# The Workman

## Definition

The individual labourer who performs productive work, whether in manufacturing
or agriculture. In the context of the division of labour, the workman is the
operative unit whose dexterity, time, and inventiveness are the channels through
which specialisation increases output. Smith portrays the workman both as a
beneficiary of the division of labour (higher output) and as its agent
(inventing machinery through focused attention).

## Source Chapter

Book I, Chapter 1: "Of the Division of Labour"

## Context

The workman appears throughout the chapter as the primary actor: the pin-maker,
the nailer, the country weaver, the boy at the fire engine. Smith attributes
both the productive gains and many mechanical inventions to ordinary workmen.

## Economic Domain

Production