human capital
Human capital (noun) means the knowledge, skills, health and experience of the people in a workforce or a population, treated as an economic asset that produces value. Example: “Countries that invest in schooling build human capital that pays off for decades.”
How to Use Human capital
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishThe value of what people know and can do.
Formal; belongs to economics, policy and corporate writing rather than everyday speech.
Social capital is about relationships and trust between people; human capital is about the abilities inside each person.
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Countries that invest in schooling build _____ that pays off for decades.
Synonyms
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Rhymes for human capital
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between human capital and human resources?
Human resources normally means the department and the practical business of hiring, paying and managing staff. Human capital is an economic idea: the value that people's skills and knowledge themselves represent.
How do you increase human capital?
Chiefly through education, training, work experience and better health care, since all of these raise what a person can produce. Migration policy also shifts a country's human capital by attracting or losing skilled workers.
Is calling people capital insulting?
Some people find it dehumanising, because it borrows the language of machinery and money. Economists use it to argue the opposite case, that spending on people is an investment rather than a cost.