After studying chapter 7, you MUST be able to

define primary. secondary and tertiary production

define simple division of labour

state at least THREE reasons how the labour productivity can be raised by division of labour

state at least THREE disadvantages of division of labour

Advantages of division of labour

Labour productivity is raised because :

-Jobs are assigned according to workers' talents and skills, workers can do jobs which they can do best

-Time is saved as each worker need to learn skills required in his own production stage, he does not need to learn all the jobs

-As the workers work in the same stage day after day, workers become more skilful at their jobs

-Time is saved as workers do not need to move from one production stage to another production stage

-Mechanization is possible as it is easier to invent machines to perform a simple task. More machines can be used

-Different workers work in different stages of production at the same time, all capital goods will be put to full use

It is no need for each worker to own the whole set of capital tools. He only works in one stage and only needs one capital good. Resources are saved from producing capital goods

Defects of division of labour

-Workers do the same job day after day. Work becomes dull and monotonous and workers lose interest in their work. Labour productivity drops.

-Disruption of production might easily occur as different production stages will be more interdependent. If the work in one stage is disrupted, other production stages will be affected

-Workers will have a greater risk of unemployment as they are trained for a particular job. it is difficult for them to change over to other jobs.