Understood both as an economic and as a sociological term, the concept of human capital refers to the wealth that can be had in a factory, company or institution in relation to the qualification of the personnel who work there, that is, the degree of training they have, the experience that each one brings together, the number of employees and the productivity that results from them.
In this sense, the term human capital represents the value that the number of employees (of all levels) of an institution assumes according to their studies, knowledge, skills and abilities.
And put in simpler and simpler terms, human capital is the set of human resources that make up a company or company.
The human capital of a company is undoubtedly one of the most important elements when evaluating its general returns and also projecting its future possibilities, because if the staff of employees is capable of producing in accordance with and maximizing The results of the company, then, challenges can be planned in the short and medium term because it is almost certain that they will be able to face them effectively and satisfactorily.
The term human capital arose in the eighteenth century when prominent theorists of economics, such as Adam Smith, raised the need to stop not only in technical factors but also human when establishing the rules for the proper functioning of a company or of an economic system in general. In this way, human capital appeared as one of the most important elements to take into account since it is responsible for executing the tasks and skills of each economic area. Thus, the more valuable the human capital of a company (that is, the better trained or prepared it is for the specific tasks at hand), the better the results of that institution will be.
The quality of training is a determining factor in the level of efficiency of human capital
It is important to note that human capital is closely associated with the educational quality that a given population or community is likely to receive. Thanks to the training it is possible to develop skills, competencies, knowledge that are capable of positively influencing, of course, the production of the economy in general.
Now, the difference will be marked not only by formal education, but also by the learning of any other knowledge or competence that is capable of having a satisfactory impact on productivity.
In this sense, the personnel training processes carried out by the companies themselves become relevant, that is, the company invests in training its employees because sooner or later this will be reflected in greater productivity and competitiveness in the market involved. That is, this training goes on the same path of, for example, buying more machinery.
The foregoing is not a whimsical statement, much less, but it is amply demonstrated that those countries that have a professionally qualified population have a better quality of life compared to others in which access to a good education is more complex due to various circumstances. or where there are tremendous differences in terms of access that those who belong to the wealthy classes have to the detriment of the lower classes that have much more restricted access in every sense.
The explanation of the term is based on economic and performance aspects, but nevertheless the concept can also be related to sociological aspects and elements, such as access to the means of training a group of people, literacy, future projection of certain careers or jobs, the possibility of success according to the level of education, etc. All of them are especially related to the notion that the individual cannot be reduced to quantifiable statistical numbers in economic or mathematical terms, but must be specially understood as a particular social phenomenon.
