Meanings
nounlaborshed (plural laborsheds)
plural laborsheds
- A regional workforce, those available for and willing to work.
Greater Dubuque Development Corp.'s 2006 analysis, conducted by Iowa Workforce Development, surveyed some 600 qualifying working-age residents in the multi-county laborshed area.
2006 August 9, “Study: Worker pool overflowing”, in Telegraph Herald, Dubuque Iowa, page 1
Origin
By analogy from watershed, likening the regional workforce to the catchment of a river system.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
APA
laborshed. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/laborshed
MLA
“laborshed.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/laborshed. Accessed November 3, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “laborshed,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/laborshed.
Source: laborshed on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.