Work is produced by adult citizens at the beginning of the turn and used to claim, work, and build land.

The longer the workday, the more work is produced. The formula is:

A city with 20 thousand adults, and an 8 hour workday, will produce 16 work a turn.

In addition to this, happiness and durable goods will both increase the work output, up to a 50% bonus for happiness and a 100% bonus for durable goods.

A city with 20 thousand adults, an 8 hour workday, 100% happiness, and 100% durable goods will produce 48 work a turn (16×150%×200%). Click on the "Work day" subpanel of the city info panel to view any work bonuses.

The price of work has an effect on citizen's abilities to buy food, durable goods, and luxuries. (The use of housing and public space are not affected by the price of work.)

There are a great number of strategies surrounding workdays and work output. The most direct strategies involve lowering or raising the workday in a city, but even these can have peculiar counter-reactions (for example, lower workdays can sometimes lead to higher output due to increased happiness and attracting immigrants). Indirect strategies include raising or lowering family size, since children consume resources but do not provide work, whereas immigrants are usually adults. Because of these effects, a city that maintains its population by drawing immigrants from poorer rural areas will be able to afford a higher work output or lower workday.