NATURE AND KINDS OF LABOR

LABOR MAN or LABOR is the most important in the productive factors. Man must exert efforts to satisfy his wants. And this exertion of effort to gain or to acquire an income is called LABOR. There are also activities in which human effort is exerted that are not considered LABOR. LABOR includes all forms of exertion from the most simple to the most complicated, both physical and mental. IRKSOMENESS OF LABOR All labor involves a certain amount of irksomeness or pain. Man does not work by natural impulse or just keep himself busy for nothing. Man works not for pleasure but for a livelihood. Man works to get an income that he may enjoy later. LABOR AND THE HOURS OF WORKS Man cannot work all the time; the human body is not rugged enough to stand continuous exertion without showing fatigue. In the regulation of the length of the working day, the Government has taken a hand, and in many occupations the working day is usually EIGHT HOURS. It has been claimed that a reduction of the hours of work from FIFTEEN TO EIGHT HOURS causes no reduction in production. The hours of work cannot be continually reduced without a decrease in production; there is a limit beyond which it is not profitable to go.

 KINDS OF LABOR
1. MANUAL LABOR Is the most obvious form of labor. Anybody can engage in manual labor as long as he is physically fit regardless of his mental faculties. EX. Street sweepers and janitors. 2. CLERICAL LABOR Mental faculties are required for this kind of work but it is only slight importance. EX. Salesmen/saleslady 3. PROFESSIONAL LABOR It requires a higher degree of intelligence than ordinary clerical labor. EX. Lawyers, teachers, doctors 4. LABOR OF MANAGEMENT It includes foreman of all kinds, overseers, managers, and inspectors of various industries. 5. THE LABOR OF ENTERPRISE Enterprisers are those responsible for starting new business ventures and seeing to it that they succeed. EX. Tailoring shops, shoe stores 6. THE LABOR OF INVENTION John Stuart Mill, an English Economist, speaks of labor of invention as a distinct class of labor. This type of labor is essentially if not exclusively mental and the exertion is dominated by motives growing out of curiosity or contractiveness.
Special characteristics of labor Labor is perishable. It is owned by the one who exerts it. It is different from the machine or other forms of capital in that his capacity or efficiency is not constant. Labor is immobile. Efficiency of labor Labor efficiency depends in part of physical and mental powers of the laborer and partly on things outside of the laborer that influence him by either stimulating or strengthening him.

Depends also to a large extent upon the education of the laborer.

Scientific Management and Personnel Administration *Employer-Employee Relationship*-it is established in order to develop good will and loyalty towards the management. *Scientific Management*-it claims that labor efficiency can be fully attained by placing a right person to performed a task and accomplished it with the least energy. *Gap Between Employers and Employees* -> Personnel Department and Personnel Managers -> Employers -Social Parties -Attractive Homes -Free Medical Service -> Employees -Given a Bonus -Pecuniary Incentives -Increasing the Earnings Motives for Undertaking Labor: The Economic Man Economic Man - Man is a calculating being. - It has been observed by economists of the nineteenth century that men in their economic and other activities would seek to maximize pleasure and avoid pain. -Modern psychology, however revised the concept of the economic man. According to them, the economic motive chiefly influences mans activity, but he is much more complexly motivated and his behavior is not always governed by the desire for economic gain. Population and the Supply of Labor Population and Labor - great importance to the human factor in production is the problem of population. - Mercantilists stressed the benefit of a large population as the source of the labor supply to work the industries of the nation. - A large population would mean a great amount of production. - A large population, however, does not always mean that the product of an industry will be large. -The quantity rather than the quality of the population is the more important factor in the determination of the labor supply of a given country.

THE LAW OF POPULATION The size of population is chiefly determined by the degree of prosperity enjoyed the ability of a nation to support its inhabitants. AN ESSAY ON THE PRINCIPLE OF POPULATION = by the English economist, Thomas Robert Malthus = in which he claimed that population has a constant tendency to increase beyond the means of subsistence The increase of population according to Malthus can be kept down by PREVENTIVE and POSITIVE CHECKS PREVENTIVE CHECKS = consist of moral restraint ,as postponement of marriage until one can give his children the advantages of education and decent livelihood , and promiscuous relationship or vice POSITIVE CHECKS = consist of extreme poverty and all the conditions that surround it, unwholesome occupation , severe labor , diseases and epidemics, wars, plague and famine CRITICISM OF THE MALTHUSIAN DOCTRINE OF POPULATION =Malthusian speaks of a tendency of population to outstrip the means of subsistence, but fortunately it is only a tendency and does not actually happen =There are many countries that do not produce enough food supply but are nevertheless able to support an increasing population =Industrialism has not brought about an unprecedented increase of population as was predicted

THE POPULATION DENSITY -determined by the economic resources and development of particular country. OPTIMUM POPULATION -the size of a population that is the best out of several outcomes.

The Migration of Population Migration- affects the density of the population and hence the labor supply. Immigration- increases the population of new countries with rich natural resources. Emigration- has been a temporary remedy for overcrowded countries and seldom diminishes the population of old country, for the improved opportunities at home will encourage the multiplication of those that are left. Philippine Immigration Act of 1940- also seeks to control immigration into the country. Filipino Laborers- who had been formerly admitted in unlimited number in America were put on quota basis, not to exceed fifty in any single year. Philippine Government- made no effort in the past to stem this tide of able-bodied Filipinos from learning the homeland to seek adventure in other countries.

The quality of the population -The labor force of a country is not merely measured by numbers but also by the character and productive qualities of the population. -A labor force that is ignorant, sickly, indolent and incapable is less effective in production than one that is intelligent, strong and highly trained.

The Labor Supply of the Philippines -labor supply of a country as we have shown is dependent upon the population. A large population affords a large labor supply. Vocational education- in the public schools helps train a large number who will gradually find their place in industry. -If we continue to keep out coolie labor from the country, the Filipino laborer will be assured of a fairly decent standard of living.