What is Statute Labor? What is Statutory Labor?

Statute labor (or statutory labor) historically refers to a system of forced or mandatory unpaid labor imposed by law, often requiring citizens to work on public projects like roads as a form of taxation.

In a modern context, this term is rarely used, though it broadly relates to labor regulated by government statutes.

Key aspects often associated with statutory or mandatory work include:

Historical Context: Historically, it was a requirement for residents to perform a certain number of days of labor on public infrastructure, such as road maintenance, in lieu of paying taxes.

Public Service: It was often organized at the local or municipal level.

Modern Equivalence: It has largely been replaced by taxation systems where money, rather than physical labor, is used to fund public works.

Note: In some contexts, the term "statutory employee" is used to describe a worker who is treated as an employee by law for tax purposes even if they are an independent contractor.


- Statute labor.

- Statutory labor.