Munkaóra

Munkaóra is a unit of labor input used in economics, production planning and project management. It represents one hour of work performed by a single employed person. It is commonly equated with the English term “man-hour” and is used to quantify the amount of labor required for a task regardless of wage rates or precise working conditions.

Important distinctions exist between munkaóra and munkaidő. Munkaóra measures input, while munkaidő refers to calendar or contractual working time. In practice, the total labor requirement for a project is the sum of munkaórák across tasks; for example, three workers over two hours equals six munkaóra.

Applications of munkaóra include budgeting, scheduling, capacity planning, and productivity measurement. A “standard munkaóra” is the planned amount of labor to complete a task under defined conditions. Productivity is often expressed as output per munkaóra.

Limitations should be noted. Munkaóra does not account for wage differences, skill mix, downtime, or downtime caused by interruptions and quality losses. Therefore, it is most meaningful when used together with measures of output, quality and efficiency to assess real performance.

In Hungary and in many European contexts, munkaóra is used similarly to the international concept of man-hour to estimate labor needs and to compare productivity across projects and sectors.