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CHAPTER 14 : LABOR MARKET
14.1 Demand and Supply
(A) Demand for Inputs: Firms produce output
and bring it to the market. The whole activity is carried out with
the intention of earning profits. In order to achieve this, firms
have to maximize their returns or revenue and minimize their cost
of production. Their ability to control cost of production will
depend upon supply and demand conditions in the input market. There
is a large variety of raw materials, land, capital, equipment, and
labor services employed by the firm. Though demand for such inputs
is important in theory, there is a special significance concerning
the demand for labor. This is because labor is a human factor of
production. Labor is not only a means but also an end of all economic
activities. Moreover, labor is a perishable commodity. Every moment
in the life span of a worker is precious. Once lost, it is forever
irretrievable. Labor as a human factor of production further shows
considerable dissimilarity in its quality, experience, age composition,
educational and technical skills, degree of mobility, aptitude and
preferences etc. This makes the labor market problem highly complex.
We will presently take account of some aspects of the demand for
labor.
(B) Supply of inputs: The cost of a firm
in employing resources also depends upon the supply conditions of
the inputs. If we concentrate only on the labor supply problems
several difficulties are likely to emerge. Supply of labor normally
depends upon the size of the population and the age composition
of the working population. This refers only to the quantitative
supply of labor power. If we take an account of physical and mental
efficiency, educational achievements, technical training etc. there
is a variety of dissimilarities in the labor supply conditions.
Traditionally classical writers throughout the 19th century
assumed perfect competition in the labor market. In such a market
at a fixed rate of wages any number of workers are freely available.
Moreover, even a fixed competition wage rate was supposed to be
equal to the subsistence needs of an average worker. This is no
longer held as true in modern labor markets where strong trade unions
are present. Both on the demand and supply sides, the labor market
is not governed by purely economic considerations. There are social,
ethical and political aspects of labor market which often form part
of the discussion. Meanwhile we will restrict ourselves mainly to
economic considerations leading to demand for and supply
of labor.
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Index
14.1 - Demand
and Supply
14.2 -
Marginal Productivity
14.3 -
Supply curve of Labor
14.4 -
Monospony and Exploitation of Labor
Chapter
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