Unproductive Labor in the U.S. Economy 1964-2010

Abstract

It is commonly proposed by those who accept the distinction between productive and unproductive labor that a rising proportion of unproductive labor constitutes a burden to the operation of a capitalist economy, because unproductive labor is paid out of surplus-value, leaving less available for accumulation. This paper evaluates recent attempts to estimate empirical trends in productive and unproductive labor in the U.S. economy since 1964. These attempts are flawed by a failure to distinguish between working class unproductive labor and the unproductive labor attributable to managers-plus-capitalists. This distinction is at the heart of the trends in the neoliberal era, and these trends suggest that the distinction between productive and unproductive labor is less empirically useful than a focus on class.