Electric Power-Labor Ratio

(in Russian, elektrovooruzhennost’ truda), an indicator characterizing the provision of electric energy for labor; it is a component of the power–labor ratio. Increasing the electric power–labor ratio is an important condition for scientific and technical progress and the growth of productivity of social labor.

There is a difference between the electric power–labor ratio and the electric power available per worker (elektrovooruzhen-riost’ rabochikh). The coefficient of the former is calculated by dividing the amount of electric energy consumed in production by the number of man-hours actually worked. The latter derives from the electric driving power in kilowatts available per worker; it is expressed by the ratio of the total power of electric motors and electrical equipment to the number of workers in the largest shift.

A comparison of the coefficient of the electric power–labor ratio with the coefficient of the power–labor ratio characterizes the degree of electrification of production. If the coefficient of electric power available per worker in an enterprise at the end of a year is 2.0 (2 kilowatts of electric driving power per worker in the largest shift) and the coefficient of the power available per worker is 2.5, then the ratio 2.0:2.05 = 0.8 will be the power coefficient of the electrification of labor. If over a year the electric power–labor ratio is 2.8 and the power–labor ratio is 3.2, then the ratio 2.8:3.2 = 0.875 will be the power coefficient of the electrification of production.

In statistical publications the electric power–labor ratio in industry is calculated as the ratio of the total electric energy consumed per year to the average number of production workers listed. The indicator increased by a factor of 56 between 1913 and 1976. It is increasing more rapidly in industry than the labor productivity of industrial workers. A comparison of the indicators expresses the change in the electric energy input of production. For example, the industrial consumption of electric energy in the USSR totaled 34.8 billion kilowatt-hours in 1940 and 692.8 billion kilowatt-hours in 1976, increasing by a factor of 19.9. The volume of industrial output during the same period increased by a factor of 17.7; thus, the electric energy input of production rose by a factor of 19.9:17.7 = 1.12.