unskilled labor
Entry-level manual work
Unskilled labor is work requiring no specialized training or expertise—jobs where workers can be productive with minimal instruction.
The term appears in economic discussions about wages, immigration, and automation: Unskilled labor is most vulnerable to being replaced by machines.
The designation is often contested, since most jobs require some learned competence.
- drudgeryHard, boring work
- minimum wageLowest lawful hourly rate
- construction workerOne who erects structures
- menialLowly and unskilled
- janitorBuilding cleaner and maintainer
untrained · farmhand · roustabout · unemployment rate · dishwasher · social mobility · poverty line · dead-end job · exploitation · job insecurity · toil · sweat equity · workplace hazards · blue collar · temp agency · paycheck · economic inequality · workforce
- resourcesresources, money, natural resources, human resources, financial resources
- workjob, 9 to 5, jobs, employee, profession
- job typesfull-time, part-time, temporary, seasonal, freelance
- migrant workersguest worker, migrant workers, seasonal worker, temporary worker, domestic workers
- staffingstaffing, turnover rates, hiring, staffing firm, staffing agency
- workersworkers, employee, employees, wage earner, breadwinner
unskilled laborskilled labor
Trained professional work
skilled trades · craft work · professional services · tradecraft · master craftsmen
labor, skilled, laborer, labored, laboring, labour, unskilled, laborers, laborious