Group 12 Human Capital
The purpose of our study is to identify the importance of human capital in today's economy.
- How does the education and development of workers effect a certain country's economic success?
- How does the structure of a workforce lead to production problems and successes.
- How and why do governments effect human capital?
By looking at these questions in great detail, we hope to see how human capital effects the economy.
What is human capital?
In a basic idea, human capital is all of us..... or you could say it is a way of defining and categorizing peoples' skills and abilities as used in employment and otherwise contribute to the economy. Many early economic theories refer to it simply as labor, one of three factors of production, and consider it to be a commodity -- homogeneous and easily interchangeable. But other conceptions of labor are more sophisticated.
In simpler terms, human capital is the specific abilities workers sell for wage...
Importance
It is important to understand how human capital works in an economy because:
- it effects our worth in the labor force
- it effects the economy and nation's wellbeing
- it effects the diversity and qualifications of a workforce
- it effects everyone's personal lifestyle
Burger's Area
I will be looking at how countries develop their human capital and the importance of education in that development. I will use a series of case studies to look at the relationship between education and economic growth.
- South Korea
- The South Korean economy has grown by nearly 8% each year since 1960 and has been the fastest growing economy since then.
- What has made South Korea Successful, among other things, is its improved education system and the its worker development.
- Between 1945-1961, enrollment in schools increased on every level.
- Adults with formal education increased from 64% to 92%.
Kogel's Area
Hoynak's Area
I will be looking at the structure or workforce of human capital, selecting Japan and the U.S. in order to compare extreme differences.
- By using the term structure, our group means contracts, worker's demeanor, and the relations between workers and employers which result in the production of goods
- For example- in some countries women constitute the part time segment of the workforce while men inhabit another. Traditionally in the US, men have crowded the manufacturing industry while women dominate the services sector.
- Other than by gender, workers in different countries have different contracts, mindsets, and attitudes when dealing with employers.
Case Study: Toyota
While in Japan, I had the opportunity to study under an economics professor who made his name in Japan looking at the Toyota production system and its employees. Japan and Toyota in specific is the perfect county to compare America to, in order see the different human capital structures.
Toyota
- Over 80% male...however makes a big deal in advertising the hiring of a few females
- Beginning workers come in to assembly line, sign long term contracts to postpone market interaction
- Ability to stop line any time- key is for every worker to have a say in order to ensure quality
- Workers trained in every aspect of the business...rotate so as never to get bored
- The longer a worker stays with the company, the more promotions he receives, working his way up to management
This leads us into our discussion of the Japanese Salaryman.......
Back to America
America, as a capitalist country, does the opposite of Japan when considering contract relations. America uses labor supply and demand in order to determine who gets hired, for what wage, and for how long. Loyalty and long term relations mean nothing in the mean American businessworld. With globalization, supply and demand are often left to their own devices, creating lower wages, an increase in part time jobs, and cheaper labor.
