Workforce

Workforce, also called labor supply is the number of people who are economically active. These are people of working age (in Poland it is the age range of 18-64 for women and 18-69 for men) who are able to work and ready to take it on typical conditions for that. The composition of this group includes both the employed and the unemployed.

The remaining group are people of working age but inactive and not seeking work.

Workforce is a resource of people of working age, able to work and ready to take on typical conditions existing in the economy. This definition shows that the it is a component of the total number of people of working age in the economy.

Workforce (manpower, labor resources) are working population, which includes employed (including self-employed, men doing military and government work, participants in professional training programs) and unemployed. In this sense, the workforce is one of the traditional factors of production.

If we subtract the number of unemployed to the total number of persons who fall into the workforce, we get the level of employment.

Origins of the concept

The concept of the workforce was coined in Marxist literature. Karl Marx argued that human in nature is to transform of environment by the process of transformation called work. And the ability to transformation of nature it called the workforce (labor force).

Karl Marx believed that the workforce, or labor force, was the key driving force behind economic and social development. In his view, the ability to transform nature through work was what set humans apart from other animals and allowed for the creation of civilization. He argued that the workforce was the source of all value and wealth, and that the exploitation of the workforce by capitalists was the root of social and economic inequality.

Marx argued that the workforce was divided into two main classes: the capitalist class, who owned the means of production, and the working class, who sold their labor in exchange for wages. He believed that the relationship between these two classes was inherently exploitative and that the working class was always at a disadvantage. He believed that the working class was the key to creating a more just and equitable society, and that the overthrow of the capitalist system was necessary to achieve this goal.

Marx's ideas about the workforce have had a significant impact on economic and social thought, and have been influential in the development of various forms of socialism and communism. However, his ideas have also been the subject of much criticism and debate, with many arguing that his views are overly simplistic and fail to take into account the complexity of human society and the economy.

The increase in the number of people ready to work (workforce) is an important source of GDP growth.

Workforce — recommended articles

Level of development — Global interdependence — Thorstein Veblen — Knowledge based economy — Role of entrepreneurs — John Stuart Mill — Centrally planned economy — Unemployment — Homogenization of culture

References

• Johnston, W. B., & Packer, A. E. (1987). Workforce 2000: Work and workers for the twenty-first century. DIANE Publishing.