Increasing Labour Productivity or a New Wave of Optimization in the Cultural Sphere?

The main purpose of this paper is to explore the correctness of applying the labour productivity concept in social sector in general, and special in the cultural sector, as accepted in the national project «Efficient and Competitive Economy» (federal project «Labor Productivity») for 2025-2030. The article analyses the challenges associated with applying the labour productivity indicator "by output" to the cultural sector, particularly through the index defined in the national project as "increase in the number of visits per employee" for cultural institutions. The incorrect nature of this approach is revealed both through statistical data calculated for specific types of cultural activity (theatres, museums, public libraries, concert organizations), and through the inaccurate calculation methodology contained in ministry documents. Applying the concept of labour productivity, appropriate for industrial production and the commercial service sector, to social sector, particularly the cultural sector, distorts the non-commercial nature of cultural activity and underestimates the social significance of cultural goods. Increased labour productivity in cultural institutions is planned to be achieved through lean production concept, originally developed to reduce costs in mass-production enterprises. This also demonstrates the inadequacy of a unified approach to assessing performance in manufacturing production and socially significant sectors. A detailed examination of the federal project's methodology reveals a new wave of optimization in the cultural sector, where rhetoric about the need to increase labour productivity conceals another one reduction in the network and number of cultural employees, as well as the deprivation of cultural institutions' financial and economic independence.