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contract labor

American  

noun

  1. labor coercible by the enforceable provisions of a contract.

  2. foreign labor supplied under contract for a particular job.


Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

Gig work, contract labor, informal employment, and multiple job-holding complicate headline payroll figures.

From Barron's • Dec. 24, 2025

Supporters of the new rule, including labor unions, have said the change is necessary because of an uptick in the use of contract labor, including workers provided by staffing agencies, in recent years.

From Reuters • Oct. 26, 2023

The organizing effort marks a budding shift in power in an industry that has long relied on contract labor and the romantic ideal that working on games is a dream worth sacrificing for.

From Los Angeles Times • Jan. 31, 2023

Indentured servitude is a form of contract labor in which people pledge to work for an agreed period of time for an agreed form of compensation.

From Textbooks • Dec. 14, 2022

Their assignment was to guard one hundred American prisoners of war, who would work as contract labor.

From "Slaughterhouse-Five" by Kurt Vonnegut

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