labour-intensive

British

adjective

of or denoting a task, organization, industry, etc, in which a high proportion of the costs are due to wages, salaries, etc

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

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.

And Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG, added that "investors are rotating away from labour-intensive, fee-based business models that could face margin pressure from AI automation".

From Barron's • Feb. 13, 2026

Major deals will help labour-intensive sectors hurt by tariffs.

From Barron's • Jan. 11, 2026

Mr Padgham, who chairs the Independent Care Group, which represents independent providers, said that as a labour-intensive sector an increase in employee costs was "the last thing social care needed".

From BBC • Oct. 31, 2024

"In my wildest dreams I did not think that I would get into growing fox nuts, as it was a labour-intensive job, which was mostly carried out by fishermen."

From BBC • Aug. 12, 2024

Snare removal is labour-intensive and costly, since rangers need to cover large areas on foot in rugged and inaccessible terrain.

From Science Daily • Jun. 3, 2024

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023