The Division of Labor
Division of labor is the simple concept of separating out specific tasks in an economy to different people to maximize productivity. The reason this is so important is that the primary driver of any society’s wealth is the productivity of human labor, so the division of labor, by increasing productivity, creates significantly more wealth.
In fact, the division of labor is what largely sets us and our achievements apart from animals. Animals are left to fend and provide for themselves, but humans have cleverly crafted a system where people delegate crucial work to others so they can work on a very specific task themself. Through that coordinated effort, humans can accomplish much more in way less time, which is why our lives are so much more advanced than those of animals and even our own ancestors.
To better explain this concept, take the example of someone working as an accountant while others work on everything else that accountant needs to live. Because other people work on putting food in groceries stores, building cars, and sewing tacky shirts, that accountant can focus on a very specific job other people—who are too busy growing food, building cars, and sewing shirts—value.
By dividing labor into specific tasks, humans become significantly more productive. The division of labor means everyone doesn’t have to focus on the same basic jobs necessary for survival. People can be lawyers, dancers, plumbers, and accountants with tacky shirts and still get all the goods and services they need to survive because everyone is a benefactor of everyone else’s labor.
You may not grow your own food, litigate your own trials, or unclog your own toilets, but other people will, so you don’t need to know every skill or perform every job to reap the rewards. Instead, you can focus your time and energy on a specific task, like creating Tesla, to make money and contribute your labor to the overall division of labor equation. Everyone can have specialized jobs because everyone takes advantage of each of those specialized jobs.
However, it’s important to remember that the division of labor is only possible in a society where there is an assurance of everlasting peace. If a society can’t rely on others to perform all the necessary duties to live like growing food, sewing clothes, or building a home, each individual has to perform those duties themself.
We are fortunate to live in a world where everyone can have very specialized jobs because we collectively contribute all the necessary goods and services to one another. One person is a doctor, one person is a farmer, another is a plumber, and everyone has a niche role that serves society as a whole. But for anyone to have a niche job, they have to rely on others to fill in the gaps. If we didn’t have a society full of specialized workers contributing to every piece of the puzzle, everyone would have to be a farmer, a builder, and every other profession necessary to survive.
Aside from the obvious frustrations that come with performing all those duties, there would be a huge level of redundancy in the world dramatically reducing productivity. If everyone has to do the same jobs to survive, we can’t have hyper-specialized people creating iPhones, new Netflix specials, or the millions of other things we take for granted in the modern economy.
For that reason, the division of labor, and the peace necessary to maintain it, are crucial to creating new technologies, increasing productivity, generating wealth, and simply enjoying an easier and more luxurious life.
The Division of Labor