the force of workers available
"The company's new automation plan aims to reduce its total workforce by fifteen percent next year."
All the workers employed by a specific organization or state, or on a specific project.
"The company's leadership announced that the entire workforce would receive a pay raise after hitting their quarterly targets."
In plain English: The workforce is all the people who are employed and doing jobs for money.
"The company plans to hire more people to expand its workforce next year."
Usage: Use workforce to refer collectively to all employees within an organization rather than individual staff members. It functions as a singular noun when discussing group statistics but can take plural verbs if emphasizing the people themselves.
The word workforce is a straightforward combination of the words work and force. It was first used to describe the collective group of people employed at a particular job or industry.