Definition: “Lobour consists of all human efforts of body or mind, undertaken in expectation of a reward”. —Thomas

The term labour is used to mean several things and can be a source of great deal of vagueness and imprecise statements. The term labour refers to only human effort (or activity) which can be physical, mental or a mixture of the two. It does not include the work performed by animals or machines or nature. Labour lately is known as human resource. All companies freed labour in order to carry out production. Everyone from the manual workers, to the owner of the company falls under the classification of human resources. Without this factor, there would be no production because nobody would be working.

The three characteristics of labour are: 

1. Labour is heterogeneous. No two persons possess the same quality of labour. Skills and efficiency differs from person to person. So, some workers are more efficient and productive than others in the same job. 

2. Labour cannot be stored. Once the labour is lost, it cannot be made up. Unemployed workers cannot store their labour for future employment. 

3. The amount of labour is the product of (1) duration of time over which it is performed and (2) the intensity with which it is performed.