秦简所见雇佣劳动者探析

Employed Labor Analysis from Qin Bamboo Slips

雇佣劳动者是秦代的一个特殊群体。结合简牍文献与传世文献来看,秦雇佣劳动者来源复杂,包括贫民、徒隶、在官府居作服劳役之人、戍卒、底层小吏、奴婢、罪犯、逃亡人口、六国贵族后裔等。与战国相比,秦代雇佣劳动者的显著特点是其中有一部分来自于徒隶、在官府居作服劳役之人、戍卒等这些由官府掌握的劳动力,这种雇佣关系本质上是由雇主与官府之间达成。其一,徒隶、在官府居作服劳役之人及戍卒的雇佣劳动所得需上交官府。其二,徒隶、在官府居作服劳役之人、戍卒必须在官府安排下从事雇佣活动,不得私底下佣作。秦官府将掌握的劳动力投入到民间劳动力市场,反映了秦帝国对劳动力资源的调节与合理利用。其背后原因主要有两点:一是战国以来的长期战乱及秦统一后过度使用民力导致了民间劳动力的严重不足;二是由于频繁发动战争及大兴土木,秦政府财政负担沉重,需要缓解财政压力。秦将官府掌握的劳动力资源投入到雇佣活动,是一种刺激经济的手段,有助于填补民间劳动力的缺失,也在一定程度上减轻了帝国的财政压力。另外,秦代雇佣关系并不只存在于民间,秦官府中也使用了雇佣劳动者。通过对秦代雇佣劳动者的来源、特点及相关问题的探讨,有助于进一步认识秦代的生产关系及社会结构。

The employed labor in Qin Dynasty is a special group.Combining the bamboo slips and handed-down documents,the sources of employed labor in“Qin”are complex,which included the poor,disciples,servants in official residences,soldiers,clerks,slaves,criminals,escaped people,and descendants of nobles from the Six Kingdoms.Compared with the Warring States Period,the employed laborers in“Qin”Dynasty has a distinctive feature that part of employed labor were from the government,such as Tuli,people who served in the government,and guards possessed by the government.The employment relationship was essentially between the employer and government.The wage incomes were directly handed over to the government,and all the employment activities had to be operated under the arrangement of the official government,and were not allowed to perform in private.The Qin government putting the possessed labor force into the private labor market,reflected the Qin Empire’s adjustment and rational use of the labor resources.There might be two main reasons.Firstly,the long-term wars since the Warring States Period and the excessive use of civilian power after Qin’s unification led to a serious shortage of civilian labor.Secondly,due to frequent wars and major construction projects,the Qin government had a heavy financial burden and needed to ease its financial pressure.Qin put the possessed labor resources into employment activities,which was a means of stimulating the economy,helping to fill the lack of private labor,and also reduced the financial pressure of the empire to a certain extent.In addition,the employment relationship in the Qin Dynasty did not only exist in the private market,but also inside the Qin government.By re-discussing the sources,characteristics and related issues of the employed laborers in Qin Dynasty,it will be helpful to further understand the production relations and social structure of the Qin Dynasty.