Labour comprises the collective personal effort of workers performing tasks within a business. By labour, business inputs are transformed into marketable products or services.
Labour refers to processes directly managed by people within the running of a business. This can take the shape of various activities, but is briefly summarised as:
Types of labour in our economy
Physical
Manual activities that are typically performed by manual labourers using their hands to add value within the production or service delivery process.
e.g. builders on a construction site, waiters on a restaurant floor
Intellectual
Labour that doesn’t require manual activity i.e. not working with one’s hands, but primarily with one’s mind.
e.g. teaching or lecturing in a school, baristers in a court
Skilled
Labour involving highly specialised activities which carry a particularly high value in their respective industry.
e.g. astronautical engineer
Semiskilled
Labour involving a moderate degree of specialism and some training.
e.g. factory machinist
Unskilled
Typically, labour that doesn’t require any particular qualification and has a low barrier to entry.
e.g. general cleaning