Human Resources and the Labour Force: 
Issues for Contemporary and Comparative Research

This paper surveys some of the outstanding issues on the agenda for research on the labour force in Britain. Human resources are defined as the potential for creating economic welfare through the use of people's time. The paper takes a broad view of labour supply questions as involving the lifetime allocation of everybody's time over a range of "non-market" activities like education, caring for oneself and others, as well as paid work. It recognises quality as well as quantity dimensions to these
activities and views the stock of resources as an asset, the
outcome of investment.

Ermisch and Joshi list possible topics for research under three broad headings: a) factors affecting the creation of human resources and their supply to the economy; b) factors affecting the quantity and quality of employment on the demand side of the economy; and c) factors affecting processes of adjustment to change. The first set of issues ranges from questions of family formation and dissolution, the allocation of time to education or training at various stages of the life cycle, and the 'unemployment' and 'poverty' traps, to geographical mobility of residence. The second set considers the 'discouraged worker' hypothesis, international migration, labour market structures and segmentation, pay discrimination, the determinants of productivity and the quality of working life. The third section considers various dimensions of flexibility in the labour force and employment market, including that of working hours and working life.

The authors suggest combining the insights of human capital models with those of labour market segmentation and advocate further exploitation of longitudinal data for a number of purposes. The ultimate purpose of research on human resources and their deployment is seen as an attempt to document the complementary growth of human and non-human resources in the process of economic development.

Human Resources and the Labour Force: Issues for Contemporary and Comparative Research
John Ermisch and Heather Joshi

Discussion Paper no. 1, January 1984 (HR)