All the people who are available or employed to work in a company, industry, or country. It’s a group term for workers as a whole.
A compound of 'work' and 'force', becoming common in the 20th century. It treats workers collectively as a kind of productive power.
The word turns many individual lives into one big 'force,' which is useful for planning but easy to depersonalize. It’s a reminder that behind every statistic are real people with separate stories.
'Workforce' historically referred mainly to paid, often male-dominated sectors, with women’s labor undercounted or excluded, particularly part-time, informal, and domestic work. Discussions of 'the workforce' often ignored gender segregation, pay gaps, and barriers that shaped who was counted and valued.
Use 'workforce' to include all genders and types of workers, and be explicit about segments (e.g., 'care workforce,' 'informal workforce') rather than assuming a male or full-time norm. When discussing participation, avoid framing women’s or marginalized groups’ presence as anomalous.
["labor force","staff","personnel","team (smaller scale)"]
When analyzing workforce trends, highlight how women and marginalized genders have entered, shaped, and sustained industries, and note structural barriers like discrimination and unpaid care responsibilities.
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