Work,labor (labour in Commonwealth English), or anoccupation orjob is theintentional activity people perform to support the needs and desires of themselves, other people, or organizations.[1] In the context ofeconomics, work can be seen as the human activity that contributes (along with otherfactors of production) towards thegoods andservices within aneconomy.[2]
Cultures and individuals across history have expressed a wide range of attitudes towards work. Besides objective differences, oneculture may organize or attachsocial status to work roles through formalizedprofessions which may carry specializedjob titles and provide people with acareer. Throughout history, work has been intimately connected with other aspects of society andpolitics, such aspower,class,tradition,rights, andprivileges. Accordingly, thedivision of labour is a prominent topic across thesocial sciences as both an abstract concept and a characteristic of individual cultures.[3] Work may also present a threat to individual human happiness and survival, either throughdirty, dangerous, and demeaning occupations or in extreme cases, fromdeath by overwork.
Work can take many different forms, as varied as the environments, tools, skills, goals, and institutions around a worker. This term refers to the general activity of performing tasks, whether they are paid or unpaid, formal or informal. Work encompasses all types of productive activities, includingemployment, household chores, volunteering, and creative pursuits. It is a broad term that encompasses any effort or activity directed towards achieving a particular goal.
Because sustained effort is a necessary part of many human activities, what qualifies as work is often a matter of context. Specialization is one common feature that distinguishes work from other activities. For example, asport is a job for aprofessional athlete who earns their livelihood from it, but ahobby for someone playing for fun in their community. An element of advanceplanning or expectation is also common, such as when aparamedic provides medical care while on duty and fully equipped rather than performingfirst aid off-duty as a bystander in an emergency.Self-care and basic habits likepersonal grooming are also not typically considered work.
While a latergift,trade, orpayment may retroactively affirm an activity as productive, this can exclude work likevolunteering or activities within afamily setting, likeparenting orhousekeeping. In some cases, the distinction between work and other activities is simply a matter ofcommon sense within a community. However, an alternative view is that labeling any activity as work is somewhat subjective, asMark Twain expressed in the "whitewashed fence" scene ofThe Adventures of Tom Sawyer.[5]
Bal maidens with traditional tools and protective clothing spalling ore, 1858
Humans have varied their work habits and attitudes over time. As humans arediurnal, they work mainly during the day,[6] but some occupations requirenight shift work.Hunter-gatherer societies vary their "work" intensity according to the seasonal availability of plants and the periodicmigration of prey animals. The development ofagriculture led to more sustained work practices, but work still changed with the seasons, with intense sustained effort duringharvests (for example) alternating with less focused periods such as winters. In the early modern era,Protestantism and proto-capitalism emphasized the moral and personal advantages of hard work.
The periodic re-invention ofslavery encouraged more consistent work activity in theworking class, andcapitalistindustrialization intensified demands on workers to keep up with the pace of machines. Restrictions on thehours of work and theages of workers followed, with worker demands for time off increasing, but modernoffice work retains traces of expectations of sustained, concentrated work, even in affluent societies.
Forms of work take on changes over time in response to technological and societal changes.[7] According to a 2024 study, the majority of current employment in the United States was in occupations that had been introduced since 1940.[7]
There are several ways to categorize and compare different kinds of work. In economics, one popular approach is thethree-sector model or variations of it. In this view, an economy can be separated into three broad categories:
Tertiary sector, which provides services and helps administer the economy
EngineerMary Jackson working at NASA Langley, 1980.
In complex economies with high specialization, these categories are further subdivided intoindustries that produce a focused subset of products or services. Some economists also propose additional sectors such as a "knowledge-based"quaternary sector, but this division is neither standardized nor universally accepted.[citation needed]
Another common way of contrasting work roles is ranking them according to a criterion, such as the amount of skill,experience, orseniority associated with a role. The progression fromapprentice throughjourneyman tomaster craftsman in theskilled trades is one example with a long history and analogs in many cultures.
Societies also commonly rank different work roles by perceived status, but this is more subjective and goes beyond clear progressions within a single industry. Some industries may be seen as more prestigious than others overall, even if they include roles with similar functions. At the same time, a wide swathe of roles across all industries may be afforded more status (e.g.managerial roles) or less (likemanual labor) based on characteristics such as a job being low-paid ordirty, dangerous and demeaning.
Other social dynamics, like how labor is compensated, can even exclude meaningful tasks from a society's conception of work. For example, in modern market-economies wherewage labor orpiece work predominates,unpaid work may be omitted from economic analysis or even cultural ideas of what qualifies as work.[citation needed]
At a political level, different roles can fall under separateinstitutions where workers have qualitatively different power or rights. In the extreme, the least powerful members of society may bestigmatized (as inuntouchability) or even violently forced (viaslavery) into performing the least desirable work. Complementary to this,elites may have exclusive access to the most prestigious work, largely symbolicsinecures, or even a "life ofleisure".
Unusual Occupations
In the diverse world of work, there exist some truly bizarre and unusual occupations that often defy conventional expectations. These unique jobs showcase the creativity and adaptability of humans in their pursuit of livelihood.[8]
As living beings, humans require a baseline of good health,nutrition, rest, and other physical needs in order to reliably exert themselves. This is particularly true of physical labor that places direct demands on the body, but even largely mental work can causestress from problems like long hours, excessive demands, or a hostile workplace.
Particularly intense forms of manual labor often lead workers to developphysical strength necessary for their job. However, this activity does not necessarily improve a worker's overallphysical fitness likeexercise, due to problems likeoverwork or a small set of repetitive motions.[9] In these physical jobs, maintaining goodposture or movements with proper technique is also a crucial skill for avoidinginjury. Ironically,white-collar workers who aresedentary throughout the workday may also suffer from long-term health issues due to a lack of physical activity.
Learning the necessary skills for work is often a complex process in its own right, requiring intentionaltraining. In traditional societies, know-how for different tasks can be passed to each new generation throughoral tradition and working under adult guidance. For work that is more specialized and technically complex, however, a more formal system ofeducation is usually necessary. A completecurriculum ensures that a worker in training has some exposure to all major aspects of their specialty, in boththeory andpractice.
A potter shapes pottery with his hands while operating a potter's wheel.A person working using a laptop
Tool use has been a central aspect ofhuman evolution and is also an essential feature of work. Even in technologically advanced societies, many workers' toolsets still include a number of smaller hand-tools, designed to be held and operated by a single person, often without supplementarypower. This is especially true when tasks can be handled by one or a few workers, do not require significant physical power, and are somewhat self-paced, like in many services orhandicraft manufacturing.
For other tasks needing large amounts of power, such as in theconstruction industry, or involving a highly-repetitive set of simple actions, like inmass manufacturing, complexmachines can carry out much of the effort. The workers present will focus on more complex tasks, operating controls, or performingmaintenance. Over several millennia,invention,scientific discovery, andengineering principles have allowed humans to proceed from creatingsimple machines that merely redirect or amplifyforce, throughengines for harnessing supplementary power sources, to today's complex, regulated systems that automate many steps within a work process.
In the 20th century, the development ofelectronics and newmathematical insights led to the creation and widespread adoption of fast, general-purposecomputers. Just as mechanization can substitute for the physical labor of many human beings, computers allow for the partial automation of mental work previously carried out by human workers, such ascalculations,document transcription, and basiccustomer service requests.Research and development of related technologies likemachine learning androbotics continues into the 21st century.
Beyond tools and machines used to actively perform tasks, workers benefit when other passive elements of their work and environment aredesigned properly. This includes everything from personal items likeworkwear andsafety gear to features of the workspace itself likefurniture,lighting,air quality, and even the underlyingarchitecture.
Even if workers are personally ready to perform their jobs, coordination is required for any effort outside of individualsubsistence to succeed. At the level of a small team working on a single task, only cooperation and good communication may be necessary. As the complexity of a work process increases though, requiring more planning or more workers focused on specific tasks, a reliableorganization becomes more critical.
Economic organizations often reflect social thought common to their time and place, such as ideas abouthuman nature orhierarchy. These unique organizations can also be historically significant, even forming major pillars of aneconomic system. In European history, for instance, the decline ofguilds and rise ofjoint-stock companies goes hand-in-hand with other changes, like the growth of centralizedstates andcapitalism.[citation needed]
In industrialized economies,labor unions are another significant organization. In isolation, a worker that is easily replaceable in thelabor market has little power to demand better wages or conditions. By banding together and interacting with business owners as acorporate entity, the same workers can claim a larger share of the value created by their labor. While a union does require workers to sacrifice some autonomy in relation to their coworkers, it can grant workers more control over the work process itself in addition to material benefits.[10]
The need for planning and coordination extends beyond individual organizations to society as a whole too. Every successful work project requires effectiveresource allocation to provide necessities, materials, andinvestment (such as equipment and facilities). In smaller, traditional societies, these aspects can be mostly regulated throughcustom, though as societies grow, more extensive methods become necessary.
Other institutions can affect workers even more directly by delimiting practical day-to-day life or basic legal rights. For example, acaste system may restrict families to a narrow range of jobs, inherited from parent to child. Inserfdom, apeasant has more rights than a slave but is attached to a specific piece of land and largely under the power of thelandholder, even requiring permission to physically travel outside the land-holding. How institutions play out in individual workers' lives can be complex too; in most societies where wage-labor predominates, workers possess equal rights by law and mobility in theory. Without social support or other resources, however, the necessity of earning a livelihood may force a worker to cede some rights and freedoms in fact.
Societies andsubcultures may value work in general, or specific kinds of it, differently. When social status orvirtue is strongly associated with leisure, then work can become indicative of low social rank and have a lower value. Conversely, a society may hold strongly to awork ethic where work is seen as virtuous. German sociologistMax Weber hypothesized that European capitalism originated in aProtestant work ethic, which emerged with theReformation.[11] Some Christian theologians[who?] appeal to theOld Testament'sBook of Genesis in regards to work. According toGenesis 1, humans were created in theimage of God, and in Genesis 2,Adam was placed in theGarden of Eden to "work it and keep it".[12]Dorothy L. Sayers has argued that "work is the natural exercise and function of man – the creature who is made in the image of his Creator."[13] Similarly,John Paul II said inLaborem exercens that by his work, man shares in the image of his creator.
Christian theologians see thefall of man as profoundly affecting human work. InGenesis 3:17, God said to Adam, "cursed is the ground because of you; in pain you shall eat of it all the days of your life".[14]Leland Ryken said that, because of the fall, "many of the tasks we perform in a fallen world are inherently distasteful and wearisome."[15] Christian theologians interpret that through the fall, work has become toil, but John Paul II says work is good for man in spite of this toil, and that "perhaps, in a sense, because of it", because work is something that corresponds to man's dignity and through it, he achieves fulfilment as a human being.[16] Drawing onAristotle, Ryken suggests that the moral ideal is thegolden mean between the two extremes of being lazy and a workaholic.[17] Some Christian theologians also draw on the doctrine ofredemption to discuss the concept of work.Oliver O'Donovan said that although work is a gift of creation, it is "ennobled into mutual service in the fellowship of Christ."[18]Pope Francis is critical of the hope that technological progress might diminish the need for work: "the goal should not be that technological progress increasingly replace human work, for this would be detrimental to humanity",[19] andMcKinsey suggests work will change, but not end, as a result of automation and the adoption ofartificial intelligence.[20]
For some, work may hold a spiritual value in addition to secular notions. Especially in somemonastic ormystical strands of severalreligions, simple manual labor may be held in high regard as a way to maintain the body, cultivate self-discipline and humility, and focus the mind.[21]
The contemporaryworld economy has brought many changes, overturning some previously widespread labor issues. At the same time, some longstanding issues remain relevant, and other new ones have emerged. One issue that continues despite many improvements isslave labor andhuman trafficking. Though ideas about universal rights and the economic benefits of free labor have significantly diminished the prevalence of outright slavery, it continues in lawless areas, or in attenuated forms on the margins of many economies.[22]
Another difficulty, which has emerged in most societies as a result ofurbanization andindustrialization, isunemployment. While the shift from a subsistence economy usually increases the overallproductivity of society and lifts many out ofpoverty, it removes a baseline of material security from those who cannot findemployment or other support. Governments have tried a range of strategies to mitigate the problem, such as improving the efficiency ofjob matching, conditionally providingwelfare benefits orunemployment insurance, or even directly overriding the labor market through work-relief programs or ajob guarantee. Since a job forms a major part of many workers'self-identity, unemployment can have severe psychological and social consequences beyond the financial insecurity it causes.[citation needed]
One more issue, which may not directly interfere with the functioning of an economy but can have significant indirect effects, is when governments fail to account for work occurring out-of-view from the public sphere. This may be important, uncompensated work occurring every day in private life; or it may becriminal activity that involves clear but furtive economic exchanges. By ignoring or failing to understand these activities, economic policies can have counter-intuitive effects and cause strains on the community and society.[23]
Due to various reasons such as thecheap labour, the poor economic situation of the deprived classes, the weakness of laws and legal supervision, the migration existence of child labour is very much observed in different parts of the world.[24][25]
According to theWorld Bank Globally rate of child labour have decreased from 25% to 10% between 60s to the early years of the 21st century. Nevertheless, giving the population of the world also increased the total number of child labourers remains high, withUNICEF and ILO acknowledging an estimated 168 million children aged 5–17 worldwide were involved in some sort of child labour in 2013.[26][27][28][29]
Some scholars like Jean-Marie Baland andJames A. Robinson suggests any labour by children aged 18 years or less is wrong since this encourages illiteracy, inhumane work and lower investment in human capital. In other words, there are moral and economic reasons that justify a blanket ban on labour from children aged 18 years or less, everywhere in the world.[30][31][32] On the other hand, some scholars like Christiaan Grootaert andKameel Ahmady believe that child labour is the symptom of poverty. If laws ban most lawful work that enables the poor to survive, the informal economy, illicit operations and underground businesses will thrive.[33][34][35][36]
Aworkplace is a location where someone works, for their employer or themselves, a place ofemployment. Such a place can range from ahome office to a largeoffice building orfactory. Forindustrialized societies, the workplace is one of the most important social spaces other than the home, constituting "a central concept for several entities: the worker and [their] family, the employing organization, the customers of the organization, and the society as a whole".[37] The development of new communication technologies has led to the development of thevirtual workplace andremote work.
^"Work".Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. 12 July 2020. Retrieved19 July 2020.
^"Labor".Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary. Merriam-Webster. 12 July 2020. Retrieved19 July 2020.
^Johnson, Paul M (2005)."Division of labor".A Glossary of Political Economy Terms. Auburn University, Dept. of Political Science. Retrieved19 July 2020.
^Oliver O'Donovan, "Christian Moral Reasoning," in David J. Atkinson and David H. Field (eds),New Dictionary of Christian Ethics and Pastoral Theology (Leicester: IVP, 1995), 123.
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