Compound Labor

the labor of a skilled worker—that is, skilled labor, which is associated with extra expenditures for education and training.

In commodity production, compound labor produces more value per unit of time than simple labor. Therefore, compound labor may be regarded as the augmentation of simple labor, or its elevation to a higher level. Compound labor is reduced to simple labor in commodity exchange, by means of cost comparison.

The scientific and technological revolution has been accompanied by an increase in the proportion of compound skilled labor in the general composition of the labor force. In the period of communist construction the fundamental distinction between mental and physical labor is gradually overcome on the basis of a significant increase in the level of skill of the broad masses of the working people. At the same time, as the content of simple labor changes, there is an increase in the relative proportion of workers engaged in compound labor.