Interconnected dynamics of duration, productivity and “bullshit” of labor (branch aspect on the example of the USA)

Abstract

Within the framework of the generally accepted concept of the increasing role of materialized labor in productivity, a constant but slowing growth in the rate of labor productivity and a reduction in working hours, some paradoxes of labor productivity formed and developed in the past few decades. One of the paradoxical phenomena characteristic of industries with a traditionally high share of human labor is the increase in working hours due to additionally created jobs, assessed by D. Graeber as completely or partially meaningless (“bullshit”) labor. Such labor does not create value, but only participates in its redistribution in favor of the least valuable for society types of activity that, as a rule, serve the creation of a real product or socially significant service. This dynamic actualizes the problem of the relationship between productivity, duration and meaninglessness of labor, not only as socio-economic, but also cultural value. Based on data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics and the results of factor analysis using a mathematical correlation-regression apparatus, the indicated relationships in the performance dynamics of two sectors of the US economy over a long period of time were modeled. It was empirically confirmed that in the context of a long-term increase in labor productivity, leading to a general reduction in working hours, a contradiction with the ethical principle of “purchasing” labor by the employer is gradually forming and developing, leading to stagnation and a subsequent increase in working hours due to the creation and diversification of different forms of meaningless labor. It is shown that the increase in the cost of living labor, expressed, in particular, in the need to allocate additional working time for socially meaningless work, objectively slows down productivity in construction and healthcare in the United States.