Definition

1. 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

1. requiring a large expenditure of labor but not much capital
   • cottage industries are labor intensive