How to get more workforce in Frostpunk 2

Frostpunk 2 workforce - Rally — (Image credit: 11 Bit Studios)

Struggling with workforce in Frostpunk 2? This is an all new resource for the snowy survival city-builder and represents the percentage of your population that are ready and raring to do some mindless labour. Workforce is necessary for just about every building, but if you over-invest, you'll quickly find yourself with pressing resource needs but no more workers.

Luckily there are ways to increase your workforce and also minimise the requirements for buildings and districts across your city, letting you smartly spend your limited worker budget with more efficiency. So, here's how to get workforce in Frostpunk 2 and reduce workforce requirements.

How to increase workforce in Frostpunk 2

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Frostpunk 2 workforce - Population growth — You'll occasionally gain more population based on living conditions(Image credit: 11 Bit Studios)

Workforce is required to build pretty much anything in Frostpunk 2, whether it's a new district, a building to go in said district, or even to frostbreak more ground to access resources and building areas. It's a resource that's closely linked to population, but they aren't quite the same.

While population represents the number of people that live in your city, workforce is the percentage of the population that is mobilised to work, and as such there are ways to increase it:

Grow your population: Generally favourable living conditions in the city will periodically lead to a census, i.e, an in-game message that basically says "Congrats, you have more people". So, if you want your population to increase, keep resolving the most pressing living concerns for your citizens.
Find more people: The fastest way to get more workforce is to build a logistics district and explore the frostland. You'll quickly find small forgotten communities who are willing to return to the city and so bolster the population.
Deactivate or reduce the workforces of other districts: If you have a dire need for spare workers somewhere in your city, consider deactivating a different district to free up its workers. You can also use the slider to set the amount of workforce in each of your districts, so setting three districts to 60% will free up enough workers to populate another district, though be warned this will reduce the efficiency of said districts.
Pass laws that increase workforce: You can boost the percentage of your population mobilised for work by passing certain laws. Enacting Family Apprenticeship, for example, sends all your kids to work with their parents, boosting how much workforce you can use. Machine-Centric Shifts is another which reduces overall workforce requirements.
Use tactically placed hubs: These special depot buildings reduce the workforce requirement for any district they're adjacent to, meaning if you plan well and place one between multiple districts, you can massively reduce the workforce necessary to run them.
Gain devotion from factions: If a faction supports you enough that they become "devoted," they'll begin rallying in districts. Once a rally has begun you can choose the type of contribution you want: the mobilisation of enforcers, more heatstamps, or more workforce. If you're having workforce issues, choose the workforce option.
Prioritise mechanical production buildings: While this won't increase your workforce, it will reduce the amount you have to use for an active production building. Mechanised buildings in the ideas tree require less workforce in general.

Sean's first PC games were Full Throttle and Total Annihilation and his taste has stayed much the same since. When not scouring games for secrets or bashing his head against puzzles, you'll find him revisiting old Total War campaigns, agonizing over his Destiny 2 fit, or still trying to finish the Horus Heresy. Sean has also written for EDGE, Eurogamer, PCGamesN, Wireframe, EGMNOW, and Inverse.

With contributions from

Christopher LivingstonSenior Editor