mãodeobra

Mãodeobra is a form of the Portuguese term for labor that appears without spaces in some contexts, though the standard written form is mão de obra, sometimes with a hyphen as mão-de-obra. The phrase denotes the human labor used in the production of goods and services and is a fundamental factor of production alongside capital and land.

In economics and business, mão de obra refers to the workforce as a whole and to the skills, effort, and time provided by workers. Common usages include mão de obra direta, which covers workers directly involved in production, and mão de obra indireta, which supports production activities. Phrases such as custo da mão de obra (labor cost) and produtividade da mão de obra (labor productivity) are central to budgeting, pricing, efficiency analysis, and human resources planning.

In information systems and data contexts, the concatenated form mãodeobra or maodeobra may be used as an identifier, field name, or variable representing a code or category related to labor. This usage is common in databases, ERP systems, and programming where spaces or diacritics are limited or disallowed.

The term has cognates in other Romance languages, such as mano de obra in Spanish, both referring to the same concept of human labor. While the meaning is consistent across contexts, distinctions between direct and indirect labor, as well as regional orthographic preferences, shape its practical application in accounting, production management, and policy discussion.