The Labour Force
Psalm 128:2
• When you eat the labour of your
hands, You shall be happy, and it
shall be well with you.
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CC BY-NC-ND
Labour Force
• The term ‘labour force’ refers to those people between the ages of
16 and 65 years who are capable and are willing to work
Illustration of The Labour Force
Infant LABOUR FORCE Retirees
Children at School
16 years 60 years 65years
Labour force
• As the diagram above shows, • Therefore the labour force will
children under the age of 16 include those in the population
years are not in the labour force between the ages of 16 to 60/65
• The law in most Caribbean who are capable and are willing
countries prohibit individuals to work, are working or seeking
under the age of 16 to entry the work
world of work • Not everyone in this age range
• Individuals who reach the age of are in the labour force
60/65 usually cannot hold public
office
Limitation of Being in The Labour
Force
• Individuals of the age range who
are unable to offer themselves
• What groups of individuals are
unable to offer themselves?
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Limitation of Being in The Labour
Force
• Students
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Limitation of Being in The Labour
Force
• Chronic illness'
• Mental instability
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Limitation of Being in The Labour
Force
• Imprisonment
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Limitation of Being
in The Labour Force
• Lack of skills
• Simply do not want to work
• All the above, though they
qualify by age, they are not
considered as part of the Labour
force
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• So, it can be concluded that
the Labour force consists of all
employed and unemployed
persons between the ages of
16 and 60/65 who are capable
and willing to work.
Dependency Ratio
• The dependency ratio relates to only those people who are in the
labour force and are employed as compared with the rest of the total
population
• For example: Country X has a population of 1,100,000. The number
employed is 100,000
=Number employed: total population minus number employed
=1,100,000-100,000
=1,000,000/100,000
=1:10
Unemployable
• Being under the age and • Lack of the basic skills and
therefore out of the labour force therefore failure to meet the
• Being over the age of 60/65 and minimum requirements
retired and not seeking
employment
• Pursuing full-time education
• Serving prison sentences
• Prevalence of debilitating
diseases
Employed
• A person is considered to be
employed if that person has a
full-time job and obtains a salary
or wage consistent with the
qualifications he/she possesses.
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Unemployment
• This refers to a situation where a
person is in the labour force, is
capable and willing to work, but
has not yet found a job
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Underemployment
There are two situations in which • When individuals accept jobs for
a person may be considered to be which they are over qualified.
underemployed: This usually occurs because
• When a person has a temporary suitable employment consistent
job, whereby he/she works part- with their qualifications are not
time rather than full time available
• E.g. a university graduate who
accepts a job as a cashier
Reasons for Reducing
Unemployment
Governments everywhere are very • A high unemployment figure
concerned with reducing reflects negatively on the
unemployment for the following effectiveness of the government
reasons: • The full utilization of the human
• There is a waste of manpower and physical resources of a
• It creates a variety of social country cannot be utilized
problems • The average standard of living
• There is a drain on the purse of declines
the government especially for
social security purposes
