Manual labour

From Free net encyclopedia

Manual labour is a term used for physical work done with the hands, especially in an unskilled manual job such as fruit and vegetable picking, road building, or any other field where the work may be considered hard or arduous, which has as its objective the production of goods.

In ancient times, the status of manual labourers was low, as most physical tasks were done by slaves. This continued into the Feudal period, where, however, skilled labourers were seen as artisans, and could aspire to become influential citizens.

Beginning with the Industrial Revolution, though, the introduction of reliable machinery again lowered the status of labourers. The reduction in status led to the worldwide labour movements of the 19th and early 20th centuries, leading to the formation of trade unions.

See also

• Mental labour
• Roughneck

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