whereby other organisations can have access to idle component.
Capital is expensive, in short supply and obtained from abroad at
both a high economic and political cost. It is folly to duplicate
machinery unnecessarily.

One can thus say that frictional unemployment is a serious
problem which can be minimised through a comprehensive and
effective planning mechanism, both within the firm and outside it.

Technological unemployment raises some thorny problems
though it is neither a problem particular to the building industry,
nor a problem that is directly related to the issue of irregular em-
ployment. Rather it is more directly connected with a discussion
of the long-term capacity of the construction industry to create
employment, combined with some efficiency criterion. But the
reconciliation of these two issues is a difficult and controversial
subject in the developing world. The source of the particular dif-
ficulty lies in the fact that under conditions of extensive resource
idleness the traditional managerial and economic emphasis on
marginal factor productivity is not sufficient. The problems of ef-
ficiency must be viewed in a more comprehensive and un-
fortunately more complex manner. There is evidently little point in
erecting the same number of buildings using fewer resources if the
resources so freed are to lie idle. But since this issue is rather
peripheral to the discussion, suffice it to make a few general points
at this stage.

Technological unemployment need not be a problem. The in-
troduction of new machinery or new organisational systems can
be phased in such a way that in the face of expanding demand
and an expanding industry there is no redundancy of existing
workers, though this of course does mean the choking off of
potential employment opportunities. Further, the net employment
effects of such innovation depend in large measure on the kind of
advance. If such technical improvements are realised through local
resources the effect is to create additional wealth in the course of
its realisation while creating vital linkages in the economy and en-
couraging the vital process of technological development. Im-
porting such technology may also raise output, but some of this is
lost abroad at the time of purchase, and more is drainage off
during its operation and maintenance. At the same time no
linkages are created and potential local technological development
is undercut and destroyed. These costs in terms of foregone poten-

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