labour force

noun

By · According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA) ·

"labour-force" is a 11-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.

The verdict

“labour force” is uncommon English (outside the top frequency list), classed as a noun. The kind of spelling people second-guess.

Unranked
below top-frequency English
12
letters

According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - The collective group of people who are available for employment, whether currently employed or unemployed (though sometimes only those unemployed people who are seeking work are included).

Key facts for labour force
PropertyValue
Headwordlabour force
LanguageEnglish
Part of speechNoun
Letters12
Misspellings tracked0
Confusable pairs0
SourceWiktionary (kaikki.org)

Where “labour force” sits in English frequency

labour force falls outside the top-100,000 ranked English words, the long-tail zone of technical, archaic, or low-frequency vocabulary, exactly where readers second-guess spellings most.

Beyond rank #100,000. Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list.

Rare enough to double-check

labour force is uncommon English outside the top frequency list, classed as anoun. Rarity is why readers land here mid-draft. Gloss: "The collective group of people who are available for employment, whether currently employed or unemployed (though sometimes only those unemployed people who are seeking work are included).".

No generated misspelling entries exist for labour force in our index, suggesting the orthography follows predictable English patterns. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, since no other headword is close enough in sound or shape to pair with it.

This entry's etymology isn't recorded, so its spelling is easiest explained by how it's pronounced rather than where it came from. The correct English form is labour force, spelled L-A-B-O-U-R- -F-O-R-C-E.

Definition

  1. 1
    The collective group of people who are available for employment, whether currently employed or unemployed (though sometimes only those unemployed people who are seeking work are included).

This word in other languages

mano de obra(Español)main-d'œuvre(Français)Arbeitskraft(Deutsch)

Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do you spell "labour force"?
"labour force" is spelled L-A-B-O-U-R- -F-O-R-C-E.
What does "labour force" mean?
As a noun, "labour force" means: The collective group of people who are available for employment, whether currently employed or unemployed (though sometimes only those unemployed people who are seeking work are included).
What language does "labour force" come from?
"labour force" is a English word. PlainSpell's reference spans five languages -- English, Spanish, Portuguese, French, and German -- with definitions, pronunciations, and spelling data for each.
Is PlainSpell free to use?
Yes, PlainSpell is a completely free word reference. You can look up definitions, pronunciations, confusable pairs, homophones, and spelling corrections across 5 languages without any sign-up or subscription.

Using “labour force”

The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.

  • The one correct English spelling is L-A-B-O-U-R- -F-O-R-C-E - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
  • Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source

Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.

Source: Wiktionary (via kaikki.org) Structured Wiktionary extract

Source: FrequencyWords open word-frequency list