"Labor Force" - what does this term mean?

The classical definition of the concept of "labor" is reduced to the totality of the person's ability to work (mental and physical). Statistics on the labor force means the number of people working for hire or ready for such work. In different countries, this indicator is calculated a little differently, usually the number of employed and officially registered unemployed is taken.

In the language of literature and journalism, the labor force is the workers of manual labor, engaged in low-skilled jobs, that is, the working class. This includes volunteers working for hire, and those forcibly involved (for example, slaves or prisoners).

Under the conditions of the capitalist social system, the labor-power is a commodity (with all its characteristic features), but the commodity is specific. Its difference from other goods is as follows:

1. It creates value, greater than it costs itself (more precisely, than it is estimated). In addition, the created value is called the surplus and is the basis of profit.

2. In this kind of commodity absolutely any production is needed, without it it is impossible.

3. The effective use of the means of production and the entire economic structure as a whole depend on the competent use of this commodity (labor).

The cost of labor is made up of factors such as the ratio of the number of employed and the unemployed, the sector of the enterprise, the degree of economic development of the region, and so on. The carriers of the labor force are its owners, legally they can freely dispose of it. But, having no means of production, the owners of the labor force sell it as a commodity. In this case, the cost of it is determined by the sum of the costs of maintaining the necessary standard of living and working capacity of the employee, as well as his training and reproduction.

These costs vary significantly in countries with different economic and natural climatic conditions, depend on the complexity and intensity of labor and many other factors. The price of labor is a quantitative reflection of its value and is expressed in wages.

In aggregate, the workforce of any enterprise (that is, the payroll of its employees) includes actually working, as well as missing for a variety of reasons (illness, business trip, regular or academic leave , etc.), but those who are in labor relations With the company.

The line-up may include personnel from non-industrial units and production personnel (engaged directly in production activities and servicing the needs of production). The latter, in turn, consists of workers (engaged in the actual production of goods, repair of equipment, loading and unloading operations), specialists (engaged in the accounting and control of products, registration of documents, etc.) and managers of different levels (director, manager, shop manager, manager).

The number of employees of any enterprise is constantly changing, that is, the movement of labor and its redistribution occurs between enterprises, as well as branches and entire regions. The analysis of the movement of the labor force is made according to absolute and relative indicators of its turnover.

Absolute indices are the turnover by reception and disposal, equal to the total number of people taken and dismissed for a certain period. Relative indicators are the coefficients of turnover on receipt and disposal. It also takes into account the degree of turnover of the labor force (due to layoffs of one's own volition or for other reasons), measured by the yield coefficient.

In addition, the replacement factor is used. With its value of more than one, not only are the lost shots lost, but new jobs are created. If this ratio is less than one unit, jobs are cut , which indicates an increase in unemployment.