labor-intensive
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
- Adjective:
- Requiring a large amount of human work or effort relative to capital investment: Describes a process, industry, or activity where the primary input is human labor, and the use of machinery, technology, or financial capital is comparatively low.
Usage
- The adjective "labor-intensive" is used to describe economic activities, production methods, or tasks. It is typically placed before a noun (e.g., a labor-intensive industry) or used after a linking verb (e.g., The process is labor-intensive).
- It often contrasts with "capital-intensive."
Examples
- Adjective:
- Agriculture in many developing countries remains a labor-intensive sector.
- Hand-weaving textiles is a labor-intensive craft that requires great skill.
- The project was too labor-intensive to be profitable with high wage costs.
Advanced Usage
- Economic Context: In economics, "labor-intensive" is a key term for classifying industries and analyzing comparative advantage, often in discussions about globalization and trade.
- The company moved its labor-intensive manufacturing operations to a region with lower wages.
Variants and Related Words
- Labor-intensive is the standard spelling in American English. The British English spelling is labour-intensive.
- Labor-intensive is a compound adjective. Related concepts include:
- Capital-intensive (adj): Requiring a large investment in equipment and machinery relative to labor.
- Skill-intensive (adj): Requiring a high level of skill or expertise from workers.
Synonyms
- Hands-on: Involving active personal effort or operation.
- Manual: Involving physical work done by people.
Antonyms
- Capital-intensive: Requiring large financial investment in assets.
- Automated: Operated by largely automatic equipment.
- Mechanized: Equipped with or using machinery.
Adjective
- requiring a large expenditure of labor but not much capital
- cottage industries are labor intensive