UNDERSTAND DIVISON OF LABOR IN LABOR MARKET

Division of labour involves dividing a job into smaller jobs each of which will be performed by different person/persons. Each individual or each group of individuals performs a small part necessary to complete total job.

Division of labor can be seen when different people opt different occupations e.g. doctors, engineers, teachers, traders, farmers, sportsmen etc.

Division of labour gives rise to specialization.

Specialization is the separation of jobs, activities and processes such that each person or group of persons concentrate on what he/she can do best due to special ability to perform the work as result of training or natural talents so as to maximize the amount and quality of the output. For example;

Doctors specialize in dentistry, surgery, pharmacy, gynecology and many others.

Teachers can specialize in subjects as Economics, Commerce and Accountancy.

Sportsmen specialize in football, basketball, athletics etc

DEVELOPMENT OF DIVISION OF LABOUR

First stage

At first, every person did everything for himself. The first stage in the division of labor occurred when men began to specialize in particular trades, and for the first time exchange became necessary.

Second stage

The second stage in the development of division of labour was reached when the various processes in the production of a commodity were undertaken by different men, each of whom acquired skill in performance. Although every process was still carried out by hand, as a when one man did the whole of the work, a huge increase in total output was achieved. Once the stage was reached where a man undertook a single process in the manufacture of a commodity the time was ripe for the introduction of machinery.

Third stage

The revolution in industry, which occurred during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in Europe was brought about by the invention of machinery and the application of power to drive it-at first water-power and then steam. The use of power-driven machinery still further increased division of labor later making possible the mass production of a great variety of cheap goods well within the reach of most wage-earners. The concentration of industries in particular areas made possible a third stage in the development of the division of labor-the specialization of individual firms in particular processes. The localization of industries and the huge increase in the quantity of goods produced required a correspondingly vast increase in the work of distribution. AS A RESULT OF THE INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION THERE WAS, THEREFORE, ALSO A GREAT EXPANSION OF COMMERCE.

Fourth stage

The fourth stage in the division of labour is in the international field and the economic concepts of comparative and absolute advantage are in application.

-Countries specialize in the production of those commodities for which they have greatest advantages compared with other countries, the output of all commodities, taking the world as a whole, will be much greater than if countries pursue aims of self-sufficiency by attempting to produce as great variety of goods as possible.

-Each widening of the range of specialization makes possible a greater output of goods than could be produced previously, and at lower cost, but as specialization increases so does the work of distribution.

-Specialization in the international sphere has brought into being an inter-dependent world.

-At the present day no country can make economic progress if it attempts to supply all its own needs, Tanzania is largely dependent on European countries and U.S.A for various capital goods and they also depend on Tanzania for Tanzanite minerals.

IN GENERAL, AN EXPANSION OF COMMERCE HAS, THEREFORE, FOLLOWED EVERY INCREASE OF SPECIALISATION.AND THE GREATER THE EXTENT TO WHICH DIVISION OF LABOUR IS CARRIED, THE GREATER IS OUR DEPENDENCE UPON OTHER PEOPLE FOR THE SATISFACTION OF OUR WANTS.