labor jobs

Meanings

1. 1nounpluralAmerican

   Jobs that involve physical work, especially in factories, farms, building, or moving goods.

   Grammar: Always plural in this phrase; use a singular form like "a laboring job" or "manual work" for one job.

   Patterns

   • labor jobs in something
   • do labor jobs
   • low-paid labor jobs

   He took a series of labor jobs on building sites before he trained as an electrician.

   Many labor jobs in the area are seasonal, so workers move on in winter.

   She said the agency mainly offers labor jobs in warehouses and food processing.

2. 2nounpluralAmericandisapproving

   Work that is seen as hard, unskilled, and often poorly paid.

   Grammar: Used to talk about this kind of work in general; it does not usually take a number.

   Patterns

   • be stuck in labor jobs
   • create labor jobs

   Critics say the program creates only labor jobs with no chance of promotion.

   Young graduates often avoid labor jobs even when they pay reasonably well.

Common combinations

low-paid labor jobs

The report found that low-paid labor jobs are the fastest-growing category.

skilled labor jobs

Skilled labor jobs in welding and plumbing are hard to fill.

do labor jobs

As a student he did labor jobs during the summer holidays.

labor jobs in agriculture

Labor jobs in agriculture attract many migrant workers.

create labor jobs

The new plant is expected to create hundreds of labor jobs.

Synonyms and how they differ

manual work

Manual work is the general uncountable term; "labor jobs" counts individual positions.

blue-collar jobs

Blue-collar jobs stresses the social class of the work rather than the physical effort.

unskilled jobs

Unskilled jobs focuses on the lack of training required, not on physical effort.

Opposites

Word family

labor noun

Work, especially physical work; also the workers as a group.

laborer noun

A person who does physical work, often outdoors or on a building site.

labor verb

To work hard, or to struggle with a problem or difficulty.

Commonly confused: labor jobs or labour jobs?

Practice

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