workforce

American  

[wurk-fawrs] / ˈwɜrkˌfɔrs /

Or work force

noun

workforces plural

1. the total number of workers in a specific undertaking.

   a holiday for the company's workforce.

2. the total number of people employed or employable.

   a sharp increase in the nation's workforce.

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workforce British  

/ ˈwɜːkˌfɔːs /

noun

1. the total number of workers employed by a company on a specific job, project, etc

2. the total number of people who could be employed

   the country's workforce is growing rapidly

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• workforces
  plural

Etymology

Origin of workforce

First recorded in 1940–45; work ( def. ) + force ( def. )

Explanation

The term workforce is useful when you talk about a group of people who work or are available to work. You might, for example, talk about the information technology workforce or the workforce in Austin, Texas. When you use the noun workforce, you are always talking about a lot of people, and you're usually referring to everyone in a particular industry or area. Economists often discuss the entire country's workforce, and you've probably heard about the auto industry workforce or the nursing workforce on the news. Workforce can be a singular or plural word, since it's used for a group of many individuals. It's been in use since the early 1960's.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

workforce workforces

She said students say the program helped prepare them for the workforce or post-secondary education.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 14, 2026

"The disclosure of such confidential, sensitive information not only unsettles our workforce; it is also damaging to the business," he said.

From Barron's ● Jul. 13, 2026

“These gains are entirely driven by high-intensity adopters with entry-level jobs rising by about 12%, suggesting that heavy AI investment is complementing workforce growth rather than replacing workers,” says Slok.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 13, 2026

Now, that once-unshakeable business model—and the vast workforce it sustained—is under threat like never before.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026

With the Soviet threat as great as it was, our nation could not afford to exclude anyone from the workforce.

From "Reaching for the Moon" by Katherine Johnson

Tech giants, by contrast, are cutting their workforces to support higher spending on AI.

From MarketWatch ● Jul. 8, 2026

Some that pared their human workforces in favor of AI bots have had to rehire fired workers, according to Forrester Research.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 23, 2026

Many companies have reduced their workforces - which is often a tech firm's biggest expense - as they invest in AI.

From BBC ● Jun. 23, 2026

Both are large workforces, roughly comparable in size, though truck drivers are disproportionately men and call center workers disproportionately women—and as you'd guess, truck drivers earn substantially more.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 10, 2026

According to a report from Morgan Stanley, British companies that adopted AI cut their workforces by eight percent in the year to October 2025 -- more than in Germany, Japan or Australia.

From Barron's ● May 27, 2026

Related Words

• labor pool
• personnel