The labor force, also called workforce, is the population of able-bodied, willing people who are currently employed or looking for work. In other words, it’s a representation of the labor pool of a certain country or segment of the economy.
Explanation :
The concept of the labor force is mainly used by economists and financial professionals throughout the world to determine the health and status of an economy. Economists also study the population and aging trends to guide fiscal policy. For example, the retired populations are slowly outgrowing the current workforce in the US due to a decreased birth rate in recent generations. Thus, the baby boomers are slowly leaving the workplace and starting to collect social security. This is a growing problem that represents the importance of a growing national work force.
In a nutshell :
- The labor force participation rate is an estimate of an economy's active workforce.
- The formula is the number of people ages 16 and older who are employed or actively seeking employment, divided by the total non-institutionalized, civilian working-age population.
- Labor force means the segment of a population who are employed or currently looking for employment.