Workforce

In macroeconomics, the labor force is the sum of those either working (i.e., the employed) or looking for work (i.e., the unemployed):

${\displaystyle {\text{Labour force}}={\text{Employed}}+{\text{Unemployed}}}$

Those neither working in the marketplace nor looking for work are out of the labor force.^[1]

The sum of the labor force and out of the labor force results in the noninstitutional civilian population, that is, the number of people who (1) work (i.e., the employed), (2) can work but don't, although they are looking for a job (i.e., the unemployed), or (3) can work but don't, and are not looking for a job (i.e., out of the labor force). Stated otherwise, the noninstitutional civilian population is the total population minus people that could not work (children, elders, soldiers, incarcerated). The noninstitutional civilian population is the number of people potentially available for civilian employment.

${\displaystyle {\begin{aligned}{\text{Noninstitutional civilian population}}&={\text{Labor force}}+{\text{Out of the labor force}}\\&={\text{Employed}}+{\text{Unemployed}}+{\text{Out of the labor force}}\\&={\text{Total Population}}-{\text{People who can not work}}\end{aligned}}}$.

The labor force participation rate is defined as the ratio of the labor force to the noninstitutional civilian population.

${\displaystyle {\text{Labor force participation rate}}={\dfrac {\text{Labor force}}{\text{Noninstitutional civilian population}}}}$.

Instead, within a company, its value can be labelled as its "Workforce in Place".