Abstract Labour and Concrete Labour - Abstract Treatment of Labour-time

Abstract Treatment of Labour-time

In order to make this distinction, it must be possible to think abstractly about human work, and consider it separately from any particular worker performing it. Only on that basis, it is possible to conceive of quantities of labour (X amount of labour hours, or Y amount of workers) and work tasks (the kinds of jobs which need to be done, or functions which must be performed, irrespective of who actually does it). As soon as we ask, "how much work is necessary to produce something?", we begin to think abstractly about human labour.

In statistical reports, for example, reference is made to "the labour force" and quantities of total hours worked are calculated. This is an abstract way of viewing human work, and the workers that perform it. Or, if we take the concept of an output/labour ratio (the ratio of the value of output and the number of hours worked or the number of workers), this is again an abstract way to view labour.

Another example is the concept of unit labour costs, i.e. the cost in labour per product unit, expressible in hours or in money-prices. In time use surveys, a statistical attempt is made to quantify and average out the different types of activities people normally spend their time on.

In official economics, workers do not exist anymore; they are just an abstract "factor of production" or a "labour input" or a "consumer". Workers enter into the analysis only in management theory. Managers of course often have to estimate the number of paid working hours that a job will take to do, hire and fire workers, and keep track of the number of paid hours worked. They have to be concerned with the "human face" of the market.