Table 10.1 provides approximations for what can be termed the organic composition of labour that can be calculated as the ratio of unpaid labour-time (including both reproductive labour-time and wage-labour’s surplus-labour-time) in an economy over the time period of one year. The data show that in the USA, the organic composition of labour is around 5.8. This means that per waged hour, there are 5.8 hours of unpaid labour. American capital only pays for one in seven labour hours. The rate of reproductive labour measures the share of both components of unpaid labour (table 10.1). It indicates that in the USA, reproductive labour accounts for around 83.7% of all unpaid labour-time and wage-labour’s surplus-labour-time for about 16.3%.
The total production time includes the reproductive labour-time that reproduces the labour-power as a commodity. Reproductive labour is productive because it is surpluslabour-time unremunerated by capital. Capital not just exploits wage-labour, but also the reproductive labour required for the existence and reproduction of labour-power. Based on Marx’s analysis, we can say that the exploitation of labour entails not a dual separation but a dialectic of reproductive labour and wage-labour.
Table 10.2 presents further estimates. It indicates that, on average, for each paid hour of labour, there are 5.8 hours of unpaid labour. I call the ratio of unpaid to paid labourtime the organic composition of labour. Unpaid labour includes both unpaid reproduction labour as well as wage-labour’s surplus-labour-time.
Chapter Ten | Capitalism, Patriarchy, Slavery
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Housework and Digital Labour