Labour: Meaning, Characteristics and Efficiency Objective Type Questions (1 Mark)

Question 1.
Labour plays a very important role in:
(a) Economy
(b) Production
(c) Manufacturing
(d) None of these
Answer:
(b) Production

Question 2.
Land is a passive factor of ……..
(a) Production
(b) Assets
(c) Organisation
(d) None of these
Answer:
(a) Production

Question 3.
Physical labourer requires the maximum use of muscular strength and ……….
(a) Mentally Power
(b) Intelligency
(c) Physical Energy
(d) None of these
Answer:
(c) Physical Energy

Question 4.
Mental labour can be either professional or ……..
(a) businessmen
(b) employment
(c) administrative
(d) None of these
Answer:
(c) administrative

Question 5.
Efficiency means: (UP 2015)
(a) Human Power
(b) Mental Capacity
(c) Productive Capacity
(d) None of these
Answer:
(d) None of these

Labour: Meaning, Characteristics and Efficiency Definite Answer Type Questions (1 Mark)

Question 1.
Is production possible only with the help of labour ? Give answer in Yes or No.
Answer:
Yes.

Question 2.
If the labourers will be educated and trained the quality of labour will improve? Give answer in Yes or No.
Answer:
Yes.

Labour: Meaning, Characteristics and Efficiency Very Short Answer Type Questions (1 Mark)

Question 1.
What is the efficiency of labour?
Answer:
Efficiency means productive capacity: Efficiency of labour, therefore, denotes the capacity of the worker to produce relatively large amount or better kind of work or both in a given period of time. The efficiency of labour is that quality of the worker by which in given conditions in a specified time be produces more or better type of goods. Hence, the efficiency of labour depends on the. quantity and quality of the product and the time is taken for its production.

Question 2.
Give any two characteristics of labour in India. (UP 2017)
Answer:
Two characteristics of labour are as follows:
(a) Labour is indispensable for production: A labourer sells his labour and not himself. In no case can we separate human effort from him.

(b) Labourers have not the same power of bargaining as these employers: Labourers are at a disadvantage in bargaining with their employers because their labour cannot be stored up and has to be sold of lower rates.

Labour: Meaning, Characteristics and Efficiency Short Answer Type Questions (4 Marks)

Question 1.
Mention three factors that increase the efficiency of labour.
Answer:
Three factors that increase the efficiency of labour are as follows:
(a) Moral Qualities: The efficiency of a worker depends upon his moral structure. Honest, sincere, industrious and sober workers work more efficiently than those who lack these qualities.

(b) Diet, health and standard of living: The healthier worker is more efficient than a diseased, malnourished poor worker. Insufficient diet, insufficient clothing, filthy living quarters, decreased efficiency. A labourer whose standard of living is low is less efficient than the one whose standard of living is high.

(c) Education: Education is general and technical. General education enlarges the conception of a man about the matter and widens his knowledge about general things. Technical education makes a man a specialist in the work. The man who has received general and technical education is more efficient that one who lacks them.

Question 2.
Write the four disadvantages of division of labour.
Answer:
Four disadvantages of division of labour are as follows:
(a) Disadvantages to Producers:

• Disadvantages of large scale production: Big producers reduce their costs up to the limit where other competitors could not stay in the market.
• More use of Machines: Due to the more use of machines, products will bp increases which will result in low prices.

(b) Disadvantages to Labourers:

• Disadvantages of large scale production: The use of machines reduces the importance of labour.
• Disadvantages of use of machines: Due to the implementation of division of labour, the introduction of machines also increases. Machines take the place of men which results in unemployment.

Question 3.
Make out the main differences between Land and Labour.
Answer:
Difference between Land and Labour:

Land	Labour
1. Land is a passive means of production.	1. Labour is an active means of production.
2. Land is fixed and limited in supply. It cannot be increased or decreased.	2. Supply of labour depends upon the population. It increases and decreases with the decrease or increase in population.
3. The land is not perishable which means it is not wasted.	3. Labour is perishable, it goes wasted.
4. Land lacks mobility, it cannot be shifted from one place to another.	4. Labour is mobile, it moves from places of less demand to those of more demand.
5. Land can be separated from its owner.	5. Labour is inseparable from the labourer.
6. Land is only the means, not the end.	6. Labour is both the means and the end.
7. Land is a free gift of nature.	7. Labour is a human effort.

Labour: Meaning, Characteristics and Efficiency Long Answer Type Questions (8 Marks)

Question 1.
What is meant by the term “Labour”? What are its kinds? What do you understand by skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled labour? (UP 2009, 17)
Answer:
Meaning of Labour. In simple language, “labour” means human efforts. But in Economics, labour consists of those human efforts, mental or bodily or both which are undertaken in the expectation of reward. Thus, labour includes the following two things:

• Labour can be physical as well as mental. For example, the labour of a worker is physical and that of a university lecturer mental.
• Labour is that human effort which is undertaken for the sake of earning a wealth of a living. For example, where a man sings for his own recreation, his effort does not amount to labour. But, if he sings in expectation of a reward in a theatre, his exertion is labour.

Kinds of Labour: There are four kinds of labour found in India:

• Physical and mental labour.
• Skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled labour.
• Productive and unproductive labour.
• Professional and administrative labour.

Skilled Labour: Skilled labour is performed by those workers who have received general education and professional training for a particular trade so that they can solve complicated problem connected with their job.

Semi-skilled Labour: Semi-skilled labour is performed by those workers who have received no formal training in the trade or job performed by them but they have acquired enough skill to solve various problems of trade by themselves.

Unskilled Labour: Unskilled labour is the labour which is performed by the worker who has obtained no training in any particular trade or line.

Question 2.
What is meant by efficiency of Labour? What factors affect the efficiency of labour?
Answer:
By ‘efficiency of labour’, we mean the productive capacity of a worker to do more work or better work or both during a specified period of time. We know that all workers are not equally efficient. It is usually observed that the labourers working in the same occupation with similar types of tools and types of equipment with the same type of raw materials, with the similar type of working conditions and for the same period of time produce not only different quantities of output but also different qualities of output.

Factors Affecting Efficiency of Labour: Efficiency of labour depends upon a large number of factors. Chief of them are as follows:
1. Racial Characters: People of some races are superior to others in physical strength and are capable of prolonged physical exertion. Take for example the case of those living in Punjab or Haryana who are taller, stronger and hard-working than the rest of the people of the country.

2. Hereditary Characters: Hereditary traits of father and mother also influence the efficiency of the workers. For example, the children of educated parents are also usually educated and efficient.

3. Moral Qualities: An honest and sincere worker is regarded as an efficient worker. Moral quantities include the way a child is brought up, his family background, educational, religious and social upbringing etc.

4. Food, Health and Standard of Living: The efficiency of labour to a great extent is determined by the type of food eaten and the kind of physique maintained by a labourer. A large part of the labour force will go waste if a reasonable standard of living for the working class is not provided.

5. General Education: General education enables a person to develop his intellect and widen his knowledge. This knowledge makes a worker intelligent and enlarges his power to distinguish what is right and what is wrong?

6. Technical Education: Technical education trains the worker in a particular trade or profession and develops in him certain specific qualities and makes him a specialist.

7. Climate: Extreme climatic conditions do not favour hard labour. For example, high rugged mountains and hot deserts impose tremendous handicaps upon the density of population, economic activities, transportation facilities etc. which directly influence the efficiency of labour.

8. Social Conditions: Some people are compelled to continue in the business or trade carried out by their ancestors. Under such conditions, the workers are not in a position to select their profession according to their qualification and taste. When this is the case, they cannot perform according to their efficiency.

Question 3.
What is Labour? Briefly describe the main features of labour as a factor of production. (UP 2014)
Answer:
Meaning of Labour. In simple language, “labour” means human efforts. But in Economics, labour consists of those human efforts, mental or bodily or both which are undertaken in the expectation of reward. Thus, labour includes the following two things:

• Labour can be physical as well as mental. For example, the labour of a worker is physical and that of a university lecturer mental.
• Labour is that human effort which is undertaken for the sake of earning a wealth of a living. For example, where a man sings for his own recreation, his effort does not amount to labour. But, if he sings in expectation of a reward in a theatre, his exertion is labour.

Main features of Labour as a Factor of Production
The main Features of labour as a factor of production are as follows:
1. Role in production: Labour plays a very important role in production Land cannot produce by itself except when worked by men.

2. Active Factor: Land of its own cannot produce anything unless labour is applied to it. Capital is the produced means of production. Thus, labour alone is the main factor of production and the only active factor.

3. Developed and Undeveloped Countries: The Importance of labour in developed and developed countries is the same. Its importance in undeveloped countries is still greater because the future of these countries depends on the batter utilization of their man-powers resources.

4. Evidence of literacy and technical training: The supply of labour in a country depends not on the number of workers available but also on the quality of workers as judged from the level of literacy and the level of technical training attained by the people of the country.

Question 4.
Enumerate the characteristics of labour. What are the different kinds of labour? (UP 2019)
Answer:
Characteristics of labour: The following are the main characteristics of labour
1. Labour is indispensable for production: Production is not possible without the help of labour. Even the richest natural resources cannot produce anything without the active support of human exertion. Labour is an active factor of production. Natural resources of a country cannot produce anything without labour exerted on them.

2. Labour is inseparable from the labourer: A labourer sells his labour and not himself. In no case can we separate human effort from him.

3. Labour is perishable: Labour unsold on a particular day goes waste. If a labourer remains unemployed even for a day due to slackness of demand, strike or lockout, his labour for that day is lost to the nation. In this sense labour is perishable. Due to this peculiarity, the bargaining power of labour is very weak and this is the reason ununited labourers are exploited by employers to accept the wages they are willing to pay. This weakness of labour is removed to some extent by unions.

4. Supply of labour changes slowly: The supply of labour for a short period can neither be contracted nor expanded to meet the decreasing or increasing demand for it. For example, if the demand for engineers goes up, it will take some five years to produce a sufficient number of trained engineers to meet the growing demand. Similarly, we cannot contract the supply of engineers if their demand falls down.

5. Supply of labour does not behave like other commodities: Ordinarily, the supply of a commodity rises, when its price rise but the supply of labour does not always rise when wages rise. For example, when wages rise beyond the standard of living of workers, they will like to enjoy more leisure and the supply of labour will be contracted even when the price of labour (i.e., wages) rises. So, supply of labour does not behave like the supply of other commodities.

6. Labour is mobile but less mobile than a capital: Labour moves from places of less demand to those of more demand. For example, thousand of labourers move from villages to metropolitan cities where their demand is more than it is in their native villages. But labour is not so mobile as capital.

A favourable investment condition in a country attracts capital even from foreign countries but better employment opportunities fail to attract a good number of efficient workers from abroad due to various difficulties of language, living, habits and social differences.

7. Labour can absorb capital: If more capital is invested in human beings and they are trained well, then labour quality will improve decidedly to a considerable extent. To train a good number of people we require large capital in the shape of training institutions, laboratories, laboratory equipment, buildings etc. The efficiency of the labour force so raised will depend upon the type of training received. Thus, labour absorbs capital.

8. Labour produces surplus value: Generally, a labourer produces more than is required for his self-consumption. The total value of his product is much more than the wages paid to him. Hence labour produces surplus value. This surplus is kept by the employer.

9. Labour is means and ends both: Labour is meant because it is used as a means for producing wealth. It is an end in itself because production is carried on to satisfy human wants, i.e., the wants of human labourers.

10. Labourers have not the same power of bargaining as their employers: Labourers are at a disadvantage in bargaining with their employers because their labour cannot be stored up and has.to be sold at lower rates.

11. It is not easy to calculate the cost of labour: It is difficult to calculate the cost of bringing up children and the cost of training when they grow up.

12. Labourers differ inefficiency: The efficiency of all labourers is not the same. Hence, wages differ from man to man.

Kinds of Labour
Labour can be classified according to the nature of work and the professional, technical training required. The following are the most important types of labour:

1. Physical and mental labour: Physical labourer requires the maximum use of muscular strength and physical energy. The labour of the farmer, the bus driver, the mason is physical, while the labour of the teacher, the engineer, the doctor and the barrister is mental. But the physical and mental labour sometimes cannot be separated from each other. There is no work which can be called purely mental or purely physical. The classification is based on the degree of the aspect used.

Physical labour is universally treated as inferior to the mental labour and is paid lower wages. Mental labour is considered to be of higher status and is accordingly paid higher wages. Mental labour is done by those engaged in white-collar jobs.

2. Skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled labour: The second criterion for deciding the kind of labour is the degree of skill obtained by the labourer. The labour performed by one who has obtained no training in any particular trade or line is called unskilled. He changes his occupation according to the needs of the situation. The second category is that of the workers who have received no formal training in the trade or job performed by them but who have acquired enough skill to solve various problems of the trade themselves. Their labour is called semi-skilled. Lastly, there are workers who have received general education and professional training for a particular trade so that they can solve complicated problems connected with their occupation. Their labour is called skilled.

Skilled and semi-skilled are terms which change according to time and place. The labour performed by an expert doctor, a good engineer or a great technologist is skilled but the labour of an overseer or a nurse is semi-skilled.

3. Productive or unproductive labour: So long as labour is paid for, it is productive. The labour which results in the creation of some utility is called productive; the labour which fails to do so is called unproductive. For example, the labour devoted to the writing of a book is productive if the book is published, and the writer receives a royalty for it; but if the book is not published, the labour involved in writing is wasted. It is unproductive. Marshall says that all labour except that which fails to promote the desired aim towards which it is directed and which therefore does not produce any utilities is productive.

The older economists regarded only that labour productive which created matter. So, they regarded labour involved in agriculture and industry as productive and all other labour as unproductive. This was the view of Adam Smith. The present economists do not hold this view.

4. Professional and administrative labour: Mental labour can be either professional or administrative. The doctors, architects, professors,, lawyers etc. who are engaged in mental work perform professional labour, whereas those who run and manage establishments and government departments are said to be performing administrative labour. Both these types are highly paid classes.