Many activities generate utility that cannot be explained in purely physical terms. Certain kinds of labor may generate not only a physical product but also some degree of psychological satisfaction, which may be called psychic utility. Leisure activities, for instance, are pursued primarily for their own enjoyment and may be regarded more as play than as work. In other types of labor, the effort may often be experienced as unpleasant. If the task is especially grueling, then the disutility of labor may reflect that discomfort as well as the expenditure of valuable time. On the other hand, labor may sometimes offer enjoyment and other psychic benefits, even when its primary purpose is to produce a good for future consumption. These psychic benefits will tend to decrease the disutility of such labor.

The disutility of labor applies not only to Crusoe analysis, but also to developed marketplaces. Although "providing jobs" is often represented as a laudable economic goal, the principal benefit that is usually sought is not a job per se, but rather what can be earned (or learned) from the job—and more particularly, the goods that can be purchased by those earnings. Activities that are pursued with little regard for such remuneration are best described, not as "jobs," but as "hobbies" or "avocations" ().