Lecture 07

Lecture: 07

HUMAN RESOURCE

Definition:

                  Human Resources of a country include the total labour supply along with their education, training, experience, discipline and motivation for work.

What is Labour? It means physical or mental work undertaken for monetary reward.

Characteristics of Labour:

1.       Labour is perishable more than any other factors. Labour cannot be stored or postponed. If some working time is lost, it is forever. This limitation keeps the workers under constant fear that they may become jobless even for a single day.

2.       It cannot be separated from labourer. Land and capital can be separated from the owner. They can earn income for the owner even if he is far away e.g. the land or bus is in use at Multan while the owner may be in Islamabad. But for labour the situation is different e.g. a driver in order to do the work of driving at a bus has to be present there.

3.       Less Mobile Labour, generally is less mobile than capital. Whereas, Labourers do not readily shift places. Change of profession is also difficult. Whereas, it is easy to buy a taxi from Karachi and use it in Islamabad.

4.       Weak bargaining power, since labour cannot be stored, the labourer does not want to go unemployed. So, compared to the employer, his position to settle the terms of work is weak. Moreover, generally the workers are poorer than the employers. They have no reserve wealth. So they are in urgent need to earn something.

5.       Labourer is human being and not a machine. A labourer cannot be treated like a machine, which has no feelings or habits. A worker being a living person needs rest and recreation. If he is not treated properly, he may refused to work or deliberately do something damaging.

6.       Difference in work efficiency: Due to better education, training, experience or motivation, some labourers are more efficient than others.

7.       Difficult to find the cost of production of labour. Unlike machines, it is difficult to calculate the cost of production of labour.

8.       Labour is an active factor. Labour is an active factor while land and capital are passive. Land and capital can produce goods only when some labour is applied. So the management of labour in a factory is more important and difficult than the managing of machines and materials.

9.       Labour creates capital: A labourer works and gets income. If he saves a part of his earning that becomes capital. He can used the saved amount to earn more. So we can say that capital is actually an accumulated form of labour.

10.   Dual role: Labour is not only a factor of production, it is also the reason. Why economic activity takes place. Labourers are consumers and buyers of goods as well.

EFFICIENCY OF LABOUR (Productivity)

            Efficiency of labour refers to the productivity capacity of labour. If a labourer can do more or better work than others, it is called high efficiency or high productivity.

Efficiency means one of the following achievements;

i.                    Saving of time in doing particular work.

ii.                   Producing better quality goods than others (performing services more skillfully)

iii.                 Using less amount of raw materials and inputs for some given quantity of output.

FACTORS INFLUENCING EFFICIENCY

i.                    Personal Qualities of the worker.

a.      Racial and hereditary qualities affect aptitude of work.

b.      Health and Physique.

c.       Personal qualities like intelligence, honesty and disciplined habits increase efficiency of a worker.

d.      Motivation. If a person feels job satisfaction and gets good salary then he must be motivated to work with efficiency.

ii.                  Working conditions and wages.

a.      Working environment affects efficiency.

b.      Division of labour (Specialization)

c.       Machines and Quality of other factors.

d.      Climate, hot and humid climate could have effect efficiency.

e.      High wages and good terms of employment promotes efficiency.

f.        Good chances of promotion or hope for reward.

iii.                Social and political conditions.

a.      Social conditions; if a society gives much weight to caste, creed or sect system, the efficiency of workers will be lower.

b.      Political stability and peace; people work whole-heartedly when they feel secure and safe.

iv.                Employer – Employee Relations.

a.      Personal relations: if the employer has friendly relations with the workers and has sympathetic attitude towards their problems, the efficiency of labour will be higher.

b.      Trade Unions: cooperative behavior with the employers, raises labour efficiency.

UNEMPLOYMENT AND UNDEREMPLOYMENT

Unemployment is, in its most basic definition, the state of not being employed.

OR

Unemployment is the situation where as able-bodied person seeks a job but is unable to find one at current wages rate.

Causes of unemployment: There are many causes of unemployment in any society, however; some of the important causes are given below;

1.      Poverty.

2.      Rapid Population growth.

3.      Scarcity of Capital.

4.      Mechanization of agriculture and automation and automation in manufacturing.

5.      Slow industrial development.

6.      Imbalance in education.

7.      Capital intensive industries.

8.      Biased attitude for public sector employment.

9.      Seasonal unemployment.

10.  Economic crises.

Some of the famous remedies for reducing unemployment are;

1.      Population control.

2.      Capital formation.

3.      Rapid industrial growth.

4.      Small scale industries.

5.      Technical training and skill formation.

6.      Self-employment.

7.      Diversification.

8.      Change in social attitudes.

9.      Government Policy.