Soviet Labor Productivity
Abstract
A study of Soviet labor productivity shows that: USSR is for behind the United States in output per worker and behind the Western World in output and consumption per capita. Disparity between Soviet and United States output per capita is greater than before the war. Measurement by the most authoritative Western methods would indicate more modest gains in output per worker than those claimed by USSR and would probably yield a 1950 figure no higher than that of 1940. Given a few years of peace, USSR should be able to raise its productivity well above the pre-war level, but peculiarities of the Soviet system would prevent full realization of the potential productivity implicit in its investment and labor-training programs. Slow liquidation of labor surplus as auxiliary industrial tasks are mechanized now depresses productivity; but, in the event of war, it may be possible for USSR to raise productivity sharply and maintain output while labor is released for military duty.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- May 01, 1952
- Accession Number
- AD0065149
Entities
People
- Irving H. Siegel