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Capital, natural resources, entrepreneurship and labor are the four essential components in the production of goods and services in an economy. The quantity and quality of that individuals supply is an important factor in determining the economy’s level of production and rate of growth.
People with jobs, people looking for jobs and businesses seeking employees make up what is known as the labor market. This interaction between people supplying labor services and businesses demanding workers’ services is what determines the wages and salaries paid to employees and the total number of people employed.
Labor represents the human factor in producing the goods and services of an economy. Just as there are markets for cars, bread and steel, there is a market for the services people provide. What helps distinguish it from, say, the steel market is that labor is made up of people who, in effect, rent their time to businesses for certain periods—for instance, an hour or a year.
People provide their labor to businesses in exchange for wages, and they trade their unpaid leisure time for paid work time to make a living and to be able to purchase goods and services. Businesses, in turn, use it to produce goods and services demanded by consumers.
Aimee Picchi of CBS News reports that, according to data from payroll provider Gusto, there are growing disparities between urban cores and suburban areas. While this trend away from cities is positive for small businesses as well as the vibrancy of suburban economies, it could pose a threat to the...
Timothy Noah at the New Republic explains how wages are rising faster than they have in nearly 40 years, reports Business Insider, excluding a freakish momentary spike last year when Covid-19 lockdowns began. The number of job openings (9.3 million) and the number of people quitting their jobs (4 million,...
The Commerce Department reported that the pandemic economy grew at an annualized pace of 33.1% in the third quarter. That headline figure overstates the actual growth rate, however, just as the official number for the April to June quarter showing an annualized contraction of 31.4% exaggerated the economy’s decline (Both figures describe...
Forbes explored October 16th data from the Ipsos U.S. Consumer Confidence Weekly Tracker (data as of October 22nd was consistent with it) which found a nearly 10-point gap in the reported consumer confidence of white respondents (54.9) and non-white respondents (45.2), a gap that has been growing considerably since late...
Jessica Menton at USA Today details how the extra $600 in aid from the federal government began chipping away at a longstanding racial gap in jobless aid received by Black Americans and white Americans. However, with Congress at a months long impasse over a new relief package that would renew the $600,...
American Government and Civics Series / Kwaisi France / Labor / Landmark Supreme Court Cases / The Breeze
U.S. v. Darby Lumber (1941) is the 79th landmark Supreme Court cases, the 33rd in the Economics module, featured in the KTB Prep American Government and Civics Series designed to acquaint users with the origins, concepts, organizations, and policies of the United States government and political system. The goal is...
NLRB v. Jones & Laughlin (1937) is the 70th landmark Supreme Court case, the 32nd in the Economics module, featured in the KTB Prep American Government and Civics series designed to acquaint users with the origins, concepts, organizations, and policies of the United States government and political system. The goal...
American Government and Civics Series / Kwaisi France / Labor / Landmark Supreme Court Cases / The Breeze
Bailey v. Drexel Furniture Company (1922) is the 46th landmark Supreme Court case, the twentieth in the Economics module, featured in the KTB Prep American Government and Civics Series designed to acquaint users with the origins, concepts, organizations, and policies of the United States government and political system. The goal...
Swift & Company v. U.S. (1905) is the 37th landmark Supreme Court case, the sixteenth in the Economics module, featured in the KTB Prep American Government and Civics Series designed to acquaint users with the origins, concepts, organizations, and policies of the United States government and political system. The goal...
Adkins v. Children’s Hospital of DC (1923) is the 47th landmark Supreme Court case, the 21st in the Economics module, featured in the KTB Prep American Government and Civics series designed to acquaint users with the origins, concepts, organizations, and policies of the United States government and political system. The...