The Wealth of Nations · Chapter
Of the Division of Labour explained
Adam Smith introduces the concept of the division of labour as the primary driver of increased productivity, skill, and dexterity in society.
What happens
Adam Smith introduces the concept of the division of labour as the primary driver of increased productivity, skill, and dexterity in society. He illustrates this with the example of a pin factory, where breaking down the manufacturing process into about eighteen distinct operations allows ten workers to produce tens of thousands of pins per day, whereas a single unskilled worker could barely make one. Smith identifies three key reasons for this productivity gain: increased dexterity of each worker, saving time lost in switching between tasks, and the invention of machinery to facilitate labour. He also contrasts the division of labour in manufacturing with its more limited application in agriculture, explaining why agricultural productivity does not advance as rapidly.
Themes in this chapter
Division of Labor
Central theme of the chapter; Smith explains how breaking down production into specialized tasks dramatically increases output and efficiency.
Historical Development of Society
Smith contrasts 'rude' (primitive) states of society with 'improved' ones, showing how division of labour advances with societal development.
Characters to notice
- Adam Smith
Author and narrator, explaining the division of labour and its effects through examples and reasoning.
- A Workman
Generic worker used in the pin-making example to illustrate the contrast between specialized and unspecialized labour.
- The Teacher
Implied role of Smith as the teacher guiding the reader through the economic principles.
Key passages
“The greatest improvement in the productive powers of labour, and the greater part of the skill, dexterity, and judgment with which it is anywhere directed, or applied, seem to have been the effects of the division of labour.”
The most significant advances in how much work can be done, and in the skill and efficiency of workers, come from dividing tasks among specialists.
Opening statement establishing the core thesis of the chapter.
“One man draws out the wire, another straights it, a third cuts it, a fourth points it, a fifth grinds it at the top for receiving the head; to make the head requires two or three distinct operations; to put it on, is a peculiar business, to whiten the pins is another; it is even a trade by itself to put them into the paper; and the important business of making a pin is, in this manner, divided into about eighteen distinct operations.”
In a pin factory, the work is split into about eighteen separate steps, each done by a different worker, such as drawing wire, straightening, cutting, pointing, grinding, making the head, attaching it, whitening, and packaging.
Detailed example illustrating the division of labour in a pin manufactory.
“This great increase of the quantity of work, which, in consequence of the division of labour, the same number of people are capable of performing, is owing to three different circumstances; first, to the increase of dexterity in every particular workman; secondly, to the saving of the time which is commonly lost in passing from one species of work to another; and lastly, to the invention of a great number of machines which facilitate and abridge labour, and enable one man to do the work of many.”
The huge boost in output from dividing labour comes from three factors: workers become more skilled at their single task, they don't waste time switching between jobs, and they invent tools and machines to make work easier.
Smith's summary of the three key benefits of the division of labour.