The Concepts Of Labour And The Labour Market

Hello enterpreneurs,
It is a great honor to be here again, before this great community that helps bring out business ideas from it's members.

A community with active and hard-working moderators, a community filled with zealous enterpreneurs.

Today, we shall be discussing about the labour market, we will be learning on the factors that affects the labour market, stay tuned as we begin.

---

---

WHAT IS LABOUR

Source

To a layman, labour can be referred to an activity or preferably an hardwork, or rather put an activity that requires hard work.

For example you hear that a pregnant woman is in Labour, meaning she's going through some processes that requires lots of physical strength.

Or you hear that a man is being sentenced to 5years imprisonment with hard labour, meaning throughout his stay in prison, he will be subjected to hard work.

Those definition of labour are not wrong in themselves but when you come to the business world, labour can be seen from a different perspective.

From the point of view of an enterpreneur, labour can be explained to be a factor of production or a human resource which can be sold/bought in the labour market, or which can be exchanged with another factor of production known as wages/salary.

This implies that as long as you have a service to offer or a useful resource that can be exchanged for wages, you are in a sense carrying out labour in the labour market.

---

---

WHAT IS A LABOUR MARKET

Source

Labour market can be explained to be a region or a place where labour activities takes place, that is, a place where buying and selling takes place.

The demand and supply of labour in an economy can be determined from the labour market .

---

---

DEMAND FOR LABOUR

Source

Demand for Labour can be explained to be the total number of labour in which buyers/employers are willing and capable of purchasing at a given cost over a specific period of time.

The cost at which the demand of labor is being purchased is otherwise known as the wage rate.

SUPPLY OF LABOUR

Source

Supply of labour can be explained to be the total number of individuals who are capable and willing to get employed in a given area over a specific period of time.

As an enterpreneur, either working under a boss or being self employed, you can be referred to be a supply of labour.

In my country, once you are 18years with no deformity, you can be explained to be a supply of labour.
As long as you have a particular service that you are rendering to the Economy, you can be regarded to be a supply of labour.

FACTORS AFFECTING DEMAND OF LABOUR

There are numerous factors affecting demand of labor and some of them will be explained below:

• DEMAND FOR GOODS AND SERVICES:

The demand for goods and services is one major factor affecting the demand of Labour in the labour market.
It can either have a positive effect on the market or a negative effect.

When the demand for goods and services is very high, the employers will be forced to demand for more labour inorder to equal the pressing demand of goods In the market.

And when the demand for goods and services is low, the employers will see no need to demand for more labour, they might even consider letting some workers go.

The demand of goods and services really have an impact on the demand of labour.

• TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENT:

Source

Another factor that affects the demand of labor is the technological advancement of the area in which the industry is established.
And also the rate at which the company adapts to those technological advancement.

When an industry is technological advanced, it prefers making use of machines and robot for it's operation, rather than demanding for labor from the labour market and this affects the demand of labor.

On the other hand, if an industry is not technologically advanced, it will need the help of human operation, hereby increasing the demand of labor from the labour market.

• PRESENCE OF OTHER FACTORS OF PRODUCTION:

The presence of other factors of production also has a considerable effect on the demand of labour in the labour market.

We know that we have 4 factors of production which is enterpreneur, capital, land and labour, these factors of production has effect on the demand for labour.

For example, with a multitasking and diligent enterpreneur, there will be lots of work to be done to increase the quality and quantity of production, and as such more labour will be demanded.

With more lands to work on, there will also be an increase in the demand of labour, because animals can't work on those lands, labour force will be needed.

With enough capital, there will be the ability to demand for more labour force and when there's a lack of capital, there will be very little labour force in an industry.

• PRICE OF LABOUR IN THE MARKET

The price of labour is another factor that affects the demand of labour in the labour market.

Many times there are people to employ but the price they request is too high.
And when there's a high price for Labour, there will be low demand for labour.

Let's take an educational sector for example,
A school needs a basic technology and a physics teacher, making two teachers.

But if the cost of getting a good teacher is high, the school might decide to get just a teacher to handle both subject.

In such settle, the price of labour has reduced it's demand.

• NUMBER OF INDUSTRIES:

Another factor that affects the demand of Labour is the quantity of industries available.

When there are lots of industrial establishment in an economy, there will be a large demand for labour and when there are very little available industries, there will be low demand for labour

FACTORS AFFECTING THE SUPPLY OF LABOUR

In as much as there are factors affecting the demand of labour, there are also some factors affecting the supply of labour, and some of them are:

• RECRUITMENT AGE:

The recruitment age is another factor that affects the supply of labour in the labour market.

Remember that supply of labour is the amount of people that are willing and able to work, and as such there are numerous individuals that are willing and capable to work but are being hindered because of their age.

The standard age for to join the labour market is 18years and there are lots of strong individuals below 18 that are capable and strong enough to Join the labour market.

With this restriction in age, it leads to a decrease in the supply of labour.

• RETIREMENT AGE

The retirement age is the age in which an individual is no longer part of the labour market, it is the age in which an individual should participate in the process of production of goods.

The retirement age is the age in which individuals have become so weak to work and at such it affects the supply of labour.

The standard retirement age for a labourer is 65 but in some locality it has been reduced to 60years and this is resulting to a decline in the supply of labour.

If the retirement age should be increased to 70, it will result to more supply of labour.

• ACCEPTANCE OF THE FEMININE GENDER IN THE LABOUR FORCE:

In some society, the feminine gender are not allowed to be part of the labour force, as it is believed that they are weak to join the labour force, and this has greatly reduced the supply of labour in some society.

When the feminine gender are accepted to join the labour force, it will help to increase the Supply of labour as there will be more individuals to work.

• POPULATION:

Population is another factor that greatly affects the supply of labour in the labour market.

When a society is underpopulated, there will be more than enough companies, with vacant position but no labourer to fill them.
And this will lead to a decline in the supply of labour.

On the other hand, when a nation is overpopulated, there will be more than enough labourers that are willing and able to work.
And as such, there will be an increase in the supply of labour in the labour market.

So it is right for us to say that populated countries like China, Nigeria etc has a larger supply of labour when compared to other countries.

• MIGRATION:

Source

Migration which can be explained as the rate at which individuals leave and enter a country, has a great effect in the supply of labour.

Imagine if there's a large amount of individuals leaving a country every year, this will definitely reduce the supply of labour in that county.
And on the other hand, the receiving country will have a higher supply of labour.

When more and more individuals leave a country, it reduces the labour force available in that country and as such reduces the supply of labour.

CONCLUSION

The concept of labour and labour market is one Important topic that an enterpreneur needs to understand, as it will help influence some financial decisions he will take in life.

Post name	Businessactivity:The Concepts Of Labour And The Labour Market by @jueco
Owner's name	Charles
Location	Lafenwa, ogunstate
About us	link