In general terms labor refers to the work done by manual workers i.e. those who work with their hands. In economics labor has a wider meaning and all we have to must understand;it includes all of the efforts made by man to get income. If a student is reading a book or playing cricket , he or she is exerting his or her body or mind or both. But economics do not consider this as a labor because the student is not using his energy to get certain income.
One of the other hand, a person who is playing a game to earn money is labor. Therefore, labor maybe defined as any of a worker any physical or mental effort made by man to earn certain income. For example: economic activities of a workers in a factory and service of professor, doctor, lawyer,farmer,prime-minister etc. all are labor. Labor is the time human beings spends producing goods and services.
Types of Labor:
The types of labor can be explained according to their work in following ways:
(1) Physical and mental Labor
(2) Skilled, semi-skilled and unskilled Labor
(3) Professional and administrative Labor
(4) Productive and unproductive Labor