manodopera

labour

noun mah-noh-DOH-peh-rah Rare

Origin: Calque of French main-d'œuvre (hand of work).

Also means

workforce

Usage Note

Manodopera (also mano d'opera) literally means 'hand-work' and refers to labour as an economic resource — the workforce or the cost of labour. It is a feminine compound noun: la manodopera qualificata (skilled labour). In accounting and invoices, costo della manodopera is the labour cost line. It does not refer to an individual worker (lavoratore) but to the collective resource of human labour.

Examples

"Il costo della manodopera è aumentato quest'anno."

Natural Translation

The cost of labour has increased this year.

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