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Information about Worker

“Worker” redirects here. For 'worker' animals, see Eusociality.


In economics, labour (or labor) is a measure of the work done by human beings. It is conventionally contrasted with such other factors of production as land and capital. There are theories which have created a concept called human capital (referring to the skills that workers possess, not necessarily their actual work), although there are also counter posing macro-economic system theories that think human capital is a contradiction in terms.

Compensation and measurement

Wage is a basic compensation for labour, and the compensation for labour per period of time is referred to as the wage rate. The two terms are sometimes used interchangeably.

Other frequently used terms include:
  • wage = payment per unit of time (typically an hour)
  • earnings = payment accrued over a period (typically a week, a month, or a year)
  • total compensation = earnings + other benefits for labour
  • income = total compensation + unearned income
  • economic rent = total compensation - opportunity cost
Economists measure labour in terms of hours worked, total wages, or efficiency.
  • total cost = fixed cost + variable cost

Marxian economics

In Marxian economics, the aim of labour economics is to provide insight and guidance for the optimal allocation of cooperative human labour. However, this optimality is not simply viewed as a "technical variable" as in micro-economics, because workers are not simply a "factor of production", but human beings who organize themselves and each other. Forms of labour cooperation can be oppressive, irrational and exploitative, or they can be beneficial, rational, or effective. That is to say, labour economics has a political dimension insofar as different workers and employers have different interests. There is a workers' point of view and an employer's point of view.

Marxian economists argue that the reason why labour economics receives little attention is because it has become viewed as a management issue. But this may hide that a particular form of organizing labour has little to do with economic efficiency, and more with getting a high income from an activity. Marxian economists believe that ultimately the most desirable form of labour organization in the workplace is where workers manage themselves collectively, and elect managers where necessary; too much management is inefficient, it just means that people get high incomes for doing very little, capitalizing on specialized knowledge or qualifications.

Types of labour

See also

External links

Ageing workers EU-OSHA

Further reading

  • Simon Head, The New Ruthless Economy. Work and Power in the Digital Age, Oxford UP 2005, ISBN 0-19-517983-8
  • L. Ali Khan, The Dignity of Labor
Eusociality is the phenomenon of reproductive specialization found in some animals. It generally involves the production of sterile members of the species, which carry out specialized tasks, effectively caring for the reproductive members.
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Economics is the social science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Greek for oikos (house) and nomos (custom or law), hence "rules of the house(hold).
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In economics, factors of production are resources used in the production of goods and services, including land, labor, and capital.

Land, labor, and capital

Resource in economics distinguish among such factors of production as:

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Land in economics comprises all naturally occurring resources whose supply is inherently fixed (i.e., does not respond to changes in price), such as geographical locations (excluding infrastructural improvements and "natural capital", which can be changed by human actions), mineral
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In economics, capital or capital goods or real capital refers to already-produced durable goods available for use as a factor of production. Steam shovels (equipment) and office buildings (structures) are examples.
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Human capital refers to the stock of productive skills and technical knowledge embodied in labor. Many early economic theories refer to it simply as labor, one of three factors of production, and consider it to be a fungible resource -- homogeneous and easily interchangeable.
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WAGE can refer to:
  • Wide Area GPS Enhancement
  • WAGE (AM), an AM radio station located in Leesburg, Virginia
A wage is a compensation which workers receive in exchange for their labor.
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Benefit may refer to: Something that a party was not previously entitled to receive.
  • Economic benefit, the positive contribution to gross national product (or other measure of value) from an economic activity or project: see Cost-benefit analysis.

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Unearned income refers to income that is not a wage.

It includes interest, dividends or realized capital gains from investments, rent from land or property ownership, and any other income that does not derive from work.
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This article is about Economic rent as it pertains to political economy and socioeconomic theory. For other uses, see Rent.


Economic rent
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In economics, opportunity cost, or economic cost, is the cost of something in terms of an opportunity forgone (and the benefits which could be received from that opportunity), or the most valuable forgone alternative (or highest-valued option forgone), i.e.
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In economics, x-efficiency is the effectiveness with which a given set of inputs are used to produce outputs. If a firm is producing the maximum output it can, given the resources it employs, such as men and machinery, and the best technology available, it is said to be x-efficient.
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Marxian economics refers to a body of economic thought stemming from the work of Karl Marx.

The adherents of Marxian economics, particularly in academia, distinguish it from Marxism as a political ideology, arguing that Marx's approach to understanding the economy is
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Microeconomics (or price theory) is a branch of economics that studies how individuals, households, and firms make decisions to allocate limited resources,[1] typically in markets where goods or services are being bought and sold.
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Human capital refers to the stock of productive skills and technical knowledge embodied in labor. Many early economic theories refer to it simply as labor, one of three factors of production, and consider it to be a fungible resource -- homogeneous and easily interchangeable.
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House work is a specific work required to be done as a duty or for a specific fee, related to or used in the running of a household.
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Manual labour (or manual labor) is physical work done with the hands, especially in an unskilled job such as fruit and vegetable picking, road building, or any other field where the work may be considered physically arduous, and which has as a profitable objective,
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Slavery is a social-economic system under which certain persons — known as slaves — are deprived of personal freedom and compelled to perform labour or services.
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Unfree labour is a generic or collective term for those work relations, especially in modern or early modern history, in which people are employed against their will by the threat of destitution, detention, violence (including death), or other extreme hardship to themselves, or to
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volunteer is someone who serves in a community or for the benefit of natural environment primarily because they choose to do so. Many serve through a non-profit organization – sometimes referred to as formal volunteering, but a significant number also serve less formally,
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Wage slavery is a term used to refer to a condition in which a person chooses a job but only within a coerced set of choices (e.g. work for a boss or starve) which usually excludes democratic worker's control of the workplace and the economy as a whole and unconditional
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This article is about Economic rent as it pertains to political economy and socioeconomic theory. For other uses, see Rent.


Economic rent
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Compensation of employees (CE) is a statistical term used in national accounts, Balance of Payments statistics and sometimes in corporate accounts as well. It refers basically to the total gross (pre-tax) wages paid by employers to employees for work done in an accounting period,
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Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as: "A person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the employer has
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Human resources is a term in which many organizations describe the combination of traditionally administrative personnel functions with performance management, employee relations and resource planning. The field draws upon concepts developed in Industrial/Organizational Psychology.
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Human Resource Management Systems (HRMS, EHRMS), Human Resource Information Systems (HRIS), HR Technology or also called HR modules, shape an intersection in between human resource management (HRM) and information technology.
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Labour economics seeks to understand the functioning of the market and dynamics for labour. Labour markets function through the interaction of workers and employers.
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Offshore outsourcing is the practice of hiring an external organization to perform some business functions in a country other than the one where the product or service will be sold or consumed.
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profession is an occupation, vocation or career where specialized knowledge of a subject, field, or science is applied.[1] It is usually applied to occupations that involve prolonged academic training and a formal qualification.
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