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Labor Turnover in the Soviet Union

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  27 January 2017

David E. Powell
David E. Powell*
Affiliation:
Russian Research Center, Harvard University
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The major objective and main content of the policy which our Party consistently implements involves creating for the worker the most pleasant surroundings for work, study, and leisure, in order to develop and utilize his abilities to the fullest.

Leonid Brezhnev

In recent years, Soviet officials and scholars have expressed increasing concern about the "lack of discipline" among industrial workers in the USSR. Labor productivity remains low, and it is improving at an unacceptably slow pace. At the same time, "shirking," "idling," on-the-job drunkenness, and industrial accidents are widespread. But the most troublesome manifestation of the Soviet worker's lack of discipline is the high rate of labor turnover.

Type
Articles
Information
Slavic Review , Volume 36 , Issue 2 , June 1977 , pp. 268 - 285
Copyright
Copyright © Association for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies. 1977

References

1. Pravda, April 22, 1970.

2. “Labor turnover” statistics do not include those whose reasons for leaving a job are regarded as “acceptable, ” for example, those who are drafted into the armed forces, those who are assigned to another place of work by their superiors, those who go on pension, and so forth. See table 1, notes a and b.

3. Because Soviet scholars and officials are virtually unanimous in viewing the level of labor turnover in their country as high, I have followed their lead. It should be noted, however, that turnover rates in the United States are not very different from those in the USSR : during the period 1965-75, for example, 26.7 percent of those employed in manufacturing industries in the United States quit their jobs each year. But the American and Soviet data are by no means fully comparable. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, unlike its Soviet counterpart, distinguishes among “accessions, ” “new hires, ” and “other accessions, “ as well as “separations, ” “quits, ” and “layoffs.” Moreover, in the United States, periods of relatively full employment alternate with periods of widespread unemployment, causing considerable fluctuations over time in American turnover rates. (Low levels of turnover—a circumstance toward which Soviet planners strive—are associated in the United States with recession years : when jobs are scarce, workers are less apt to quit; when jobs are more plentiful, turnover rates tend to increase.) For these and other reasons, it is misleading to compare the Soviet and American figures. See U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment and Earnings, 22, no. 22 (May 1976) : 109-11, for the U.S. data and an explanation of the relevant terms.

4. Murray Feshbach and Stephen Rapawy, “Labor Constraints in the Five-Year Plan, “ in Soviet Economic Prospects for the Seventies, Joint Economic Committee, Congress of the United States, 93rd Congress, 1st Session (1973), p. 544.

5. Izvestiia, September 6, 1974, p. 3. See also Trud, May 11, 1974, p. 2.

6. Planovoc khosiaistvo, 1973, no. 11, p. 17.

7. Zhurnalist, 1974, no. 4, pp. 73-74.

8. Feshbach and Rapawy, “Labor Constraints.” See also Zhurnalist, 1974, no. 5, p. 79; and Planovoc khoziaistvo, 1973, no. 11, p. 16. A few Soviet specialists have challenged the view that the USSR is faced with a labor shortage. Thus the sociologist A. Aitov, pointing to the massive loss of work time caused by population migration and labor turnover, has concluded that, “our labor resources are completely adequate, but they are utilized irrationally “ (see Literaturnaia gazeta, August 20, 1975, p. 10).

9. Kahl, Anne S., Labor Law and Practice in the USSR (Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1964), p. 22.Google Scholar

10. Izvestiia, September 6, 1974, p. 3.

11. See, for example, Sovetskoc gosudarstvo i pravo, 1974, no. 11, p. 66.

12. Ekonomika i organizatsiia promyshlennogo proizvodstva, 1974, no. 1, pp. 125-30 (translated in Current Digest of the Soviet Press, 26, no. 36 [1974] : 3).

13. Ibid.

14. Zhurnalist, 1973, no. 11, p. 12.

15. Ibid.

16. Sotsialisticheskaia industriia, January 19, 1971, p. 3

17. Narodnoe khoziaistvo Kazakhstana, 1974, no. 1, translated in Joint Publications Research Service (hereafter JPRS), no. 61953, p. 16.

18. Planovoe khoziaistvo, 1973, no. 6, p. 119.

19. Savosin, G. S., Tckuchcst’ kadrov : Prichiny i preduprezhdenie (Moscow, 1971), p. 8, n. 1Google Scholar.

20. Tekuchesf kadrov v promyshlennosti (Vilnius, 1967), pp. 77 and 79.

21. Planovoe khoziaistvo, 1973, no. 11, p. 20.

22. Planovoe khoziaistvo, 1973, no. 6, pp. 119-20.

23. Trud, May 11, 1974, p. 2. For the USSR's economy as a whole, work time losses attributable to turnover have been likened to the “evaporation” of l.S million people (Literaturnaia gazeta, August 20, 1975, p. 10).

24. Narodnoe khosiaistvo Kazakhstana, 1974, no. 1, p. 16.

25. Feshbach and Rapawy, “Labor Constraints, ” p. 541. See also Ekonomicheskaia gazeta, 1974, no. 31, p. 7.

26. Narodnoe khoziaistvo Kazakhstana, 1974, no. 1, p. 20; and Tekuchest’ kadrov v promyshlennosti, p. 75.

27. See, for example, Narodnoe khoziaistvo Kazakhstana, 1974, no. 1, pp. 19 and 20.

28. Savosin, Tekuchest’ kadrov, pp. 5 and 7.

29. See the remarks of A. Aitov, quoted in ibid., p. 5. See also Sovctskaia pcdagogika, 1974, no. 9, p. 74.

30. For a discussion of some of the limitations of industrial sociology in the USSR, see Lewis S., Feuer, “Problems and Unproblems in Soviet Social Theory,” Slavic Review, 23, no. 1 (March 1964) : 120–21.Google Scholar

31. Savosin, Tekuchest’ kadrov, p. 22. According to a prominent legal scholar, many of those who leave a job “at their own request” are in fact fired because of a drinking problem ( Tkachevskii, Iu. M., Pravovye mery bor'by s p'ianstvom [Moscow, 1974], pp. 24, 25, 67Google Scholar).

32. Iovchuk, M. T. and Kogan, L. N., eds., Dukhovnyi mir sovetskogo rabochego (Moscow, 1972), p. 255 Google Scholar; and Savosin, Tekuchest’ kadrov, p. 23.

33. Iovchuk and Kogan, Dukhovnyi mir, p. 267.

34. Sotsialisticheskaia industriia, January 10, 1974, p. 2.

35. See Pravda, January J8, 1975, p. 2; and Literaturnaia gazeta, August 20, 1975, p. 10.

36. See, for example, Pravda, March 26, 1975, p. 2.

37. See Sovetskoe gosudarstvo i pravo, 1974, no. 11, pp. 66-70.

38. See Iovchuk and Kogan, Dukhovnyi mir, p. 254.

39. Kommunist (Erevan), February 2, 1972, p. 2.

40. See, for example, Kommunist Tadshikistana, February 5, 1972, p. 2; Sovetskaia Kirgisiia, January 27, 1972, p. 3; Sovetskaia Litva, February 1, 1972, p. 2; Sovetskaia Latviia, January 28, 1972, p. 2; Zaria vostoka, May 7, 1972, p. 2; and Sotsialisticheskaia zakonnosf, 1974, no. 3, p. 22.

41. Zaria vostoka, September 27, 1973, p. 1; and Kommunist (Erevan), October 27, 1972, p. 2.

42. Savosin, Tekuchesf kadrov, p. 33; Zaria vostoka, May 7, 1972, p. 2; Zaria vostoka, September 27, 1973, p. 1; and Trud, April 11, 1975, p. 2.

43. Tekuchesf kadrov v promyshlennosti, p. 69.

44. Molodoi Kommunist, 1972, no. 6, p. 64; and Izvestiia, August 16, 1974, p. 3.

45. Savosin, Tekuchesf kadrov, pp. 34-35.

46. Izvestiia, March 3, 1970, p. 3.

47. Trud, April 11, 1975, p. 2; and Kommunist Latvii, 1972, no. 2, p. 9.

48. Ananich, L. and Bliakhman, L., Zavodskaia molodezh' : Projessional'nye interesy (Moscow, 1971), p. 128.Google Scholar

49. Tekuchesf kadrov v promyshlennosti, p. 4. Men are far more apt than women to cite inadequate wages as the principal reason for quitting a job (see Sotsialisticheskaia industriia, July 24, 1974, p. 3).

50. Tckuchest’ kadrovvpromyshlennosti, p. 11.

51. Danilov, L. M., Dvizhenie rabochikh kadrov v promyshlennosti (Moscow, 1973), p. 133.Google Scholar

52. Tekuchest’ kadrov v promyshlennosti, p. 41.

53. Pravda vostoka, October 1, 1974, p. 3.

54. See, for example, Gidroliznaia i lesokhimicheskaia promyshlennost', 1973, no. 4, in JPRS, no. 29607, p. 16.

55. Trud, March 1, 1974, p. 2.

56. See Literaturnaia gaseta, October 2, 1974, p. 12; and Komsomol'skaia pravda, August 20, 1974, p. 2.

57. Savosin, Tekuchesf kadrov, p. 35.

58. Tekuchesf kadrov v promyshlennosti, pp. 77 and 79.

59. Ibid., p. 79.

60. Uchitel'skaia gazeta, February 24, 1974, p. 1; and Komsomol'skaia pravda, March 28, 1974, p. 2.

61. See Iovchuk and Kogan, Dukhovnyi mir, pp. 257 and 259.

62. Planovoe khoziaistvo, 1973, no. 6, p. 119; Molodoi Kommunist, 1972, no. 6, pp. 59-64.

63. Zhurnalist, 1973, no. 11, p. 14.

64. Ibid., p. 13.

65. See Krasnaia svesda, March 7, 1974, p. 1; and Savosin, Tekuchest’ kadrov, p. 34.

66. Ekonomicheskaia gaseta, 1973, no. 48, p. 6.

67. Pravda, March 8, 1974, p. 2. See also Sovetskaia Kirgisiia, September 28, 1974, p. 3.

68. Krasnaia zvezda, March 7, 1974, p. 1.

69. Planovoe khoziaistvo, 1973, no. 6, p. 120.

70. Sovetskaia pedagogika, 1972, no. 7, p. 18. See also Komsomol'skaia pravda, September 21, 1972, p. 4; and Sovetskaia pedagogika, 1974, no. 9, p. 71.

71. Sovetskaia Litva, September 27, 1971, p. 2.

72. Kommunist Tadzhikistana, November 4, 1969, p. 3.

73. Komsomol'skaia pravda, December 25, 1973, p. 2.

74. Turkmenskaia iskra, May 12, 1973, p. 2; Sovetskaia Kirgisiia, January 27, 1972, p. 3; Krasnaia svezda, March 7, 1974, p. 1; and Trud, December 12, 1973, p. 4.

75. Komsomol'skaia pravda, December 25, 1973, p. 2; and Sotsialisticheskaia industriia, March 8, 1974, p. 2.

76. See, for example, Pravda, September 10, 1970, p. 2; Savosin, Tekuchesf kadrov, p. 26; and Sotsialisticheskii trud, 1972, no. 4, in JPRS, no. 56338, pp. 18-19.

77. See Sotsialisticheskii trud, 1971, no. 8, pp. 82-89; and Shkola i proizvodstvo, 1974, no. 3, in JPRS, no. 61981, pp. 5-9.

78. Kommtmist Tadzhikistana, November 4, 1969, p. 3.

79. Pravda Ukrainy, March 24, 1974, p. 2.

80. Moskovskaia pravda, March 29, 1974, p. 2.

81. Cited in Rapawy, Feshbach and, “Labor Constraints,” p. 543. See also Ekonomichcskaia gaseta, 1974, no. 31, p. 7.Google Scholar

82. See Pravda, August 10, 1973, p. 3; and Sovetskaia iustitsiia, 1974, no. 18, p. 19. See also Kirsch, Leonard J., Soviet Wages (Cambridge, Mass. : MIT Press, 1972), p. 155.Google Scholar

83. Stroitel'naia gaseta, February 28, 1975, p. 3, translated in JPRS, no. 64507, p. 5; Planovoe khosiaistvo, 1973, no. 11, p. 21; Sovetskaia iustitsiia, 1974, no. 18, p. 20.

84. Isvestiia, September 28, 1973, p. 3.

85. Ekonomicheskaia gaseta, 1973, no. 48, p. 6.

86. Zaria vostoka, July 25, 1973, p. 2.

87. Literaturnaia gaseta, May 16, 1973, p. 10.

88. Sovctskie profsoiusy, 1974, no. 23, p. 35.

89. See Literaturnaia gaseta, May 16, 1973, p. 10; and Partiinaia shisn', 1973, no. 5, pp. 45-9.

90. See Radio Moscow broadcast of December 28, 1973, as reported in Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report : Soviet Union, January 10, 1974, pp. S 4-5. See also Trud, April 11, 1975, p., 2.

91. Trud, March 1, 1974, p. 2.

92. Sotsialisticheskaia indtistriia, July 11, 1973, p. 2. See also Trud, May 11, 1974, p. 2.

93. Sotsialisticheskaia industriia, July 11, 1973, p. 2.

94. Ibid.

95. Sotsialisticheskaia industriia, September 26, 1973, p. 3.

96. Literaturnaia gazeta, May 16, 1973, p. 10.

97. Trud, May 30, 1972, p. 2.

98. Komsomol'skaia pravda, March 27, 1973, p. 2.

99. Pravda, July 30, 1973, p. 2.

100. Literaturnaia gazeta, May 16, 1973, p. 10.

101. Trud, May 30, 1972, p. 2. See also Isvestiia, March 11, 1973, p. 3.

102. Pravda, July 30, 1973, p. 2.

103. Sovetskaia Estoniia, February 16, 1972, p. 2; Trud, May 30, 1972, p. 2; Ekonomicheskaia gazeta, 1974, no. 31, p. 7.

104. Planovoc khoziaistvo, 1973, no. 11, p. 21.

105. Pravda Ukrainy, March 24, 1974, p. 2. For the fullest explication of the nature and purpose of the “tutorship” program, see Kommunist, 1975, no. 2, pp. 55-64.

106. See Turkmenskaia iskra, May 12, 1973, p. 2.