15 Facts About Labour power

Labour power is a key concept used by Karl Marx in his critique of capitalist political economy.

Labour power exists in any kind of society, but on what terms it is traded or combined with means of production to produce goods and services has historically varied greatly.

Labour power is, in this sense, the aspect of labour that becomes a commodity within capitalist society and is alienated from labourers when it is sold to capitalists.

Labour power can be sold by the worker on "own account", in which case he is self-employed, or it can be sold by an intermediary, such as a hiring agency.

Labour power is a peculiar commodity, because it is an attribute of living persons, who own it themselves in their living bodies.

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Labour power can become a marketable object, sold for a specific period, only if the owners are constituted in law as legal subjects who are free to sell it, and can enter into labour contracts.

In general, Marx argues that in capitalism the value of labour power is equal to its normal or average production cost, i e the cost of meeting the established human needs which must be satisfied in order for the worker to turn up for work each day, fit to work.

The value of labour power is thus a historical norm, which is the outcome of a combination of factors: productivity; the supply and demand for labour; the assertion of human needs; the costs of acquiring skills; state laws stipulating minimum or maximum wages, the balance of power between social classes, etc.

However, in Marx's theory, the value-creating function of labour power is not its only function; it importantly conserves and transfers capital value.

When labour power has been purchased and an employment contract signed, normally it is not yet paid for.

In modern times, the fact that the state has a big effect on wages and the value of labour power has given rise to the concepts of the social wage and collective consumption.

Commercial value of human labour power is strongly linked to the assertion of human needs by workers as citizens.

Precisely because labour power is a unique and peculiar commodity, being lodged in the living worker, it does not conform to all the same laws as other kinds of commodities.

Marx only assumed that labour power traded at its value, in order to show that even if that was the case, the worker was still economically exploited.

The concept of the value of labour power referred to the underlying economic relationship, not to be confused with the formalities of all the kinds of labour contracts which are possible.