9) timber engineering, paper pulp and cellulose technology; 10) food science; 11) consumer goods technology; 12) building; 13) geodesy 'and cartography; 14) hydrology and meteorology; 15) agriculture and forestry; 16) transport; 17) economy; 18) law; 19) health and physical culture; 20) specialties in universities; 21) specialties in teachers training colleges and institutes of culture; 22) the arts.
The training and distribution of people with specialised secondary education is planned on the basis of lists which contain a greater number of specialties, as specialised secondary colleges train more highly specialised students.
122The calculations are made for each sector of industry, agriculture and the economy; then they are generalised for each republic. An important role in the work is played by sectoral ministries of the USSR and the Union republics. Together with research institutes they determine the requirements of their sectors and of subordinate research, design and technological institutions.
All the requirements of the national economy must be taken into consideration---the requirements of production, service industries, research and design institutions, educational establishments, economic management bodies and other organisations. It must be remembered that each sector requires people with different specialties. So, in establishing the number of chemical engineers, calculations cover all economic sectors, and not just the chemical industry.
In practice, consideration is given to the general and additional requirements.
The general requirements cover all the specialists needed for the planned scope of work and also by the various fields of education, culture and the public health service.
The additional requirements cover the number of specialists needed in the planned period over and above the available number at the beginning of the planned period. Their components are as follows:
requirements for the increment of jobs to be filled by specialists; requirements for replacing specialists with or without diplomas who leave engineering jobs; requirements for the partial replacement of specialists without diplomas by specialists with diplomas.
The additional requirements are essential in plans for the enrolment and graduation of specialists to and from higher and specialised secondary educational establishments and for drawing up balances of personnel.
The general requirements are estimated on the basis of many factors. The growth of these types of requirements is explained by the development of both production, and science and technology. It also depends on the scale and character of new machinery to be introduced, on the level of complex mechanisation and automation of production, on the introduction of computer technology, electrification 123 of industry and application of chemicals, and other trends in technological progress.
The Soviet Union is accelerating its development of production, the building of new enterprises, and the reconstruction and modernisation of workshops and factories. In 1970 the fixed assets in the USSR were increased by 646 per cent compared with 1940. The Ninth Five-Year Plan makes provision for a further 52 per cent growth by 1975. That requires an increase in the number of diploma specialists. Their number went up from 8.8 million in 1960 to 17.9 million in 1971, i.e., it was more than doubled.
The requirements for specialists to cover the increment of jobs at new enterprises or workshops to be commissioned during the planned period is calculated from staff lists in technically or economically similar enterprises or from staff lists outlined in technical projects and management schemes for new enterprises. The results are apportioned between the years in the period covered by the plan in conformity with the schedules for commissioning the new enterprises.
Provision is also made for the increment in the number of jobs for the existing enterprises caused by the introduction of new machinery, expansion of production, and construction of new shops and laboratories, design offices and experimental shops.
The general requirements are affected by the introduction of advanced technology, mechanisation and automation of production processes, complicated machines and new types of raw materials. It should be noted, however, that the growing requirements for different kinds of specialists may be accompanied by the redundancy of obsolete professions; in general, however, there is very little variation in the need for specialists.
Factors which affect the decrease in the number of personnel are taken into account. The most important of them are: improved organisational structure and systems of management (enlargement or closure of shops and other units, organisation of production associations, introduction of direct management in small enterprises, merger of small enterprises and organisations, reduction of excess staff personnel); specialisation and integration of industrial 124 enterprises, agricultural enterprises and building organisations.
These measures are very effective. Many sister enterprises merge into companies so as to improve the administrative apparatus, specialise and centralise similar services (design, technological, .marketing and supply departments, wage and labour organisation departments). The Leningrad Optical Works, for example, was formed from a merger of several factories which had 20 small and inefficient technological bureaus. They have now been replaced by a single chief technologist's department; 120 engineers and technicians released after the closure of 27 other departments were given new jobs.
Good results are produced by the mechanisation of administrative work (dispatch servicing, computer-controlled production processes), mechanisation of accounting, statistics and calculations, and use of computers for solving engineering and economic problems. Computers, for instance, reduce design cycles by 50 or 100 per cent, the time for working out norm of labour intensity and for issuing numerous documents (warrants, 'consignments, orders, etc.) by anything between 200 and 400 per cent. The amount of work for making normative calculations 'of production costs is cut by 700--900 per cent.
Additional personnel requirements to cover the increase of jobs to be transferred to specialists can be calculated by two methods, depending on the duration of the planned period and availability of initial data. Calculations for the fiveyear period immediately following the year under review are made on the basis of staff lists of enterprises and the type of jobs to be given over to specialists; the requirements for the subsequent five-year period are determined in round figures, depending on the number of specialists in economic sectors.
The first method requires the following initial information: production and building development plan, plan for expanding the network of research institutions, plan for survey, design and technological work, staff lists of existing enterprises and organisations, list of posts to be filled by specialists with higher or specialised secondary education, 125 and data on the availability, composition and movement of specialists, workers and office staff.
This group of planned indicators is essential to establish the 'requirements for specialists. Development jplans for production and construction serve as a reliable basis for the calculation because they make provision for increase in the number of specialists for operating new capacities to be commissioned in the projected period.
Plans for the development of science and technology indicate how many 'new research, design and technological institutions will have to be provided with qualified personnel.
Staff lists reflect the organisational structure of management, and therefore they must be co-ordinated with the approved scheme of managing enterprises, institutions and organisations. The models determine the placing of personnel, the number of structural subdivisions and the number of posts; they reflect most fully the scope of production, its technical level and complexity, and the scale and character of activities of research organisations. In analysing the management schemes attention is paid to advanced methods which ensure optimal management with the least number of specialists.
Staff lists, drawn up on the basis of model schemes of management, enumerate all specialists and other employees needed for normal operation. Posts are instituted for all structural subdivisions; the number of employees is fixed in conformity with the amount of work for each employee and the subdivision in general.
The structure (scheme) of management and the staff list are the principal documents for calculating the total number of engineers, technicians and other specialists required by each enterprise and institution.
At the same time, calculations are made for the grades and specialties of the required personnel. The professions and qualifications are determined for all posts to be held by specialists; this is done on the basis of lists of posts to be given over to specialists with higher or specialised secondary education.
The educational level is determined by the functions to be performed by the specialist and the demands made of the level of his special knowledge and practical know-how.
126Specialists should fill all posts in sectors of production which call for the solution of the complex problem of technical, economic and administrative management of enterprises and construction sites, where organisational and technical functions are complicated, where production, laboratories, design offices and technological departments require the ability to conduct independent work, and where there is a need to direct the work of junior specialists.
Junior specialists are in charge of less responsible work; they solve concrete technical and economic problems under the supervision of senior specialists.
Posts must be provided in production and services for specialists with higher education when the work requires special knowledge and independent decisions, particularly in tackling research, technological and economic projects in research and design institutions, laboratories and clinics; specialists with higher education must be provided with posts in general schools, cultural institutions, the medical service, and economic management bodies.
The number of specialists for new enterprises, organisations and institutions is fixed in conformity with the increase in the number of posts.
In existing enterprises, organisations and institutions, the number of posts to be filled by specialists is determined as the difference between the number of posts for the planned period (calculated from the list of posts) and the number of available jobs in the base year. The calculations are made for each year in the planned period.
Additional number of specialists for replenishing the natural wastage of specialists with or without diplomas is calculated annually in the planned period taking due account of the percentage of people who leave each year.
The percentage is the ratio of the number of specialists who leave during the given year to the total number of specialists by the beginning of the same year. Only the average percentage for a number of successive years is taken into consideration (with corresponding corrections for changes in the age groups of specialists and the distinctive features of the given geographical region or sector of the economy).
Example. At the beginning of the year there were 700,000 specialists; 70,000 was the natural wastage; new 127 arrivals (excluding graduates) numbered 50,000. Therefore, the percentage of leavers will be 70,000--50,000 X 100 = 2.8. 700,000
In different economic sectors and geographic districts the percentage of new arrivals is different; it is highest in sectors and geographical districts which offer privileges for retirement and where amongst the specialists there are many women, who retire earlier than men and who often leave jobs for family reasons; the percentage is lowest where there is a stable mechanical increment of specialists, etc. These factors as well as the age composition must be taken into consideration in determining the percentage of natural wastage in each economic sector or locality.
Additional requirements for specialists for the partial replacement of practical workers holding specialist posts is determined by the possibility of giving them education in igher or specialised secondary colleges through evening or correspondence courses; steps must be taken to encourage practical workers to pass into the category of diploma specialists.
The replenishment is calculated from statistical data on the composition of executives and specialists engaged in the national economy and its sectors and from the number of practical workers holding specialist posts.
It is recommended that the number of specialists for the five years following the planned period be calculated in round figures; this must be done on the basis of an analysis of the saturation of the economy with specialists, i.e., in conformity with the number of specialists per 1,000 workers and office employees. The calculations in round figures are made by the USSR ministries and departments and by the State Planning Committees in the Union republics on the basis of development prospects for the economy, culture, science and the medical service.
Particular attention has to be paid to the establishment of the correct saturation coefficient. In should be remembered that technological progress gradually increases the number of specialists per 1,000 workers in production. In 1970, for example, there were 147 specialists with higher or 128 specialised secondary education per 1,000 workers in industry (cf 109 in 1965), 126 in building organisations (90 in 1965), and 41 in state farms (20 in 1965). Saturation point is determined from the average existing level in the given sector and the prospects of its growth.
Table V shows how the number of specialists for 1978--85 is calculated with the help of the coefficient of saturation.
This scheme and the coefficient of saturation are used to calculate the total number of posts to be filled by specialists each year.
The additional requirement for the increase m the number of posts for each year of the period is the difference between the requirements of the given and preceding year.
The additional requirement for replenishment is determined as the product of the total number of specialists at the end of the preceding year and the coefficient of wastage.
The total sum of the additional requirements for specialists with higher and specialised secondary education is then distributed according to professions, taking account of the percentage of each group at the beginning of the planned year, and the changing tendencies in the requirements due to technological progress and development of production.
The coefficient of saturation method has many serious drawbacks. For instance, it fails to uncover the economised reserves of engineers' labour and gives no picture of the actual state of affairs at enterprises. This is why the method is only used to determine long-term targets and in analysing the availability of specialists in sister enterprises in various sectors, Union republics and economic districts.
Other methods of calculation are used in relation to the character of production. The USSR Ministry of Electric Power Development and Electrification has, for instance, employed personnel coefficients for capacities of power stations, and on this basis determined the required number of specialists for the subsequent 10 years. This coefficient indicates the number of specialists required per 1,000 kilowatt capacities of power stations to be commissioned in the planned period. The coefficients are different for state district (thermal) power stations, thermal power stations for industry, hydroelectric power stations, heating plants, grid systems, district electric power departments, produc-- [129] Table V CALCULATION OF LONG-RANGE REQUIREMENTS IN SPECIALISTS BY USING THE COEFFICIENT OF SATURATION (FIGURES ARE RANDOM) Indicator 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 Number of workers and office employees ('000) 100 120 135 140 145 150 155 160 Per cent of posts to be filled by specialists 15.0 16.0 17.0 17.5 18.0 18.5 19.0 20.0 Number of posts to be filled by specialists ('000) 15.0 19.2 22.9 24.5 26.1 27.8 29.5 32.0 including: by specialists with high-- er education 5.0 5.8 7.7 8.1 8.7 9.2 9.7 10.3 specialists with specialised secondary education 10.0 13.4 15.1 16.4 17.4 18.6 19.8 21.7 Additional requirement for specialists with high-- er education ('000): a) for the increase in number of posts --- 0.8 1.9 0.4 0.6 0.5 0.5 0.6 b) replenishment of departures (assuming that departures account for 3 per cent p. a. of the total number) --- --- --- 0.13 0.13 0.14 0.15 0.16 Total: --- 0.8 1.9 0.53 0.73 0.64 0.65 0.76 including specialties (ac-- cording to lists of pro-- fessions) --- --- --- --- --- --- --- --- Additional requirement for specialists with spe-- cialised secondary educa-- tion ('000): a) for increase in num-- ber of posts --- 3.4 1.7 1.3 1.0 1.2 1.2 1.9 b) replenishment of nat-- ural wastage (taking departures) at 3 per cent p.a.) --- --- --- 0.36 0.39 0.42 0.45 0.48 Total: --- 3.4 1.7 1.66 1.39 1.62 1.65 2.38 including by professions ~ ~ ~~ ~~ ------ __PRINTERS_P_129_COMMENT__ 1/2 9---0235 130 tion services, laboratories and auxiliary services. They all have different sizes of administrative and engineering personnel, and therefore their personnel coefficients are different.
The norm (coefficients) are based on the long-term plan of electrification, standard staff lists for the power stations to be commissioned and standard specifications of posts to be filled by specialists. The coefficients take into account the reduction of personnel due to automation and other aspects of technological progress.
By multiplying the coefficients by the magnitude of the capacity to be commissioned, we get the required number of specialists for each year of the planned period. Power stations also calculate the replenishment of wastage and replacement of some practical workers by specialists with diplomas.
Direct calculations of the size of the personnel in relation to the volume of production are also made for design organisations. In this case, it is necessary to make use of indicators which characterise the amount of design or survey work (in millions of rubles) for each year of the planned period and the output per employee (in thousands of rubles p. a.). The resulting quotient gives the total number of employees for each year. It has been found in practice that engineers, technicians and other specialists account for nearly 60 per cent of the personnel in design and survey organisations. The percentage of specialists with higher education is also very high.
The statistical data on the actual number of specialists in each profession has to be scrupulously analysed so as to uncover shortcomings in the provision of specialists. There may be a shortage of some specialists or an excess of others; some may work in fields which are alien to them. So, planning agencies fix targets for the preferential training of people in deficit specialties and retarding the training of people in all other cases. The Directives of the 24th Congress of the CPSU focus attention on the need to train specialists in new fields of science and technology and for the developing fields of production and services.
Elaboration of Training Plans. The data on additional requirements are used to elaborate long-term or yearly 131 plans for training specialists. The Eigth Five-Year Plan (1966--1970), for example, made provision for the training of 7 million specialists; the Ninth Plan (1971--1975) increased this figure to 9 million.
To accomplish this task, the plans fix targets for enrolment in higher and specialised secondary educational institutions. The economic plan for 1975 fixes the figure for enrolment in universities and other places of higher learning at 977,000 (against 904,000 in 1970); 583,000 of these are to be enrolled as day students (against 499,000 in 1970). The figures for specialised secondary schools are 1.453 million (1.336 million in 1970) and 933,000 (835,000 in 1970), respectively. It should be stressed that the number of freshmen must exceed the number of graduates by the total number of drop-outs. Long years of practice prove that the latter account for 10 to 12 per cent of freshmen. The number of students for each year is calculated from enrolment figures, course duration, and the annual number of drop-outs and graduates. Here is an example:
Let us suppose that there are 1 million students as of the beginning of the 1970/71 academic year; 300,000 students are to be enrolled in the 1975/76 academic year; the planned number of graduates for the 1975/76 academic year is 200,000; the number of annual drop-outs is 20,000 (2 per cent). From this we see that the number of students by the end of the 1975/76 academic year will be 1,000,000 + 300,000--- - 200,000 - 20,000 = 1,080,000.
The number of specialists to be trained is co-ordinated with the country's economic potential. In the Soviet Union all types of education are free. The state meets all the expenses, including wages to instructors and professors, and funds for building and maintaining educational establishments. The overwhelming majority of students get grants; people from other towns are accommodated in hostels. The state increased its allocations for training specialists in higher educational establishments from 1,076 million rubles in 1960 to 2,296 million in 1971, i.e., by 120 per cent; and for training specialists in secondary educational establishments from 516 million to 1,275 million rubles, i.e., by 150 per cent. The increasing number of students and the advanced methods of training require __PRINTERS_P_131_COMMENT__ 9* 132 continual expansion of the existing training facilities. In the period from 1966 to 1970, more than 60 universities and advanced colleges and nearly 300 specialised secondary schools were opened throughout the country; at the same time 2.7 million m2 of premises were commissioned in universities and advanced colleges, and 3.4 million m2 in specialised secondary schools. In the same period university and advanced college students got 1.7 million m2 of additional floorspace in hostels, while specialised secondary schools students got 1.5 million m2. That was sufficient to accommodate 700,000 more students. In the Ninth Five-Year Plan provision is made to add another 5.7 million m2.
This calls for the co-ordination of training plans with the state budget and the capital construction plan which allocate the funds for the construction of class-room facilities and hostels. The planned quota of students must also be co-ordinated with the balance of the country's labour resources.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 3. PLANNING OF DISTRIBUTIONWe have already noted that plans for training specialists are backed by plans for distributing them. The Soviet state provides jobs to all graduates from higher education and specialised secondary schools, and it itself is interested in ensuring rational distribution of specialists among ministries, departments and Union republics in line with development prospects.
The distribution plans are drawn up a year before the graduation of specialists. This enables educational establishments and graduating students to prepare for practicals and diploma projects; enterprises get sufficient time to prepare for the arrival of young specialists.
Young specialists get jobs in their line so that they may get practice. For a span of three years after the graduation of young specialists, executives of enterprises and institutions are not permitted to employ them in the administrative apparatus, give them jobs not related to their profession or dismiss them without permission of ministries or departments.
133The distribution plans are drawn up and approved by the USSR State Planning Committee, by the Councils of Ministers of Union republics or by ministries and departments which have their own educational establishments.
Ministries and departments submit in advance lists of enterprises, factories, collective farms and state farms which will require young specialists; they provide information on available posts, wages and accommodation.
On receiving the lists the educational establishments appoint the graduates to their future jobs.
The distribution plan is based on information about the number of graduates and the additional requirements for personnel in the planned year.
The pattern for submitting the additional requirements is as follows:
Additional requirements in 19..., total Including replenishment by specialists combining work with study Higher educational establishments total including groups of specialties and individual specialties Specialised secondary colleges total including groups of specialties and individual specialtiesThe enterprises list the educational establishments from which they expect to receive the specialists.
The sources for meeting the requests comprise day, evening and correspondence courses.
The ministries, departments and State Planning Committees of the Union republics take stock of the requests and take steps to improve the distribution and employment of specialists; they, for instance, provide jobs to graduates who combine work with studies.
134Educational establishments assign graduates to their places of work in conformity with the Rules for the individual distribution of young specialists approved by the Ministry of Higher and Specialised Secondary Education.
Travel and removal expenses to the new place of work are paid for each assignee and his family. He is given daily allowances and half of his future monthly earnings as a lump-sum grant. For each member of his family he receives an additional grant equal to one quarter of the lumpsum grant.
Thus, the planned training and distribution of specialists contribute to the construction of communism in the USSR, and comply fully with the personal interests of young specialists.
[135] __NUMERIC_LVL1__ CHAPTER TEN __ALPHA_LVL1__ LABOUR LEGISLATION AND THE PROVISIONConstruction of communism in the USSR implies the most rational and effective employment of manpower, continual improvement of labour organisation on scientific lines, and further promotion of labour productivity.
Soviet labour legislation plays a major part in the training, distribution and employment of labour resources. The norms of labour legislation determine the legal forms of providing manpower; they help to distribute labour resources among various sectors of production and economic regions; they regulate the training and retraining of workers and office employees, lead to better employment of workers according to their profession and qualification, and contribute to the moulding of a stable labour force.
The legal regulations are based on the constitutional right of citizens to work. Article 118 of the Constitution of the USSR says that citizens of the Soviet Union have the right to work, i.e., the right for guaranteed work paid according to its quantity and quality. This right is guaranteed by the socialist organisation of the economy and steady growth of the productive forces, by eliminating the possibility of economic crises and providing full employment for the population. Unemployment in the USSR was completely eliminated in 1930.
In a socialist society all citizens, irrespective of their nationality or race, have equal opportunities to get jobs in state, co-operative or public organisations, enterprises and institutions. In this sort of society where there are no antagonistic classes, labour is the duty and moral obligation of every citizen capable of working.
136The universal duty to work, proclaimed in Article 12 of the Constitution, is based on the principle ``he who does not work, neither shall he eat''. It guarantees citizens freedom from exploitation; that is to say that nobody in the socialist society can impose his portion of social labour on others. Any freely chosen work for the benefit of society is regarded as fulfilment of this obligation.
The guarantee from exploitation is the principal prerequisite for genuine freedom and all-round development of the individual.
In order to ensure the conjunction of the right to work with the requirements and interests of the socialist state in the planned and balanced distribution of manpower, on December 22, 1966, the Soviet government issued a decree inaugurating State Committees of the Councils of Ministers of Union republics for the employment of labour resources and departments of territorial and regional Soviets. They were charged with helping people to find work according to their profession and qualifications. Representatives of these agencies work in all major towns and districts. They provide information on vacancies in enterprises and organisations, recruit workers and office employees for other localities, and together with ministries and departments work out measures for retraining and re-assigning the employees. When necessary they act on behalf of enterprises and organisations, sign contracts with employees and assign them to jobs.
Employment is also provided by Soviet and public organisations (ministries and departments, executive councils of Soviets, commissions for juveniles, trade unions, etc.). Citizens can look for jobs and sign contracts for work on their own. Some categories of citizens have the right to demand obligatory provision of jobs (youths under age, graduates from secondary schools, workers and specialists after graduating from educational establishments, workers made redundant due to improved organisation of management, etc.). Vocational guidance, particularly for secondary school-leavers, is becoming more widespread.
The existing labour laws enhance correct distribution of manpower by fixing higher salaries and wages for difficult or hazardous conditions of work and in key sectors of 137 production, as well as for employees in zones with severe climatic conditions.
They also minimise fluctuations in manpower by providing privileges for long service (extra vacations, extra pay for long service, end-of-year bonuses) and by compelling the administration to improve conditions of work and production in line with the achievements of science and technology, and promoting welfare and cultural services.
Labour laws which provide manpower for the economy and ensure the right to work are founded on the free expression of will, i.e., on contracts. (Workers and office employees execute their right to work by signing labour contracts.) Fundamentals of Labour Legislation of the USSR and the Union Republics define (Article 8) labour contracts as agreements between employees on the one hand, and enterprises, institutions or organisations, on the other; under such agreements the employees undertake to work in definite professions requiring specific qualifications or in definite posts, abiding by internal regulations; the enterprise, institution or organisation undertakes to pay wages and sets the conditions of work as specified by the labour legislation and the collective agreement between the two sides. Labour agreements help to implement the principle of socialism ``from each according to his ability, to each according to his work''; it helps citizens to select work of their own choice and in line with their own interest. The labour agreement determines the functions of employees, and the place and conditions of their work. Some of the terms ( specialty, posts, duties, housing, welfare and cultural amenities) are determined by the two parties, while others (duration of working day, wage rates and salaries) are determined by the labour legislation. No terms can be included which contradict the labour legislation or worsen the position of workers and office employees (Article 5). The right to sign labour agreements is given to citizens when they reach the age of 16; in exceptional cases people just over 15 can be employed, but only with the consent of the trade union committee. As a rule, people are taken on after interviews with a responsible representative of the administration.
The administration selects personnel in conformity with the planned assignments and the operating norms. It __PRINTERS_P_137_COMMENT__ 10---0235 138 provides information on vacancies through agencies for the employment of labour resources and through the press, radio, television and other mass media.
Employment in educational, establishments (excluding general schools), research institutes, and in artistic professions is decided by competitions.
In taking on employees, the administration bases its decisions on the labour legislation and the business qualities of applicants.
Soviet laws make provision for a number of guarantees for the right to work. Unwarranted refusal to provide employment is prohibited. In full conformity with the Constitution of the USSR, no discrimination or privileges because of sex, race, nationality or religious beliefs are tolerated. (Article 9). This also concerns refusals for reasons of social origin, previous convictions, convictions of parents or relatives, since no mention is made to the contrary in special laws. By refusing to employ or by dismissing pregnant women or nursing mothers on the grounds of their position, employers are liable to prosecution. Complaints against unwarranted refusals can be made to superior bodies or to the procurator.
Soviet laws establish a probationary term of one week for workers, two weeks for office employees, one month for executives, and from 3 to 6 months for applicants to research, design and technological organisations. If the applicant proves a failure, he is dismissed from work.
The labour contract can be annulled only in cases provided by the law. The administration is not allowed to discharge an employee without the consent of the trade union organisation. The employee can cancel the contract at any time, but he has to notify the administration two weeks in advance. Contracts signed for fixed terms can be cancelled by the employee before the appointed time, provided he produces valid reasons, such as illness or disablement.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 2. REASSIGNMENT AS A FORM OF DISTRIBUTING MANPOWEROne of the urgent problems of planning labour is the correct redistribution of manpower. Shortage of manpower is particularly acute in new enterprises equipped with modern 139 machinery, in capital construction and in the developing regions of the Far North, the Urals, the Soviet Far East, Siberia, and Central Asia. As agriculture develops, the need for machine-operators, team-leaders and other specialists grows. On the other hand, mechanisation and automation of production and improved methods of management reduce the staffs of enterprises and building organisations.
The principal legal forms for the redistribution of manpower are transfer to other jobs, labour recruitment and public mobilisation campaigns. They are all based on the principle of free choice.
It is in the interests of production and employees themselves to employ people according to their professions and qualifications. Article 12 of Fundamentals of Labour Legislation forbids the administration to compel an employee to do any work not specified in the labour contract. Wage rate books and instructions for officials scrupulously enumerate the duties of employees. Additional duties can only be assigned with the employee's consent and only with appropriate remuneration.
Temporary reassignments are allowed in exceptional cases (standstills, unpredictable eventualities) envisaged by the law; however due guarantees must be made.
Transfer to other permanent jobs within the enterprise or organisation or to other enterprises and localities can be made only on the agreement of the two sides, i.e., it is voluntary. Assignments to other jobs within the enterprise or organisation which do not affect the employee's specialty, qualification, post, wages, privileges and other essential aspects of work (for example, assignments to work on a similar type of lathe but in another shop) are not considered as transferences.
Transfer is a contract form of distribution of manpower within the enterprise or between enterprises due to the introduction of new machinery, improved organisation of production and improvement of management. When an employee is transferred on the initiative of the administration, he gets a compensation and some guarantees (wages for a definite period of time, daily allowances, compensation for travel expenses, lump-grants, etc.).
__PRINTERS_P_139_COMMENT__ 10* 140The transfer to other organisations or localities as a form of redistribution of manpower promotes rational employment of available labour resources and provides jobs to people released from enterprises because of staff reductions or curtailment of output. The administration is obliged to offer redundant employees other jobs, if available, at the same enterprise or in enterprises subordinated to the same department in the given locality.
Some enterprises are moved to other localities so as to improve the distribution of productive forces. In such cases employees can refuse to follow the enterprise.
If the employee refuses to accept the transfer, the labour contract is invalidated and the employee gets a severance grant. If he accepts the transfer to another locality, his travel expenses are paid. His wages are paid while he is en route and for an additional six days departure to give him time to prepare for the move and settle in a new home; in addition, he gets a lump-grant, and housing accommodation; his work record remains uninterrupted.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 3. LABOUR RECRUITMENT AND PUBLIC MOBILISATIONThe plan for inter-republican assignments of jobs to workers and the plan for labour recruitment for the USSR and Union-Republican ministries responsible for building are incorporated in the annual economic development plans of the USSR.
The plan for labour recruitment in republics is determined by their Councils of Ministers.
Planned labour recruitment is conducted by the state committees for the employment of manpower under the Council of Ministers of the Union republics, and by the committees' local agencies. The USSR State Planning Committee and its department of labour resources co-- ordinate the work of republican agencies responsible for the planning, distribution and redistribution of manpower in economic sectors and republics and for the organisation of the inter-republican services responsible for informing the population about vacancies. The department of labour resources considers the suggestions of the USSR ministries 141 and departments and of the Council of Ministers of the Union republics, works out manpower balances, including skilled work force balances, and deals with the rational employment of labour resources.
Three groups of relations are generated by labour recruitment: = 1) between citizens and agencies of state labour utilisation committees; = 2) between enterprises for whom the recruitment is made and the committee's agencies; = 3) between employees and the enterprises (on the basis of labour contracts).
Representatives of labour utilisation departments, acting on behalf of interested enterprises, sign contracts with workers. They give the workers information on working and living conditions, arrange medical check-ups and meals during the journey, pay travel expenses and allocate advances. The enterprise concerned is obliged to offer work within 24 hours of arrival, arrange transportation from the station to the place of residence, and provide housing accommodation.
Labour recruitment and migration agencies check how enterprises prepare to meet new workers and retrain them; they supervise housing accommodation, communal and welfare services. In case of serious shortcomings, the agencies can refuse to recruit manpower for the enterprise.
Labour contracts with recruited workers are usually signed for a period of between one and three years; those who agree to go to the Far North or regions placed in the same status sign contracts for three years. In some cases (timber and peat industries) contracts are signed for a season covering not more than six months.
Labour contracts contain the following terms:
1) terms covering migration: lump-grant, daily allowances during the journey, travelling expenses of the worker and his family (this includes the cost of delivering 240~kg of his luggage and 80~kg per dependent);~
2) rights and duties of the worker. The rights are determined by labour legislation. The duties he assumes are: to arrive at the point of departure for the new place of work; to be industrious and disciplined; to abide by the internal regulations and instructions of the administration; to raise his qualifications and labour productivity;~
1423) obligations of the enterprise. To provide housing accommodation, cultural and everyday services, including public catering; to provide professional training and the right conditions for raising qualifications; to pay travel expenses when he returns to his former residence after the contract expires, etc.
Another form of redistributing manpower between economic regions is the migration of workers. It is carried out on a voluntary basis in conformity with the plans approved by the Councils of Ministers of the Union republics. The state labour utilisation committees and their local agencies encourage migration mainly to provide manpower for collective farms and state farms in the virgin lands or in regions with an abundance of uncultivated lands; they also supervise the settlement of migrants. Migrants are assisted in preparing for the journey, they get transport facilities, medical services and meals en route, and in addition they get lump-grants, housing accommodation and certain privileges.
Recently young people, backed by Komsomol and other public organisations, have initiated public mobilisation campaigns during which young people volunteer to work at construction sites, new enterprises or in agriculture in remote districts.
The campaigns are usually conducted among young workers, graduates, servicemen and employees released from enterprises and organisations because of improvement of production.
The workers are recruited by special town and district committees made up of representatives of Soviet, Party and Komsomol organisations. They are given warrants from public organisations or special identification cards from superior economic organs which guarantee them jobs at the enterprise.
The volunteers get many privileges from the state. Enterprises and organisations cannot 'compel them to stay. The lump-grants are usually double those given to recruited workers; travelling expenses are paid; the work record is considered as uninterrupted; wages are paid during the journey and for six days allocated for resettlement, as well as during the time needed to acquire a new profession (not 143 exceeding three months); travelling expenses for family members are compensated provided that the family moves within two years. Young workers who decide to marry are given loans. It should be pointed out, however, that the decision to volunteer or accept the public warrant does not generate labour relations. If the volunteer fails to report at the assigned job, he has to justify himself to the public organisation which gave him the assignment. Naturally, the advance sum which he received must be refunded fully or partially, depending on the validity of his excuses.
Legitimate labour relations begin only after a volunteer reports to the place of work. The administration is obliged to provide the job. Usually, the administration concludes a contract with the volunteer for an indefinite period, specifying the character and conditions of work. The administration is obliged to provide good living and working conditions and, if necessary, arrange professional training.
__ALPHA_LVL2__ 4. TRAINING AND DISTRIBUTION OF GRADUATESSkilled manpower in the national economy is replenished by graduates from educational establishments and advanced courses at enterprises.
Article 121 of the Constitution of the USSR guarantees Soviet citizens the right to education. This right is compulsory and it is ensured by universal eight-year education, general secondary education, and a comprehensive network of vocational, specialised secondary, and higher educational establishments. All education in the USSR is free; students get government grants; lessons are given in native tongues; vocational training in enterprises is free. There are strong links between education and production; the system of evening and correspondence courses is spreading.
Pupils at secondary general education polytechnical schools get standard secondary general education, and professional orientation; they acquire working habits and are under the right conditions given vocational training within accessible limits (in school production shops and experimental farms, and in enterprises; in the latter case, the pupils, though they are not included on the staff lists, are 144 paid for their work at the same rates as staff employees). After the training in production and completion of the curriculum, the pupils are examined by the qualification committees of enterprises, and if they are successful, get skill grades in the professions they have selected.
School-leavers get school-leaving certificates and certificates stating their skill grades in the selected vocation.
The army of skilled workers is replenished by graduates from vocational colleges and courses in enterprises. The training of graduates from 8-year and general secondary schools in vocational colleges is supervised by the State Committee of the USSR Council of Ministers for Vocational Training; the training of junior and senior specialists is supervised by the USSR Ministry of Higher and Specialised Secondary Education.
Graduates from vocational schools are obliged to work for between two and four years in specified enterprises, in organisations or on construction sites; the duration of the obligatory period depends on the type of enterprise. Graduates from higher education or specialised secondary colleges have to work for three years at specified enterprises.
The planned provision of jobs for young workers and specialists is one of the guarantees of the right to work proclaimed in Article 118 of the Constitution. The young specialists are assigned to their places of work not later than four months before they graduate. The assignments are made by a special committee with representatives of public organisations on the panel. The committee is guided by the inter-departmental and inter-republican plans for the distribution of specialists. The graduates are familiarised with the conditions of their future work, and allowance is made for their interests and wishes. Married couples, for instance, are offered jobs in the same town or district if they graduate simultaneously.
Upon receiving the diploma the young specialist gets his assignment document, which states the time of arrival, and money to cover travelling expenses. Upon arrival the young specialist shows the document to the administration and signs a labour contract for the specified period.
When the assignments in another locality, the graduates get lump-grants and daily allowances; they have the right 145 to a month's vacation paid at the rate of student grants. Fixed labour contracts with graduates from vocational colleges follow approximately the same pattern. The graduates get secondary school certificates which state the grades they attained in their vocation.
The labour laws make full provision for the rights and needs of young specialists and workers; young specialists are entitled to certain additional privileges. The administration, for example, must provide housing accommodation and good living and working conditions. Young specialists and workers cannot be assigned to jobs other than in their own line. Executives of ministries, departments and executive councils of Soviets are responsible for the employment of specialists.
If a young specialist fails to report or refuses to start work without valid reasons, he is dismissed for breach of discipline. If he decides to quit of his own accord, the young specialist is obliged to pay back the travelling expenses covered by the enterprise.
Another important form of training is that provided by the courses at enterprises.
Fundamentals of Labour Legislation oblige the executives of enterprises, etc., to create the necessary conditions for employees who combine work with studies, be it in educational establishments or on various courses in the enterprise. The administration arranges individual, group and other forms of free courses for training and raising the qualifications of employees, particularly young workers.
The administration offers special labour contracts for work in combination with production training during a specified period; the expenses for the training are covered by the enterprise; the worker is paid for quality and quantity of work done.
The right to work and free vocational training is also manifested in the apprenticeship contracts. They state that during a specified time the apprentice will acquire a certain vocation and that the administration will give him a job befitting his vocation and grade.
Having completed the course the apprentice sits for examinations set by the qualification committee and, depending on the results, the administration on agreement with the trade 146 union gives him a corresponding grade in the selected vocation.
Labour plans fix reserved quotas for training juveniles and graduates from general secondary schools in enterprises.
The most popular forms of training are individual and group. Individual training means that the apprentice, instructed by a skilled worker, acquires the vocation in the process of work. Practical and theoretical courses are given to professional groups (teams) of workers. In this case the apprentices are taken up by production teams or are formed into a training team headed by an instructor.
There is a common system of pay for apprentices, which depends on the type of training and the form of wages.
In team training the apprentice gets 75 per cent of the wage rate of a first grade time-worker in the first month; 60 per cent, in the second month; and 40 per cent in the third month. But in addition, he gets paid for piece-work according to the fixed norms and rates. The training cannot last more than six months.
Advanced courses, including retraining for second professions, take place on a day-release basis in the course of work itself; the curriculums and programmes are compiled by ministries, departments or enterprises. The duty to raise one's qualification has a legal basis; it is founded on an honest attitude to one's job, and it is encouraged both morally and materially.
Other ways of raising workers' qualifications include production and technical courses, courses for highly skilled workers, study programmes at schools for foremen, schools of advanced methods of work, etc. The quotas for student bodies are set by the enterprises in conformity with the personnel training plans. Enterprises set up experimental shops, laboratories and, if necessary, educational centres which ensure the correct organisation of the educational process. Educational councils comprise advanced workers, specialists, representatives of the administration, trade union and public organisations.
Day-release programmes include courses for retraining in complicated professions, production and technical colleges, inter-factory schools, etc. On completion of the course workers sit for examinations. Executives, engineers and technicians 147 raise their qualification in institutes attached to ministries and departments, in advanced qualification departments, in institutes and on advanced qualification courses; these may last from one month to a year. Wages are retained in full; people sent to the courses get travelling allowances and free housing accommodation.
People combining work with studies are entitled to various privileges. The law fixes a reduced working week or working day without earnings being effected. Those who study in the 8-llth classes of evening schools get an additional examination vacation paid at the wage rate.
Evening and correspondence course students at higher or specialised secondary educational establishments get paid vacations, lasting from 10 to 40 days a year for examinations, two to four months for preparing diploma projects and 30 days for the final state examinations. Senior course students get monthly unpaid vacations for familiarisation with the jobs in the chosen profession; during this time they get grants from the educational establishment. Ten months before work is due to be started on diploma projects or before the beginning of state examinations, students get one free day a week paid at 50 per cent of the wages. Fifty per cent of yearly travelling expenses of a student incurred in connection with his studies are refunded.
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