Productive vs. Unproductive Labor — The Wealth of Nations

Smith divides labour into productive and unproductive kinds. This is accounting, not moral ranking. Productive labour leaves something you can sell later, like a chair a carpenter finishes. Unproductive labour vanishes when the work ends, like a servant's help at dinner. A manufacturer transforms materials into goods that repay wages and profit. A menial servant is paid from revenue and adds nothing vendible. You grow richer by employing makers and poorer by paying workers whose services cannot be resold. A sovereign's army and household are maintained the same way: their labour is useful but does not return to market as a good someone else can buy. Judges and teachers paid from taxes belong here too unless their work equips students who later produce vendible goods.