PRODUCTIVITY CHANGE AND LABOR ABSORPTION IN JAPANESE COTTON SPINNING 1891-1935.

This article provides information on a study regarding the productivity change and labor absorption in the Japanese cotton textile industry between 1891 and 1935. Tables I and II may be used to discuss the general relationship between productivity improvement and labor absorption. The results here confirm that the conventional production surface can be pushed and squeezed in many directions. Between 1891 and 1910 productivity improvement went hand in hand with accelerated labor absorption. Table III suggests that an increase in the length of shifts will cause a decline in the efficiency of a unit of machinery and a unit of labor, an increase in the elasticity of substitution, and a decline in the returns to scale. Throughout, the output-decreasing consequences of a decline in the efficiency of a unit of machinery, a decline in the efficiency of a unit of labor, and a decrease in the returns to scale overshadow the output-increasing effect of an increase in the elasticity of substitution.