person hour
Học thuậtThân thiện
Definition
Noun: A unit of measurement representing one hour of work performed by one person. It is used primarily in industry, project management, and economics to quantify labor input, estimate project costs, or measure productivity.
Usage
This term is a compound noun used as a countable unit for calculating total labor. It is often written with a hyphen (person-hour) and is synonymous with "man-hour." * The project was estimated to require 500 person hours to complete. * We track person hours to calculate the labor cost for each client.
Examples
- The factory's output increased despite a reduction in total person hours worked.
- The software update was completed in just 40 person hours.
- Calculating the person hours for a construction project helps in creating an accurate budget.
Advanced Usage
- Cumulative Measurement: "Person hour" is typically used in the plural to describe the sum of work. For example, "The task took 10 person hours" could mean one person worked 10 hours, or five people worked 2 hours each.
- Economic and Planning Context: It is a standard metric in resource planning, workload assessment, and efficiency analysis (e.g., "person hours per unit produced").
Variants and Related Words
- Man-hour (noun): A traditional term with the same meaning as "person hour." "Person hour" is often preferred in modern usage for gender neutrality.
- Labor hour (noun): A very similar term, often used interchangeably in accounting and cost estimation.
Synonyms
- Work hour
- Labor unit (in the context of time measurement)
Notes
"Person hour" is a specific technical compound. Do not confuse it with simply describing a human's hour of time (e.g., "I have a free hour"); it specifically refers to an hour allocated to or spent on work.
Noun
- a time unit used in industry for measuring work