Date: Mon, 3 Dec 2001 23:55:31 -0700
From: jbrandon <jbrandon-AT-maildrop.srv.ualberta.ca>
Subject: RE: AUT: Does capital prefer a young or an old workforce?


We should probably be quite wary of the equations of bourgeois economics would 
be my initial reaction to this posting.  But on a somewhat more profound 
level, I think that you confuse the real motives of capitalist production with 
the rhetoric of their apologists.  Capitalists, especially in the last few 
decades do not show a great deal of interests in real production or in real 
productivity.  In fact, very little of the North American economy is directed 
toward productive activity of any kind.  Although collectively, the declining 
rate of productivity may pose a problem for the continuing expansion of 
accumulation, individually capitals seek to capture a greater share of 
relative surplus value.   This may or may not involve using the most 
productive workers.  It may also employ more docile and less unionised sectors 
of the work force.

>From the nineteen eighties, at least until the just ended long boom, an ever 
increasing share of global production has winded up in the hands of capital, 
having been siphoned away from workers.  We see that stagnant or even 
declining productivity may well be compatible with increasing profits.

The question "Does capital prefer a young or an old workforce?" actually 
misses the point.  If we read Capital or other nineteenth Century sources, we 
know that at times employers prefer a younger workforce because children are 
smaller and can more easily fit underneath the machine works, don't clog them 
up quite as much if they fall in, etc. But really capital is generally quite 
uninterested in the form its labour power takes, since it is interested in 
labour power in the abstract.

If anything, the long term interests of capital are best met by creating as 
many divisions and differentiations among workers as possible, over 
nationality, race, gender and also age. Resisting this process of divide and 
conquer is therefore of prime importance.

Josh



>===== Original Message From Doug Henwood <dhenwood-AT-panix.com> ====>Michael Handelman wrote:
>
>>I would guess, that capital would probably prefer a
>>young workforce to an old workforce, because while a
>>young workforce is more rebellious, it is also far
>>more "productive".
>>
>>What does everyone think of this assessment?
>
>It's not necessarily more productive - not just because it's
>rebellious, but because it's inexperienced.
>
>Standard wage equations in bourgeois economics explain pay on the
>basis of productivity, and productivity on the basis of several
>inputs, like age, experience, and education. The older and more
>experienced you are, the higher your productivity and therefore your
>pay. There are plenty of other factors involved - industry group,
>occupation, and region also figure in. Plus, after controlling for
>all these factors, gender and race are also significiant (offering
>statistical evidence of discrimination apart from measurable
>productivity, though apologists dismiss these results as reflecting
>"unobserved" flaws in nonwhite and/or nonmale workers).
>
>Of course, these equations are highly imperfect, as are all attempts
>at using stats in economics, but the point is that older, more
>experience employees are more productive than younger ones. Employers
>are always trying to outwit this logic, by hoping they can underpay
>younger workers (underpay relative to their productivity, that is).
>And younger workers are more flexible and exploitable than older
>ones. But it's not true that capital would prefer a young workforce
>over an older one - it's a lot more complicated than that.
>--
>
>Doug Henwood
>Left Business Observer
>Village Station - PO Box 953
>New York NY 10014-0704 USA
>+1-212-741-9852 voice
>+1-212-807-9152 fax
>+1-917-865-2813 cell
>email: <mailto:dhenwood-AT-panix.com>
>web: <http://www.leftbusinessobserver.com>
>
>
>     --- from list aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---




     --- from list aut-op-sy-AT-lists.village.virginia.edu ---