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Soviet Union [USSR] Labor
In 1985 the Soviet work force totaled about 130.3 million
persons. According to official statistics, almost 20 percent of
these employees worked in agriculture and forestry, while slightly
more than 38 percent worked in industry and construction. Just
under 10 percent were employed in transportation and
communications. As in other industrialized countries, the
percentage of the total work force employed in distribution and
other services had increased. The shift had been more gradual than
in Western countries, however. In 1985 just under 32 percent of the
work force was employed in distribution and other service jobs.
Officially, the government did not acknowledge the existence of
unemployment. However, Western analysts estimated that about 2
percent of the labor force might be unemployed at a given time,
most of this being short-term unemployment.
The working-age population was officially defined as males from
sixteen to fifty-nine years old and females from sixteen to fiftyfour years old. As in other industrialized countries, the work
force was gradually aging. Precise information concerning the
number of pension-age workers employed either full time or part
time was not available. However, Western analysts expected such
workers to account for fully 12 percent of the labor force by the
year 2000. A striking feature of the work force was the prominent
role played by women, who accounted for some 49 percent of the work
force in the mid-1980s.
The growth rate of the labor force had declined during plan
periods in the 1970s and 1980s, and this situation was expected to
improve only slightly during the 1990s
(see Soviet Union USSR - Age and Sex Structure
, ch. 3). Western analysts predicted that the work force would number
just over 171 million persons by the year 2000. Population growth
in general had slowed markedly in the European part of the country
but remained high in the more rural Central Asian areas. This fact
was a source of concern to economic planners because job skills
were less plentiful in the non-European areas of the country. In
view of the lower birth rates of recent decades and the aging of
the work force, leaders called for improvements in labor
productivity through automation and mechanization of work processes
and through elimination of surplus workers in enterprises. Leaders
also expressed concern about the deficient education and training
of many in the work force. Although the education system stressed
vocational and technical training, and many industrial enterprises
offered additional specialized training for workers after they
joined the labor force, the economy suffered from a labor shortage,
particularly for skilled personnel
(see Soviet Union USSR - Pedagogy and Planning
, ch.
6).
Labor was not directly allocated. Although compulsory labor,
involving the transfer of entire groups of workers, had been a
significant tool of industrial development during the dictatorship
of Joseph V. Stalin (the precise extent of the practice has not
been determined with certainty), its use had greatly diminished in
subsequent years and by the 1970s was no longer a major factor in
economic activity. The inhospitable terrain and remote location of
many parts of the Soviet Union impeded the flow of skilled labor to
areas targeted for development outside the western and southeastern
areas of the country. Wage differentials, varying according to
region, industry, and occupation, were used to attract employees to
the tasks and locations for which there was a labor need. In large
cities, where the presence of amenities and a variety of economic
activities attracted workers in excess of actual employment
opportunities, residence permits were used to limit the influx of
additional population.
Within the labor force as a whole, trade union membership was
above 90 percent nationwide in the 1980s. Labor unions had a
variety of functions: administering state social funds for the
sick, disabled, and elderly and for day care; sponsoring vocational
training and other educational services, such as libraries and
clubs; and participating in aspects of enterprise management.
Unions also acted as interpreters of party policy for the workers.
Union leaders were expected to work to improve discipline and
morale, educate the work force, and help to raise productivity.
They did not bargain with management over wages or working
conditions.
Data as of May 1989
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