Labor Economics

The laborers understood the need for new equipment and considered investments for new machines that would in turn bring about other newer machines. This helped them to gain surplus from the labor which is the only factor that could add value during the process of production.

Man no longer exercises his essence as a species-being in productive labour for the good of others, but on the contrary, he becomes detached from his essence and the product of his labour is abstracted as a means to produce for the sake of capital. In this sense man becomes reduced to nothing but a machine; the more capital the product of his labour acquires, the more the worker will be encouraged to produce through the influence of wages. The appeal of this profit for the worker sustains his alienated state by further sacrificing his ‘body and spirit’ for the sake of his wages;

According to Marx, surplus value is obtained in the form of profit in which the capitalist owns the means of production (private property), thus the workers have no choice but to sell their ability to work to the capitalists in order to live. This means that labor is the source of profit under capitalism. Capitalism has a historically specific relation of production, as capitalists pay for labor power (gained by paying wages) and get labor in return. The exploitation of worker’s potential through wages produces surplus value, which is the reason why capital tends to grow. Money put into capitalist relations will then grow; thereby, resulting in the creation of labor markets that give value to things we consider capital. For example, surplus value was extracted under feudalism in this order: commodities are produced (essentials of living) and then feudal lords extracted this surplus by charging rent to the serfs (sometimes through

Making products in a capitalist system puts many people in a position that are repetitive and laborers end up going through the motions. They have one specialized job in producing the whole product. The labor does not give input into the purpose of design, distribution, and marketing of the product. According to his essay “ Alienated Labor,” Marx tells us the things we go through in a work under the capitalist society:

1. (10 pts.) Stella Ann Freeman is having a difficult time deciding whether or not to purchase a new car. How would understanding the concept of opportunity costs help her make a decision?

Employment is expressed with the mentioning of the addition of jobs California has provided for its people. For example, the demand for construction workers will result in new jobs for individuals, whether its part time or full time job. This is counted as employment because these people will become employed. These new employees are helping to benefit the economy of California by potentially influencing current unemployed people to follow suit. The new addition of jobs and the newly found hope of those who were hired influence discouraged workers to go out and search for a job, if successful, increasing the number of people in the states labor force. If hired, the individuals would contribute to certain aspects of the economy because they would now be counted into the formula for labor force, or the unemployment rate. These aspects are taken as benefits to the Californian economy although there was an increase in the unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is self-explanatory for the most part; it is the percentage of the labor force that is unemployed1. California did experience an increase in this rate from 6.3% to 6.4%2, but it did not discourage the population. As stated before, more individuals were able to join the labor force and expand the amount of members in the

In the show, “The Office” we can apply an economic lens. We can apply the economic lens through the workers and how they see and act towards one another. Michael Scott is the dictator of this show, he tells everyone what to do and when to do it. When the warehouse people were finishing up training people on safety in the workplace,Michael got offended when Darrell told him it was like playing nerf in the workplace, that basically it’s a joke and it tested Michaels authority at work. He then changed his attitude to make everyone think that it’s the best job ever. He tried to convince all the workers while acting depressed and tried to kill himself by jumping off the roof of the building and calling the workers “blue collared workers” while everyone was watching, even though he wasn’t actually going to jump off the building. He tried to explain through his actions that the workplace is a much more dangerous environment than they make think. This was made out to be really funny but could happen in real life to some companies.

illustrate the plight of labour under a system of increasing specialization. That is to say, it

     In capitalism the worker is a commodity in so as to produce the products needed for the market. Each individual does what they are best at producing and if everyone does this then each person’s needs are taken care of. When each person is working they are paid money for their labor. With this money they can buy goods, which can fulfill their own desires, and so the trading of money for goods can take place in a capitalist market driving the economy forward (Smith 158).

‘The essential conditions for the existence and for the sway of the bourgeois class is the formation and augmentation of capital; the condition for capital is wage-labour. Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the labourers. The advance of industry, whose involuntary promoter is the bourgeoisie, replaces

In regards to the labour-capital relation within a traditional capitalist corporation Marx & Engels (2007) refer to the dialectic between the capitalists (or bourgeoisie) who own the property and the means of production and the laborers (or proletariat) who own no property and are obligated to sell their labour to the bourgeoisie to gain substance. For Marx & Engels, this labour market is inherently fraught with tension, since the interests of the capitalist and labourers are diametrically opposed, and the balance of power between capitalists and labourers tips further in the favour of the capitalists. Because workers have nothing to sell but their labour, the bourgeoisie are able to exploit them by paying them less than the true value created by their labour. Furthermore, because of the unequal positions of capitalist and labourer, labourers must work for someone else- they must do work imposed on them as a means of satisfying the needs of others. As a result, labourers inevitably experience alienation which Marx’s Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts (1844) summarizes as the separation of individuals from the objects they create, which in turn results in one’s separation from other people, from oneself, and ultimately from one’s human nature.

If we were to rely only on central planning, Hayek points out that ¡§¡Kthe growth of our industrial system¡Kwould never have reached the degree of differentiation, complexity, and flexibility it has attained.¡¨ (Hayek 56). The key to capitalism is that it allows the existence of division of labor, which would effectively be able to convey all of the relevant facts (Hayek 55). This type of decentralization will allow all individuals needs and wants to be considered which would not occur if there is central planning involved (55).

The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) started in July 1935 to protect the rights of employees, rather, they be union or nor-union employees (Pozgar, 2012). The employees are protected under the Act or may employ in bubble-like, rigorous goings-on in situations other than the customary union organizations and cooperative bargaining. The National Labor Relations Board regulates the employers from interfering with the rights of the employees to implement or organize and join with a groups that offers assists with collective bargaining purposes like organization union or joining one (Pozgar, 2012). The employer may not restrain, coerce or stop employees

John Clark sought to prove the fact that any production process experience decreasing the productivity of labor and capital. He referred to the law of diminishing fertility of the land. To clarify, it means that at a constant size of overall factors, each increase of production’s factors provides decreasing production’s growth (Garver & Hansen, 1937, pp. 132). Thus, at a constant value of capital, every additional worker would create a smaller mass of product. Wages, in this case, are equal to the product of labor, which produced a marginal worker. The difference between the whole product of industry and the product of labor, John Clark explained as a product of capital, which should rightfully accrue to the capitalist (Schumpeter, 1908, pp. 241). Consequently, according to Clark, the income of workers and businessmen directly correspond to the real contribution of labor and capital in the manufacture of the final product, which leads to social justice and harmony of class interests of capitalists and workers (Clark, 1899, pp.

Not only is the worker alienated from his labour, but he is also separated from the result of his labour - the product. This is the most obvious manifestation of the alienation of the worker; he has no power over what he produces. The wage contract ensures that the products of labour are surrendered to the capitalist, who then sells them on the market, and pays the worker a wage. Marx points out that the alienation of the product is double - not only is the worker separate from his own product, but that product, as increasing the power of capital, actually weakens the worker's position. (4) Marx refers to the product of labour as 'the objectification of labour'. The worker's labour objectified is used against him in a capitalist