What Labor Means

As we head into another Labor Day weekend, it may be worth pausing to think about what labor is. In ordinary conversation in our modern world, the word is used -- among other things -- as a name for the general body of wage earners. Economists use it professionally in the same way. It is in this sense that both the general public and economists speak of "organized" labor.

In economics, though, the word is also used in a more special and technical sense. It means any valuable service rendered by a human in the production of wealth, other than accumulating and providing capital, or assuming risks that are a normal part of business enterprises.

It includes manual laborers, of course, but covers many other kinds of work as well. It is not strictly synonymous with toil or exertion, not in this sense. The expending of physical energies of people to the work of production is, certainly, an element of labor. But skill and self-direction are also elements.

One characteristic of all labor is that it uses time, in the specific sense that it consumes part of the days and years of human life. Also, unlike pay, it is not generally a sufficient end in itself, but is performed for the sake of its product, and what that product can mean to the worker and his family.

Sure, many of us find one of our chief pleasures in our work. But we still usually try to sell our services or products for the best price we can get. Just some thoughts about what the word labor means, as we begin celebrating.