劳役 was the imperial-era system where commoners owed unpaid labor to the state — building roads, canals, walls. Many dynastic uprisings (most famously the Qin collapse) traced back to crushing 劳役 burdens.
usage
Different from 劳动 (labor in general) or 工作 (work). 劳役 specifically connotes coerced, often punishing labor — historical corvée or modern penal/forced labor.
