Employment and Wage Policies in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary since 1950

266 Pages·1984·22.886 MB·English

by  Jan Adam (auth.)

EMPLOYMENT AND WAGE POLICIES IN POLAND,
CZECHOSLOV AKIA AND HUNGARY SINCE 1950
The book deals with employment and wage policies in Poland,
Czechoslovakia and Hungary from the start of economic planning. The
book is divided into two parts: the first part discusses employment and
wage policies on a general level and the second shows how the principles
which governed these policies were applied in the four individual phases
into which the whole period is divided. Besides the historical dimension
the book has also a comparative one: it examines how differences in the
systems of management in the three countries affected employment and
wage policies.
The book shows how the three countries have managed to achieve and
maintain full employment despite recent declining economic growth (in
Poland a deep political and economic crisis). It also examines reasons
for the various negative phenomena, such as overemployment, hoarding
of labour, labour shortages, low labour discipline, which coexist with
full employment, and the extent to which they are the by-product of full
employment. Finally it discusses the methods countries use to cope with
these problems.
The book also discusses the reasons for the rise of a policy of low
wages and its reflection in the relationship of wage growth to produc-
tivity growth. It examines the evolution of wages in individual phases
and the impact of the internal political situation, economic reforms and
economic growth on the growth of wages. It also analyses the evolution
of wage differentials and the reasons for their becoming gradually
narrower.
Jan Adam is Professor of Economics at the University of Calgary,
Calgary, Alberta, Canada. He was born in Czechoslovakia and in 1959
he joined the Department of Political Economy at Charles University,
Prague, where he was Associate Professor (Dozent) from 1964 to 1968.
After the occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1968 he emigrated to
Canada, where his first appointment was Visiting Professor at McGill
University, Montreal.
He is the author of Wage. Price and Taxation Policy in
Czechoslovakia. 1948-70, and Wage Control and Inflation in Soviet Bloc
Countries and the editor of, and contributor to, Employment Policies in
the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe.
EMPLOYMENT AND
WAGE POLICIES IN
POLAND,
CZECHOSLOVA KIA
AND HUNGARY SINCE
1950
Jan Adam
M
MACMILLAN
© Jan Adam 1984
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1984 978-0-333-35328-8
All rights reserved. No part of this pub1ication
may be reproduced or transmitted, in any form
or by any means, without permission
First published 1984 by
THE MACMILLAN PRESS LTD
London and Basingstoke
Companies and representatives
throughout the world
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Adam, Jan
Employment and wage policies in Poland,
Czechoslovakia and Hungary since 1950.
I. Labor policy-Czechoslovakia-History
-20th century 2. Labor policy-Poland
-History-20th century 3. Labor policy
-Hungary-History-20th century
I. Title
331.12'5'09437 HD8420.3
ISBN 978-1-349-06834-0 ISBN 978-1-349-06832-6 (eBook)
DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-06832-6
To Viii and Biizsi and the memory of my parents
Contents
List of Tables and Figure ix
Acknowledgements xi
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction xv
Part I
1 Factors Determining Employment Policy in the Real
Socialist System 3
2 Causes of Overemployment and Labour Shortages 17
3 Methods of Planning and Regulating Employment 41
4 Appendix I ~ Full Employment and Rational
Employment 60
5 Wage Policy in the Real Socialist System 67
6 Appendix II - Distribution of Income According to Work 84
Part II
7 Employment and Wage Policies 1950-55 93
8 Employment and Wage Policies 1956-65 113
9 Employment and Wage Policies 1966-75 139
10 Employment and Wage Policies since 1976 167
11 Wage Differential Policies 191
12 Labour Productivity, Wages and Employment 209
Conclusion 224
m
&~
Appendix 234
Bibliography 235
Index 244
Vll
List of Tables and Figure
Tables
2.1 Matching of qualifications of salaried workers with job
requirements 30
2.2 Matching of qualifications of skilled workers with job
requirements 32
2.3 Social structure of the economically active population 34
2.4 Structure of the white-collar labour force 35
7.1 Growth of the population, working-age population and
economically active population 1950-55 98
7.2 Growth of the labour force 1950-55 99
7.3 Evolution of nominal wages, consumer prices and real
wages 1948-55 110
8.1 Growth of the population, working-age population and
economically active population 1956-65 115
8.2 Growth of the labour force 1956-65 118
8.3 Evolution of nominal wages, consumer prices and real
wages 1956-65 133
9.1 Growth of the population, working-age population and
economically active population 1966-75 140
9.2 Growth of the labour force 1966-75 144
9.3 Evolution of money wages, consumer prices and real
wages 1966-75 162
10.1 Growth of the population, working-age population and
economically active population 1976-82 168
10.2 Growth of the labour force 1976-82 172
10.3 Evolution of money wages, consumer prices and real
wages 1976-82 187
ILl Intersectoral wage differentials 1948-56 193
11.2 Intraindustrial wage differentials in Poland and CSSR
1948-56 194
11.3 Wage differentials between industrial employees by type
of occupation 1948-55 196
ix
x List of Tables and Figure
11.4 Intersectoral wage differentials 1955-80 199
11.5 Intraindustrial wage differentials 1955 -80 201
11.6 Wage differentials between industrial employees by type
of occupation 1955-80 202
12.1 Selected productivity indicators 1951-80 211
12.2 The evolution of the level of education of economically
active persons 1950-81 213
12.3 National income per employee, average real wages and
labour productivity in industry 1951-80 217
12.4 Evolution of the female labour force 1948-81 223
A.I Planned and actual growth of employment and real
wages 1950-80 234
Figure
12.1 Evolution of the structure of the labour force 1950-83 220
Acknowledgements
I would like first to thank the Social Sciences and Humanities Research
Council of Canada for the extended grant which enabled me to work on
this study.
I am obliged to those who read the original draft, part or whole, and
whose comments enabled me to improve the final version of this book. I
would like to pay special tribute to Professors W. Brus, S. Peitchinis and
Dr T. Vais. I greatly benefited from consultations with scholars in the
field. I am especially obliged to Professors W. Brus, B. Csik6s-Nagy,
R. I. Gabor, J. Kovacs, F. Levcik, G. Revesz, J. Timar. Of course, the
sole responsibility for the views expressed in the book or any remaining
errors is mine.
Most of the materials for this book were collected in libraries and
institutes in Europe and the USA. My thanks are due to the libraries and
their workers: to the Weltwirtschaft Institut in Kiel, Radio Free Europe
in Munich, Osteuropa Institut in Munich, Library of United Nations in
Geneva, Bundesinstitut fUr Ostwissenschaftliche und Internationale
Studien in Cologne, Statistical Board in Budapest, Institute for
Comparative Economic Studies in Vienna and Harvard University in
Cambridge, Mass.
I also wish to record my appreciation of the help contributed by my
research assistants: Mmes K. Lukasziewicz in compiling statistical
tables, S. Gruszczynska and J. Vertes-Adler in collecting, processing and
evaluating materials. Special thanks go to Mrs B. Blackman for the care
and patience with which she improved the English of my typescript. To
Mrs M. Samuels as well as to Mrs S. Langan I am obliged for their care
in typing the several drafts of the study. To my wife Zuzana, who
encouraged me in my work and helped me to collect and process
materials, I am very much indebted.
A small part of the material in the book was published earlier in a
study, 'Regulation of Labour Supply in Poland, Czechoslovakia and
Hungary' Soviet Studies, no. 1. January 1984. I wish to thank the editor
xi