Labour Intensity of Output, an economic indicator of the level of labour productivity measured by the total working time inputs (in rate-hours, man-hours) per unit of output or work. The lower the labour intensity of output, the higher the output rate. Labour intensity helps determine and compare actual labour inputs for various articles. This indicator also makes it possible to determine labour inputs in finished and uncompleted output and to take account of all changes in the range of manufactured goods. Since it is difficult to calculate actual work inputs, time rates per unit of output compared with the degree of their execution are used. Depending on the form of accounting labour inputs, indicators are distinguished for the rated, actual and planned labour intensity. The rated labour intensity of output is the input of working time per unit of output, set according to the time rates in operation. Its magnitude is determined as the sum of time rates according to the production process. The actual labour intensity of output is the actual working time input per unit of output in the given period. It can be established on the basis of the rated labour intensity by dividing the latter by the coefficient of norm processing. The planned labour intensity of output is average planned labour inputs per unit of finished output or for the fulfilment of a certain amount of work. Depending on the worker contingent and form of payment for their work, there are several kinds of labour intensity: technological (the labour inputs of the main piece-workers engaged in the production process), production (the labour inputs of all the main piece-workers and timeworkers), full (the labour inputs of the main and auxiliary workers in the enterprise) and general (the labour inputs of all industrial and production workers). Of late, a new indicator has been used in Soviet planning—the national economic intensity of output. It characterises total inputs of live and embodied labour (in manhours) per 1,000 roubles of output in the given branch (or for a definite kind of output). The sum of the wages of industrial workers, calculated according to the planned rates, is an indirect indicator of the labour intensity of output. It is determined not only for articles and their components but also for the entire volume of the gross output and commodity output.