What about labor resources? Labor resources as a socio-economic category.

10.10.2019

Human Resources - this is the part of the population that, due to the combination of physical abilities, special knowledge and experience, can participate in the creation of material wealth or
work in the service sector.

The criteria for the allocation of labor resources from the population are the boundaries of working age, which are established by the state and depend on the social system, life expectancy of people, other social and economic factors, and on the official state adopted in connection with this. acts. In Belarus, the working age for men is from 16 to 60, for women - from 16 to 55 years.

The labor force includes:- able-bodied population of working age; - working teenagers (under 16); - population older than working age, taking part in social production.

The working population includes people at working age, with the exception of non-working disabled people of groups I and II, as well as persons who retired on preferential terms earlier than the working age established in the general procedure.

The labor force is divided into the following categories:- employed in social production; - employed by individual labor activity; - those who are studying with a break from work; - employed in household and personal subsidiary farming; - military personnel.

Labor resources have quantitative and qualitative characteristics. The former include indicators of numbers and composition (age, gender, social groups, etc.); the second - indicators of the educational level, professional qualification structure, etc.

Age groups: youth aged 16-29; persons from 30 to 49 years; persons of pre-retirement age (men 50-59 years old, women 50-54 years old); persons of retirement age (men aged 60 and over, women aged 55 and over).

Sexual structure of work. resources is characterized by the ratio of the number of men and women. Determined by the population of working age. In Belarus, the proportion of men is 47 %, women - 53%. This ratio is considered normal for the economy of developed countries.

By level of education: the level of general, special and higher; by social groups.

The ratio of employees by type of activity and skill level characterizes the professional and qualification structure of labor resources. Professions are determined by the nature and content of labor, the specifics and conditions of functioning of individual sectors of the economy. Within the framework of general professions, specialties are distinguished. Depending on the complexity of the work, highly qualified, skilled and unskilled workers are distinguished.

When determining the ratio of labor resources by categories of personnel, workers and employees, including managers, specialists, etc. are taken into account.

The basis for the formation of labor resources is the reproduction of the population, which is carried out through a change of generations as a result of the birth and death of people, i.e. with an increase in the birth rate and life expectancy, there will be an increase in the population and, consequently, in the labor force. The Republic of Belarus belongs to the group of countries with an extremely low birth rate, there are 14.5-17.3 births per 1000 people.

Importance in the formation of labor resources is the migration of the population.

An important problem is unemployment. Unemployment is a social and economic phenomenon, expressed in the fact that a certain part of the able-bodied population cannot realize their labor potential.

According to the definition of the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), the unemployed are persons who are able and willing to work, actively looking for work.

In Belarus, the unemployment rate in 2000 was 2%. At the same time, the share of hidden unemployment is high.

Which, in terms of physical development, acquired education, professional qualification level, is capable of engaging in socially useful activities.

Labor resources - that part of the population with physical development and intellectual (mental) abilities necessary for labor activity. The workforce includes both employed and potential workers.

The concept of "labor resources" was formulated in one of his articles by Academician S. G. Strumilin in 1922. In foreign literature, this concept corresponds to the term "human resources".

Labor resources are a category that occupies an intermediate position between the economic categories "population" and "total labor force". In quantitative terms, the composition of labor resources includes the entire able-bodied population employed, regardless of age, in the areas of public economy and individual labor activity. They also include persons of working age who are potentially capable of participating in labor, but are employed in household and personal peasant farming, in studies with a break from work, and in military service.

In the structure of labor resources from the standpoint of their participation in social production, two parts are distinguished: active (functioning) and passive (potential).

The size of the labor force depends on the officially established age limits - the upper and lower levels of working age, the proportion of able-bodied people among the population of working age, the number of persons participating in social work from people outside of working age. Age limits are set in each country by applicable law.

In modern conditions, the main sources of replenishment of labor resources are: young people entering working age; military personnel released from the armed forces in connection with the reduction in the size of the army; forced migrants from the Baltic countries, Transcaucasia, Central Asia. Quantitative changes in the number of labor resources are characterized by such indicators as absolute growth, growth rates and growth rates.

Absolute growth is determined at the beginning and end of the period under review. This is usually a year or more.

The growth rate is calculated as the ratio of the absolute number of labor resources at the end of a given period to their value at the beginning of the period.

A quantitative assessment of trends in the state and use of labor resources makes it possible to take into account and determine directions for increasing their efficiency.

Labor resources have certain quantitative, qualitative and structural characteristics, which are measured by absolute and relative indicators, namely: - average and average annual number of employees; - staff turnover rate; - the share of employees with higher and secondary specialized education in their total number; - average length of service for certain categories of employees; - the share of employees of certain categories in their total number.

Average headcount employees for the year is determined by summing the average number of employees for all months and dividing the amount received by 12. The average number of employees for the month is calculated by summing the number of employees on the payroll for each calendar day of the month and dividing the amount received by the number of days.

The average annual number of employees is determined by dividing the hours worked (man/hour, man/day) by the employees of the farm for the year by the annual fund of working time. One of the main qualitative indicators of labor resources is their gender and age structure. The literature uses somewhat different approaches to identifying age groups. Thus, the following qualification is most often used: labor resources at working age, as well as younger and older than working age. In statistical compilations, a two-group classification is often used: working age and older than working age. Sometimes a more detailed, for example, ten-level scale is used: 16-19 years old, 20-24 years old, 25-29 years old, 30-34 years old. 35-39 years old. 40-44 years old, 45-49 years old, 50-54 years old, 55-59 years old, 60-70 years old.

The number of labor resources can be increased due to the natural increase in the working-age population, the reduction in the proportion of those who are unable to work among people of working age, and the revision of the age limits for working capacity.

Reproduction of labor resources

The objective need to study the reproduction of labor resources is caused by a number of reasons. Labor resources are important factor production, the rational use of which ensures not only an increase in the level of production and its economic efficiency, but also the qualitative development of the entire social system.

The reproduction of labor resources is a process of constant and continuous renewal of the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of the economically active population.

Effective regulation of the processes of reproduction of labor resources will ensure the achievement of stable economic growth.

The relevance of the study of this process is due to the high degree of theoretical and practical significance of the problem of reproduction and the optimal use of labor resources for the country's dynamic development in the context of economic modernization.

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See what "Labor resources" is in other dictionaries:

WORK RESOURCES- WORK RESOURCES, part of us. countries with the necessary physical development, intelligence abilities and knowledge to work in Nar. x ve. Number T. r. characterizes the potential mass of living labor, or the stock of labor power, which society has at its disposal ... Demographic Encyclopedic Dictionary

See Labor Resources Glossary of business terms. Akademik.ru. 2001 ... Glossary of business terms

Big Encyclopedic Dictionary

Part of the population of a country or region that has the necessary educational level, physical development and health status to work in the national economy. On average, the economically active population in the world includes approximately 45% of all ... ... Geographic Encyclopedia

Economically active, able-bodied population, part of the population with physical and spiritual abilities to participate in labor activity Raizberg B.A., Lozovsky L.Sh., Starodubtseva E.B. Modern economic dictionary. 2nd ed., ... ... Economic dictionary

The concept of domestic economic science, close in meaning to the economically active population. Includes the population of working age (men 16 59, women 16 54 years), with the necessary physical development, knowledge and practical ... ... Political science. Vocabulary.

labor resources- - [A.S. Goldberg. English Russian Energy Dictionary. 2006] Topics energy in general EN human resources … Technical Translator's Handbook

labor resources- Part of the country's population with the necessary physical development, knowledge and practical experience to work in the national economy. Syn.: labor force… Geography Dictionary

WORK RESOURCES- economically active, able-bodied population, part of the population with physical and spiritual abilities to participate in labor activity ... Legal Encyclopedia

Part of the country's population that has the necessary physical development, knowledge and practical experience to work in the national economy. In T. r. include both employed and potential workers. The socialist state, in ... ... Great Soviet Encyclopedia

Books

Labor resources in the Russian economy. Retrospective, Malyshev M. The book shows a retrospective of the transformation of the social and labor sphere and the mechanisms of reproduction of labor resources. An analysis of the retrospective approach of the features of the influence ...

The labor force is the proportion of the population that has the mental abilities, knowledge, and physical health necessary for work. In general, there are different opinions about them. Labor resources, speaking in a simple way, is the part of the population that has the opportunity to participate in international statistics, the working population is considered to be the population whose age is 15-65 years.

The balance of labor resources is a system of indicators that reflect the composition and number of labor resources, as well as their distribution by form of ownership and economic sectors, the economically inactive and unemployed population. It consists of two sections. The first section shows the resources, and the second shows their distribution.

Labor resources, which are directly included in world production, make up Of course, this is not all. Here, according to world statistics of labor resources, 3/4 of the working population, approximately 3 billion people, are involved. Here the unemployment rate is defined as the difference between the labor force and the population employed in production. This indicator in different countries is not the same and changes over time. It depends on the level of economic development of the country. It also characterizes the population and the state of the economy.

The structure of employment is a reflector of the level of development of the country's economy, as well as individual industries, functional structure settlements.

Employment in industry is 25-30%. The number of workers in agriculture is decreasing every year. The number of people employed in the non-manufacturing sector is increasing. This sphere is represented by such activities as recreation, education and health care. In addition to them, there is also trade and financial activity (Great Britain, USA, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, France). more than half of the population was involved in the agricultural sector of the economy. And in industry, the share of their employment does not exceed 20%. The post-socialist countries have occupied most of their population in material production ( Agriculture- 20%, industry - 50%). Manufacturing includes approximately 30%, and at the same time 2/3 of them falls on education, culture and health care.

All this makes it possible to trace the natural relationship between the type of country and and employment. In industrialized countries, the non-manufacturing sector is developing significantly. This is happening on the basis of a well-developed industry, especially its manufacturing link. The population is less engaged in the non-productive sphere if the level of industrial development is lower. This dynamic continues.

Based on the number of resident population of a particular country, it is possible to determine how many labor resources reach. In order to bring into line the resource and distribution net of the balance of labor resources and the number of the working-age population, the number of foreign workers who are employed in the economy in the country's territory is also included.

Data on the balance of labor resources make it possible to trace the dynamics of their redistribution between different forms activities and industries, to obtain information on the structure and size of the unemployed population.

Calculations of the balance of labor resources are important for countries with market economies. However, the scheme for such a balance sheet must be adapted to the statistical categories of employment used by market economies. It should also be borne in mind: the adoption of the balance sheet as an international statistical norm is not accompanied by detailed descriptions methodology, as well as the scheme of the concept of the balance of labor resources.

In the economic literature and practice of human resource management, various concepts are used to denote them: labor resources, human resources, labor force, economically active population, economically inactive population, personnel, workers, personnel, labor potential, human capital, etc. Let us establish their features and Areas of use.

The carrier of labor relations in society is the working part of the population, as well as that part of it that would like to work, but for various reasons does not work. They are included in the concept of labor resources.

Human Resources is a socio-economic category,

characterizing the functioning and potential labor force of society

– demographic: labor resources are part of the population of the country, in which their quantitative boundaries are determined;

– economic: labor resources include economically active (employed in social production and looking for work) and part of the economically inactive population (not employed in social production for any reason, but willing to work, as well as unwilling to work);

– social: labor resources determine the prevailing socio-economic relations of society and form its social structure.

If the concept of "labor resources" is strictly positioned, since it serves to denote the characteristics of the labor force associated only with labor activity, then the term " human resources» has a broader meaning, since it additionally includes a block of various personal qualities such as spirituality, morality, conscientiousness, etc.

Close to the concept of "labor resources" is the concept of "labor force", which was introduced by the classics economic theory as a term defining the labor force as the main constituent part productive forces society. Under labor force they understood the totality of physical and spiritual abilities possessed by the organism, the living personality of man, and which are set in motion by him whenever he produces any use-values. From this definition It follows that "labor force" is interpreted in two ways. On the one hand, the definition reflects the totality of physical and spiritual abilities to work, regardless of whether a person takes part in labor or not. Main characteristic here is the availability of employability. On the other hand, the concept of “labor force” serves to reflect the social form of manifestation of human abilities, i.e. his potential ability to work becomes a labor force that actually realizes itself, a worker.

Work force- all able-bodied members of society

both employed in social production (active part) and unemployed, but willing to participate in it (potential part of resources).

The main difference between the content of this term and the term labor resources is that the labor force as an economic category has a certain qualitative content, but is devoid of quantitative frameworks, the establishment of which was implemented by introducing the concept of labor resources due to the need to determine the quantity and composition of this type of resources in general. country and individual regions. Along with the term “labor force”, since 1922, the term “labor resources” proposed by Academician S.G. Strumilin, which in a qualitative aspect is synonymous with the concept of labor force, but additionally reflects the quantitative boundaries of the population in connection with labor activity.

Based on the established in the country working age limits its entire population can be represented as consisting of three generations:

- children and adolescents who have not yet entered working age (younger than working age);

- persons of working age;

- Elderly people over working age.

The basis of the labor force is the second generation. A certain part of people of working age have never worked or stopped working due to poor health (disabled people of the 1st and 2nd groups).

The lower limit of the working age in our country is the age of 16, determined taking into account the formation of the physiological capabilities of a person and the possibilities of obtaining initial vocational training. In many countries, the lower working age limit is currently 14 years. From this age, young people are taken into account by official statistics as a possible labor force.

In accordance with the law "On pension provision of citizens Russian Federation» Currently, the upper limit of working age in our country is set for men - 60 years, and for women - 55 years. In addition, for some types of professional activities associated with high psychophysiological stress on the human body, the pension bar is lower by 5-10 years or more. Earlier, women retire who gave birth to 5 or more children and raised them up to 8 years old, mothers of disabled children from childhood, who also raised them up to 8 years old. AT real life some of the pensioners continue to work and are therefore included in the labor force.

The upper limit of working age in many Western countries has been raised to 65 years. This is due to the deformation of the age structure of society in connection with a decrease in the birth rate. At the same time, the state is interested in maximizing the realization of human capital by increasing the duration of labor activity. But the use of workers older than a certain age is not beneficial for the employer due to the fact that the productivity and labor intensity of the employee grow up to a certain age (40-45 years), and then begin to decline; in addition, they are driven by the reluctance to take on the obligations of pension provision. There is a tendency for the government to legislate the upper limit of the working age. For example, the retirement age for both men and women in Ireland is 70; in Norway - 67 years; in the USA, Canada, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands - 65 years; in Switzerland for men - 65 years, and for women - 62 years; in England, Belgium, Italy - for men - 65 years, for women - 60 years.

In accordance with the instructions of the State Statistics Committee of the Russian Federation, the calculation workforce produced by the formula:

Ch tr. res.=H us. tr. asc. – Ch nr inv.1-2 gr – Ch nr pence. benefits + H work. pence + H slave. podr,(2.1)

where H us.tr.asc – able-bodied population of working age (men aged 16 to 60 and women aged 16 to 55);

H nr inv.1-2gr- non-working disabled people of the 1st and 2nd groups;

Nr pension benefits- unemployed men and women receiving a pension on preferential terms;

H working penny- actually working men and women older than working age;

H working sub- actually working teenagers under 16 years old.

It follows from the formula that the working-age population does not correspond to the labor force.

The process of renewing the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of labor resources is called reproduction of labor resources and includes stages (phases) of formation, distribution and use.

The phase of the formation of labor resources includes the natural reproduction of the population (carriers of the labor force); the acquisition of the ability to work itself through a system of general, special and higher education, vocational training; restoration and development of abilities to work. The economic basis of the formation phase during the reproduction of labor resources is the amount of material resources that an employee needs to maintain and develop the life of him and his family members.

Phase of distribution of labor resources includes the distribution and redistribution of the total labor force by areas of application of labor, types of employment, sectors of the national economy and regions of the country in accordance with the demand and supply of regional and domestic labor markets.

Phase of use of labor resources includes the organization of labor activity, in the course of which the labor force is directly realized as a set of intellectual and physical abilities for work; as well as providing employment for the able-bodied population wishing to realize their labor potential in socially useful work that brings income to the employee.

The process of reproduction of labor resources is constant and is determined by the reproduction of the population.

The use of labor resources is characterized by qualitative and quantitative indicators. Qualitative indicators include: the structure of labor resources by group characteristics: gender, age, level of education, professions, nationality and language, religious beliefs, social groups, place of residence, employment in certain sectors of the economy, fields of activity, regions, etc. In addition, data structural indicators are considered in dynamics over a number of years. Quantitative changes in the numerical composition of labor resources are characterized by such indicators as absolute growth (increase) in the number, growth rate and growth rate.

One of the important aspects of studying labor resources from the standpoint of their distribution and rational use is to take into account the regional features of their formation and use, which makes it possible to assess the effectiveness of the policy of the state and regional administrative bodies in the field of social and labor relations at the regional level.

According to international standards 1993, labor resources are divided into economically active and economically inactive population. Economically active population ( E.a.n.) is the part of the country's population that provides the supply of labor. E.a.s. for the current period in countries with market economies is defined as the labor force.

and for personal use.

By category to E.a.n. include: a) persons of hired labor - workers and employees; b) independent workers; c) helping family members in family businesses; d) persons temporarily unemployed for objective reasons (illness, vacation, etc.); e) students who combine work with study in part-time modes; f) apprentices and persons undergoing vocational training at work, receiving a stipend or salary. According to the number of E.a.n. divided into employed, unemployed or underemployed.

Economically inactive population- part of the country's able-bodied population that is not part of the labor force and includes persons engaged in any other useful activity, except for participation in social production, or who do not want to participate in it

This category includes: a) students and full-time students; b) persons who run the household (including those who care for children, the disabled, etc.); c) desperate to find a job; d) persons who do not need to work (regardless of their source of income; e) pensioners.

The considered concepts describing the labor resource refer to the macro level (country, regions, industries), while to define this type of resource at the micro level, terms such as " personnel, personnel, employees, the interpretation of which is given in Table. 2.1.

Table 2.1

Definition of concepts for designating employees

Continuation of the table. 2.1

*) introduced in 1992, replacing the concepts of workers and employees

To form a conclusion about the prevailing views on the appropriateness of the concepts used at the micro level, we will review the literature devoted to the study of the scope of the concepts "staff", "employees", "cadres", the elements of their identity and differences. In the starting position determined by the current Labor Code, the applied term “workers” is focused on legal regulation labor and labor relations. We associate the widespread use of the concept of “staff” in the present with its gradual inclusion in the description of the labor sphere of an enterprise in the past, namely, with the terminology rooted in statistics used when dividing all employees in a large enterprise into two categories: industrial and production personnel (PPP) and non-industrial personnel. Authors of textbooks on personnel management and monographs exploring the problems of this area (V. Adamchuk, E. Voronina, A. Egorshin, E. Maslov, Yu. Odegov, I. Oganesyan, O. Romashov, S. Samygin, M. Sorokina, L. Stolyarenko, a team of specialists from the Institute of Labor, etc.), even using the term “personnel” in the title of books, for the most part draw an analogy between the concepts of personnel, workers and personnel, while not giving explanations about the features of their use. The definition of personnel given by G. Melikyan and R. Kolosova as a set of employees, both for hire and owners, whose labor potential corresponds to production and ensures effective economic activity, does not seem to be quite correct, because. does not include what we believe to be the clarification working owners. The need for the availability of labor potential of personnel of a certain level, as well as the effectiveness of their activities, emphasized by the authors, does not seem quite logical, since this provision is not always observed in practice, and in this situation the possibility of using the concept of "staff" is not clear.

The use by the authors T. Bazarov and B. Eremin to define personnel as an analogue of the human resources of an organization, a concept that is more capacious than the first, does not seem to be entirely correct, because. the term "human resources" reflects the totality of socio-cultural characteristics and personal-psychological properties of people in society. However, the use of the term "human resources" in this case emphasizes the special characteristics of the personnel of the enterprise, including the ability to be creative and the potential for the development of employees, its culture, morality, etc.

The need for a comprehensive study of employees, including their personal, social, psychophysiological, biological characteristics, has led to the rooting of the personnel category in the economy and enterprise management. The terminology and definitions used in this table are the basis for the wide application of concepts in practice and in theory. Thus, the term "personnel", which is predominantly used in the literature on personnel management, is also used by us to refer to the employees of an enterprise, meaning their qualitative characteristics.

Regarding the rest of the above concepts, we believe that the choice of specifically designated terminology depends on the size and organizational culture of the enterprise, its strategic goals and the level of personnel management activities. We share the opinion of the authors that the use of different names to characterize the object of study is determined by the depth of understanding and study, the aspect of perception, existing traditions, historical development related phenomena and the point of view of researchers of this problem.

Further, we will use the terms "cadres", "personnel", "employees", taking into account the breadth of a specific problem and the existing traditions of a particular field of activity. Within the framework of the enterprise, employees are classified into categories. On the basis of the classifier of professions and positions, all employees at the enterprise are divided into categories: workers, managers and specialists.

There are well-established indicators that determine the quantitative composition of employees of enterprises and industries. Quantitative information about personnel includes: the total number (list, average, attendance, etc.), its structure by types of work, grades, specialties, qualifications, age, gender, as well as labor costs, staff turnover, acceptance rate, etc. .P. Over time, there is an increase in the number of analyzed indicators. However, even in this rather elaborated issue there are formal solutions. So, in the quantitative characteristic of the personnel is reduced to the indicator of the number of employees. Although, for example, in the mode of frequent underutilization of working time (shortened working day or part-time work week) or the combination of two or more jobs by individuals, such an indicator cannot give a complete picture of the time spent, and hence the amount of labor resources. For a more accurate accounting of the volume of labor, most authors propose to calculate it in man-hours, but this raises the problem of comparability of data for different objects due to inaccurate accounting of working hours and different labor intensity of personnel. This last refinement significantly complicates the problem. quantitative analysis numbers.

Even more difficult is the description and analysis of the qualitative characteristics of personnel. The need for qualitative improvement of personnel is consistent with their development and adaptation to rapidly changing conditions in order to increase their labor productivity, as well as the tasks of a general increase in the standard of living of workers. For this, such generalized concepts as labor potential, human capital, as well as private ones, for example, professionalism, qualification level, are used, which, in turn, include individual components of qualities. Let's consider the first two concepts used to denote the generalized qualitative characteristics of personnel.

Since the 1980s, the term " labor potential ” entered the scientific and practical sphere of the economy of our country, which was due to the requirement to increase the intensity of the use of labor. At that time, the level of development of labor potential was regulated directly by the state. It should be noted that the concept of labor potential was originally proposed for the scale of society, and then transferred to the level of enterprises, their divisions and individuals. The continuing interest of researchers [for example, 69, 84] in studying the problems of the labor potential of personnel unequivocally orients practitioners towards its increase, which structurally does not always seem to be economically feasible.

Depending on the object of analysis, the composition of the components of the labor potential of the personnel involves individual assessments of employees (education, qualifications, experience, health, social characteristics, etc.), collective as the sum of individual, as well as complex collective (psychological climate in the team, especially in connection with national composition, etc.). Let us consider the composition of the individual qualitative characteristics of workers as a basic level in the system of their reproduction. An analysis of the composition of the components of an individual's labor potential showed that researchers fill it in different ways (Table 2.2).

Table 2.2

The composition of the labor potential of the employee

*) Each component includes from 6 to 8 elements of labor potential.

As follows from the table, among the main components included in the concept of labor potential, the authors note health, education, and then, according to the frequency of inclusion, professionalism, organization, etc. Recently, there has been a tendency to expand the set of components included in the complex of qualitative characteristics of the labor potential of personnel. The variety of qualities of labor resources leads to the complexity of their description. The question arises of assessing the general level of all the qualities inherent in an individual and constituting his potential.

From an economic point of view, expanding the analyzed composition of the qualitative characteristics of an employee to identify his capabilities makes the conclusions more reasoned, but leads to a significant increase in the complexity of justifying decisions. At the same time, only declaring the growth of labor potential gives little to the economy of the enterprise, and in addition leads to dissatisfaction of employees with its incomplete use.

The theory of labor potential is sufficiently covered in modern domestic publications on the economics and sociology of labor, as well as personnel management. Researchers offer methods for the qualitative characteristics of labor resources at all levels of management. Their contribution to the development of the concept under consideration is undeniable, since economic life makes new demands on the qualities of personnel. However, psychologists have identified the cumulative nature of individual characteristics of an employee, which determines their interchangeability in the labor process, as well as the dependence of an individual's abilities for a certain activity on his life values, which form the level of his potential motivation, leads to the need for special approaches to the formation and assessment of employee characteristics. The evolution of a set of qualitative characteristics of workers, caused by the requirements of production, eventually leads to the replacement of one for another, the inclusion of new components in the overall composition. So, the modern actualization of increasing the motivation of employees leads to the introduction of a block of qualities that reflect their motivational state.

As part of another direction of studying the qualities of employees, the basic concept is " human capital". It should be noted that this terminology is international and has about 100 years. Its emergence is associated with the name of A. Marshall, who first expressed the judgment that "the most valuable capital is the one that is invested in human beings."

The theory of human capital in its modern interpretation became widespread abroad in the second half of the 20th century. Its essence boils down to the fact that the employee or employer invests in those components of development that will bring material returns in the future. In this case, the individual is identified as a purely rational being. As components of human capital that bring results to an individual in the form of wages, and for an enterprise in the form of competitiveness in the market for the production of goods or services, knowledge, qualifications, health, migration, etc. state of the economy of a number of developed countries. However, in practice, such a connection, as already emphasized above, is not unambiguous. In the theory of human capital, an independent branch of it has emerged, connected with the economic justification for the expediency of investing in personnel development. The mathematical description of economic phenomena, which is typical for research conducted by US scientists, made it possible to calculate the return on investment in individual components of human capital (general and special education, migration) .

Until the 1990s, domestic experts were rather cautious about the theory of human capital and even criticized it. With the beginning of perestroika, studies appeared (for example, by I.A. Nikatina, I.A. Maiburova), which are based on the theory under consideration. There are various methods for determining the potential cost of labor resources, often based on the costs of obtaining education. So, according to one of them, the human capital accumulated by Russia is quite high and its volume in 2001 was 57% in relation to the production capital. Undoubtedly, the practical benefit of the ongoing justification of investments in the individual components of the qualitative characteristics of the individual. However, their implementation as effective actions is associated with the completeness of information about all future quotations of the qualities of individuals in labor processes, which is often poorly predictable in practice.

Labor resources - this is the part of the population, which, due to the combination of physical abilities, special knowledge and experience, can participate in the creation of material wealth or work in the service sector.

The criteria for the allocation of labor resources from the total population are the limits of working age, which are established by the state and depend on the social system, life expectancy of people, other socio-economic factors and on official state acts adopted in connection with this. In the United States, for example, the lower limit of working age for boys and girls is 14 years of age, the upper limit for men is 65 years and women is 63 years. In the Republic of Belarus, the working age for men is from 16 to 60, for women - from 16 to 55 years.

The labor force includes:

able-bodied population of working age;

working teenagers (under 16);

population older than working age, taking part in social production.

The able-bodied population includes persons of working age, with the exception of non-working disabled persons of groups I and II, as well as persons who have retired on preferential terms earlier than the working age established in the general procedure.

Depending on the attitude to labor activity, the following categories are distinguished in the composition of labor resources:

employed in social production; self-employed; those who are studying with a break from work; employed in household and personal subsidiary farming; military personnel.

Labor resources have quantitative and qualitative characteristics. The former include indicators of numbers and composition (age, gender, social groups, etc.); to the second

indicators of the educational level, professional qualification structure, etc.

The age structure of labor resources involves the allocation of the following main age groups: young people aged 16-29 years; persons from 30 to 49 years; persons of pre-retirement age (men 50-59 years old, women 50-54 years old); persons of retirement age (men aged 60 and over, women aged 55 and over). Sometimes 10-year age intervals are used to reveal the age structure. Labor activity is considered to be the higher, the larger the proportion of the working-age population is occupied by persons aged 20-49 and the greater the proportion are men.

The gender structure of labor resources is characterized by the ratio of the number of men and women in their composition. It is determined, as a rule, by the population of working age - the main source of labor resources. In the Republic of Belarus, for example, the proportion of men is 47%, women - 53%. This ratio is considered normal for economically developed countries.

To characterize labor resources by the level of education, the following key indicators are used: the level of general, special and higher education; level of education by social groups.

According to the level of education, the ratio between the number of labor resources with higher, secondary specialized, secondary and incomplete secondary education is determined regardless of the work performed or the position held.

When determining the ratio of labor resources by categories of personnel, workers and employees, including managers, specialists, etc. are taken into account.

Knowledge of the structure of labor resources is necessary to determine the directions of their effective use.

The basis for the formation of labor resources is the reproduction of the population, which is carried out through a change of generations as a result of the birth and death of people, i.e.

With an increase in the birth rate and life expectancy, there will be an increase in the population and, consequently, in the labor force. The Republic of Belarus, for example, belongs to the group of countries with extremely low birth rates. AT last years there are 14.5-17.3 births per 1000 people. There is an increase in mortality and a decrease in life expectancy. If this situation persists, there will be a decrease in the population and labor resources.

Important in the formation of labor resources is the migration of the population, leading to their redistribution between territories, sectors of the national economy and activities. However, the assessment of the territorial mobility of the population for economic development is ambiguous, and, above all, when its size and direction do not correspond to the needs of the national economy. This can lead to an oversupply of labor resources in some localities or to their shortage in others, which in both cases is a negative phenomenon.

All data on migration are used to determine the exact population in the country and regions, to calculate indicators related to population and labor resources. Thus, the size and composition of labor resources are determined by demographic factors (population size, age and sex structure, etc.) and migration processes.

The distribution of labor resources is carried out mainly based on the existing economic potential in the regions. In the course of changes in the volume of work, the structure of the national economy, the need for labor resources also changes.

For society, the best option is when all labor resources are fully involved. However, in a market economy, this condition is met extremely rarely, even in those countries where there is an increased need for labor. There are many reasons for this, including an objective one. First of all, this is a reduction in the number of workers and employees with the improvement of the structure of production, dismissal due to dissatisfaction of part of the workers with working conditions, the search for a new job, the cyclical nature of economic development, the influence of seasonality, etc. Therefore, in real conditions, not all able-bodied population is engaged in socially useful work. The most important task in economic development planning is to avoid excessive labor surpluses and at the same time to ensure the functioning of the labor market in order to use it more efficiently. Increasing the proportion of the able-bodied population engaged in social work, providing such opportunities to persons of retirement age and adolescents improves the socio-economic situation. If necessary, the external labor market is also considered, especially in times of crisis and other unfavorable situations within countries.

In modern conditions important issue is the problem of unemployment. Unemployment is a socio-economic phenomenon, expressed in the fact that a certain part of the able-bodied population cannot realize their labor potential.

In Belarus, for example, the unemployment rate in 2000 was 2%. At the same time, the share of hidden unemployment is high. 11.2.