LABOR SUPPLY, PRODUCTIVITY, WAGES, AND WELFARE PROGRAM IN NORTH KOREA

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP80-00809A000700060058-0
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: R
• Document Page Count: 8
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: October 5, 2011
• Sequence Number: 58
• Publication Date: April 28, 1952
• Content Type: REPORT

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CLASSIFICATION RESTRICTED
CENTRALnfLUGEW&RA'WfW& REPOR1
INFORMATION FROM
FOREIGN DOCUMENTS OR RADIO BROADCASTS CD NO.
COUNTRY Korea
DATE OF
SUBJECT Economic; Sociological - Labor INFORMATION 1949
HOW
PUBLISHED Yearbook
WHERE
PUBLISHED Pyongyang
DATE
PUBLISHED 20 Feb 1950
LANGUAGE Korean
TN1i OOCON INT........ ..IOI.AT1.. ....CTN.. nI INnON.L ON/N111
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NItlnO IT M AN 01.OINOIITIO PINION II ..0?
.. nirouC110N o. TI S 10.. I. I.O1IIITNO.
SUPPLEMENT TO
REPORT NO.
THIS IS UNEVALUATED INFORMATION
Choson Chungang N one 1950, published by Choson Chungang T'ongsin-ss.
LABOR SUPPLY. PRODUCPIVITy WAGES,
A1PD WELFAhE PROGRAM IN NORTH KOREA
The following report shows a general increase in labor supply,
productivity, and wages, and describes the welfare program carried
out in North Korea for the postwar period up to 1949. This report
also gives some estimates for 1950.
The labor supply, as of June 1949, was 157.2 percent of 1946. The skilled
r as of June 19119 numbered 22,141, as compared ;.o 4,688 in 1947. Various
types of
worker labor welfare programs are in effect. During 1947 - 1949, some 17 mil-
lion persons benefitted under a social insurance program. A form of collective
bargaining technique known as "group contract" was adopted in North Korea to
stat+tlize wages and to promotF the safety of workers. Using 1947 as the base
year, the average wage in 1949 was 114.3 percent of that of 1947. The piecework
bonus system is being used to stimulate production. Various types of safety
devices have been installed, and safety equipment is rented or given free to
workers.
The estimated labor productivity in 1950 was 326.2 percent of that of 1946.
Production increase campaigns to surpass the quotas set by the Two-Year People's
Economic Program were instrumental in the increase in labor productivity. In
1949, May Day, Labor Law Commemoration Day, the Korean Independence Movement Day,
etc., were ,ccasions for production increase campaigns participated in by some
287,000 workers. One of the aims of the campaigns was reduction in production
costs. Ono of the objectives for 1950 was to decrease costs by 18.3 percent
below 1948 in all nationalized industries and by 20 percent in local industries.
In 1948, agricultural production surpassed the highest level attained b the
Japanese in 1939. Y
A. Labor supply
The labor population, especially specialists and technicians, increased
yearly in Worth Korea as follows:
STAT
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Rate of Labor Population Growth
(December 1946 equals 100)
7
De 4
Dee 48
J_un 4
Workers
S
eci
li
t
121.8
147.6
172.6
p
a
s
s
Technician
~9.6 :L29.6
131.2
181.4
s
Offi
k
133.4
165.4
181.6
ce wor
ers
113.2
126.1
125.2
No of Skilled workers in North Korea
1947 1248 Jan Jun 49
4,688 25,525 22,141
B. Social Insurance
1. Finance
The government fund earmarked for social insurance is supplemented
by the amount collected from the employees and employers. The employees who
are covered by this insurance pay one percent of their wages and the employers
pay from 5 to 12 percent of the amount of the wages.
In 1948, the net revenue was 599,063,000 won and the payment for insurance
claims was 662,426,000 won. At the end of September 1949, the revenue amounted
to 555,969,000 won, and the payment to 469,702,000 won.
. 2. Beneficiaries
The social insurance program went into operation on 24 January 1947.
At the end of June 1949, the total number of persons covered by this program
included: the actual number /irect beneficiarie-7 4,579,027 persons; the total
number ?ncluding femiliels 17,763,446 persons. Taking the first half of 1948
as 100 the percentage increases for the first half of 1949 were: actual number,
558.6 percent; total number, 246.1 percent.
Total Nc Who Received Social Insurance Payments
Cumulative Since January 19477
1947
1948
Jan - J. 19!
22
Direct beneficiaries
606,037
1,482,505
2,490,485
Total Oncluding familiee7 3,694,369
7,636,741
6,432,336
The amount paid out in the form of pensions and medical benefits was
42,490,000 won in 1947; 217,379,000 won in 1948; 278,215,000 won as of the end
of September 1949.
STAT
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3. Rest Places, Convalescent Hones, Sanatoria
From the time that the social insurance program went into operation to
the end of the first half of 1949, the number of beds in all the rest places,
convalescent homes, and sanatoria and the number of patients treated have in-
cr..ased as follows:
Rest Places, Convalescent Homes, Sanatoria
(1947 equals 100)
No of Beds No of Patients
19448 Jun 49 :98 Jun 49
Rest places
C
l
128.5
141.2
144.9
123.7
onva
escent homy-
T
250.0
315.0
2;023.7
445.2
uberculosis sanatoria
L
155.6
177.8
498.7
180.6
epers sanatoria
!.70.0
177.0
415.4
303.7
The average weight increase of the patients in rest places and recuper-
ation places was as follows:
Average Weight Incre, : Per Patient at Rest Places
and Convalescent Homes (in kg)
Jan - Jan -
Jun 48 Jnn 49
Rest places 0.8 2.0
Convalescent homes 1.5 1.6
The amounts vaid out each year from the social insurance funds for
construction and upkeep of rest places, convalescent homes, and sanatoria, were:
1947, 72,441,(00 won; 1948, 245,907,000 won; and up to September 1949, 129,860,000
won.
4. Holiday Provisions
Laborers and office workers work only 8 hours a day (7 hours in case
of hazardous occupations and 6 h-.,urs in case of child laborers). They are free
to rest Sundays and holidays, and each year are ertit]-d to from 2 to 4 weeks
of vacations. The number of vacationers increased to 194.4 percent in the first
half of 1948 and to 329.1 percent in the first half of 1949, as compared with
the first half of 1947.
Special provisions were made for female workers, as follows:
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Measures Taken to Protect Female Workers
No of Vacations
No of Persons
No
After Childbirth
(PI
rk
Li ht Work
37-
to
Privileged With
NureinR Time
-
1948 (1947 equals
149.2
109.7
111.9
11.9
Jan - Jun 1949 (Jan -
307.2
8
`
Jun 1948 equals 100)
6
?G
446.2
C. Group Contracts
Democratic group contracts are widely concluded, in accordance with the
labor laws, between employers (both state and private enterprises)
and labor groups. The number of group contracts recoraeU during 1940 (includ-
ing both state and private enterprises) increased to 109.8 percent and th,a
persons involved increased to 120.6 percent, as compared with 1947.
As the result of the group contracts, v, es were stabilized, and addi-
tional safety devices, including new types, ire installed in working places;
regulations for the protection of labor were enforced; and labor hazards have
been reduced by supplying individual workers with protective equipment at
little or no charge. These measures resulted in increased productivity.
The total number of accidents during the first half of 1949 decreased to 84.0
percent of the first half of 1948.
The improvement in labor discipline has been indicated by the decreasing
number of absentees. The attendance rate of all laborers and office workers
in North Korea was 90.2 percent in the second quarter of 1947. However, this
increased to 92.3 percent in the second quarter of 1948 and further increased
to 94.5 percent in the second quarter of 1949.
D. Wages and Bonus Systems
for erral work irrespective voi-xers, who receive equal wages
of age or sex, is shown in the following table.
Percentage Rate of Wage Increase
1947 1948 1949
Average wages 100 103.7 114.3
piecework bonus system increased to1 pi+ V1 ''y"y' cne participants in the
Bonus payments
rose to 117.8 percent in the first half
fp1948
94
o
and to
161.4
first half of 1949 as compared with the first half of 1947, percent in the
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The amount of cash bonus is based on the amount of extra output gained.
Up to 50 percent of the value of the gains realized by surpassing the pro-
duction norm is paid back to the worker. Divided into three classes, the
lowest bonus starts at 100 percent of basic wage, and increases until it
reaches 300 percent of basic wage. Persons employed in hazardous work or in
an important section of the railway factory receive the bonus in the form of
extra ration coupons: 100 grams of ration (per day) for production from 110
to 130 percent of norm; 175 grams for 131 - 150 percent; and 250 grams for
production above 150
t
percen
.
E. Labor Protection
1. Safety Devices
As of the end of June 1949, 7,870 factories were equipped with the
following safety devices for the benefit of 392,672 workers:
Type of Device
Power generators and conductors
Fall prevention devices
Ore conveyers
Hoists
Mine safety facilities
Dust and gas prevention equipment
Sewage facilities
Power station safety devices
Fire prevention devices
Signals
Miscellaneous
Quantity
14,375
6,739
2,778
727
4,037
529
576
2,932
7,164
4,154
489
2. Protective Equipment Supplied to Workers
In accordance with the decision of the government, or under the pro-
visions of group contracts, many types of protective equipment are rented or
given to workers by their employers. The actual number of each type of L.iuip-
ment rented during the second and third quarters of 1949 was as follows:
Protective Equipment Rented to Workers
(unit in pieces)
2d Qu 49
Masks
91,176
028
83
Clothing
30,493
,
47,534
Safety caps
4,996
1
646
Gloves
13,731
,
24
847
Footwear
79,443
,
91
523
Eye glasses
Shoulder pads
2,571
,
2,575
Aprons
,9 2
3,100
8,882
9,005
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During the first half of 1949, the total value of protective equip-
ment distributed to the workers in textile and other manufacturing industries
reached 76,285,000 von (represents.2i times the previous year) while those
distributed to food processing industry, 15,430,000 won (represents 2 times
the previous year).
F. Labor Productivity
1. Production Increase Movement
The production increase movement was originated in 1946 by Kim Hae-il,
a worker at the Ch'ongjin Locomotive District in P'yongan Pukto, in an effort
to speed +ip restoration of rail transportation. The movement, which spread
rapidly throughout North Korea, was Joined in 1946, by some 259 factories and
58,300 workers.
The establishment of the People's Economic Program in 1947 further
stimulated the movement, especially by the initiative of the workers at the
Sadong Coal Mine, who launched a campaign to surpass the production quotas
set by the economic program in celebration of the 1 March 1919 incident. A
total of 41 factories and mines joined the campaign. A similar campaign,
launched by the vorkers of the Pyongyang Locomotive District on the o_casion
of the May Day celebration, to operate their locomotives for 100,000 kilometers
without accident., was entered by 411 factories and mines. Nov the North
Korean workers launch production increase campaigns each year in celebration
of 1 March, May Day, Labor Law Day (24 June), and Liberation Day (15 August).
Statistics on the Production Increase Movement by Year
6
1947
2
Jan-
Jun 4
Participating factories
No of particip
t
259
604
1,
4
1
677
an
s
Factor
rati
58,343
163,067
244
3
57
,
287
307
y
o (%
Participant ratio (%)
100
100
233,0
575
,
4.
7 4
279.5
418
492.4
Workers' Inventions and Practical Suggestions
1947
1948
Mayo
No of Cases
357
652
Contributors
352
663
1,459
59
Year3y Increase of Labor Proauctivity
(records for nationalized industr.::s, 1946 equals 100)
1947 119488 194 stimate) 1950 stimate
170.7 235.8 283.4 326.2
2. Reduction of Production Costs
One of the objectives for 1949 was to reduce the average production
costs by .3 tercent in nationalized industries and by 13 percent in local
5rivatiindustries, as compared with 1948. Euwever, during the first half
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STAT
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of 1949, the reduction was 3.3 percent greater than the planned objective for
nationalized industries. There was also a noticeable reduction in production
cost in local industries. During the second quarter of 1949, the reduction
was as much as 22.3 percent more than rriginally planned for some of the nation-
alized mines.
-'reduction costs in North Korea are decreasing steadily because or
rapid mechanization of production facilities, improvement in efficiency and in
labor productivity. The following goals were set by the 1949 - 1950 Two-Year
People's Economic Program for reduction of production costs for various indus-
tries.
Goal of Two-Year Plan for Reduction of Production Costs
(1948 equals 100)
D4
1950
Rationalized Industries
9.3
18.3
Electricity
9.3
17.0
Fuel
8.4
19.0
Mining
8.3
14.0
Metallurgical
6.8
10.9
Mechanical
20.5
25.6
Chemical
6.4
11.4
Construction
11.3
13.0
Light Industries
13.7
18.7
Local Industries
13.0
20.0
The amount of agricultural production in 1948 increased tremendously
in comparison with that of 1945. The 1948 crop surpassed the 1939 crop which
was the year of highest production during the Japanese occupation.
As a result of vigorous campaigns to stimulate animal husbandry
which is one of the most important phases of Korean agriculture, the number
of cattle increased to 168.8 percent while the pigs increased to 288.3 per-
cent at the end of 1948 aF compared with 1945.
The number of farmhouses built or remodeled during the period from
1945 to 1948 is as follows:
Total No of New Houses
101,149
Tile-roof houses
27,712
That;;hed-roof houses
72,412
Rrirk houses
1,325
Rebuilt houses
41,897
Other data on North Korean rural situation during 1945 - 1948 are as fol-
No of households which purchased cattle
Agricultural Implements Purchased
117,808 families
Threshing machines
26,204 units
Weeding machines
3,074 units
Horse and ox carts
32,392 units
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Eoueehold Equipoent Purchased
Radios
Photographs
Electric lights installed
New Schools Build
23,941 sets
837 units
412,533 lights
Eindergartene
Adult schools
73
Adult high schools
5,572
High schools
1,346
Colleges
383
31
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