Direct labor cost is a part of wage-bill or payroll that can be specifically and consistently assigned to or associated with the manufacture of a product, a particular work order, or provision of a service. Also, we can say it is the cost of the work done by those workers who actually make the product on the production line.

• Planning the work to be performed.
• Describing the job content of the work, by indicating the skill, knowledge, etc.
• Matching the jobs with the employees.

The direct labor cost is part of the manufacturing cost.

In the direct labor cost we need to have the job time and wage we will pay it to the worker to calculate the direct labor cost as in this formulation:^[1]-

${\displaystyle {\text{Direct labor cost}}={\text{job time}}\times {\text{wage}}}$

Depending on the context, there are various methods to calculate personnel costs, such as on an hourly or daily basis.^[2]

The wage is the payment rendered to the worker per hour as a compensation for the work done.

The job time needs to be measured by one of the following ways:^[3]

1. time study
2. work sampling
3. Predetermined motion time system

• Freight rate
• Job costing
• Labor burden
• Wage
• Workforce productivity