Workers will have to work harder—Minister

Press, 25 November 1982, Page 9

Workers will have to work harder—Minister

NZPA-Reuter Moscow The Soviet leadership announced plans yesterday to reverse a slump in economic growth through a sharp rise in labour productivity next year. A draft economic plan for 1983 put before a session of the Supreme Soviet (Parliament) set a goal of a 3.3 per cent rise in national , income next year compared with a provisional estimate of 2 per cent this year. The plan, read out by the Estate Planning Committee’s chairman, Mr Nikolai Baibakov, called. for; industrial output to rise 3.2 per cent

against an expected 2.8 per cent this year, the lowest since World War 2. A poor start to 1982, the i second year of the Soviet - Union’s 1981-85, five-year-plan, put a target of a 4.7 per cent rise in industrial output i beyond reach. ! Mr Baibakov gave no figure for the Soviet grain harvest this year, but he quoted one figure which sug- i gested that over-all farm output had been well below the hoped-for level for the ; fourth successive year. He said that agricultural output this year would have a value of 124 billion roubles ($166 million) compared witb

the plan’s target of 136.5 billion roubles ($182.5 billion). Mr Baibakov’s figure suggested that over-all results had been slightly better than in 1981, when farm production totalled 120.1 billion roubles ($l6O billion) — still far below expectations. The target for nextyear was put at 137.3 billion roubles ($183.5 billion), but without individual crop targets. In May, the Kremlin launched a "food programme” to try to put agriculture on a sound footing, but the leadership has said , that food shortages will not be eliminated for years to come.

Mr Baibakov said that agriculture would continue to get a big share of Soviet investment, while new capi-. tai projects would be cut back to free resources for the completion of slow-mov-ing current projects. The Soviet economy was free of the crises affecting the capitalist world and had no inflation or unemployment. But, following the critical line taken by the new Communist Party leader, Yuri Andropov, in a speech to the Communist Party’s central committee, he made it clear that present economic performance was not good

enough. Mr Baibakov said that next year’s plan for a faster rate of economic growth depended on a sharp rise in labour productivity. He said that 95 per cent of the growth in national income, 91 per cent of the growth in industry and 100 per cent of the growth in agriculture would have to come from higher productivity. The Soviet economy has traditionally fuelled growth by expanding its labour force each year, but population trends in the 1980 s have brought this expansion to a halt and the Kremlin says it is now looking for intensive

growth. The rate of increase of productivity per industrial worker fell from 34 per cent in 1971-75 to 17 per cent in 1976-80 and has continued to decline in the 1980 s. In 1981 productivity in industry improved 2.7 per cent, and Mr Baibakov said that the figure for this year would be only 2 per cent. But next year productivity would go up more than 3 per cent. Mr Baibakov singled out the iron and steel industry and the railways for criticism among those sectors which had; failed to; meet their plan targets. “ ' , '