What does underemployed mean?
Underemployed describes a situation in which a person has a job but is working below the level their abilities and qualifications would ordinarily justify. It is therefore more specific than simply being unemployed and often closer to being overqualified or having too few hours and too little responsibility. The term is especially common in economics, labor-market reporting, education, and policy discussions, where it may refer both to individuals and to a broader workforce with unused skills. An underemployed graduate, for example, may hold a job unrelated to a degree while remaining dissatisfied with the limited scope of the work. The word carries a practical and policy-related tone: it emphasizes both wasted individual potential and the economy's inefficient use of human capital. That makes it useful when discussing not only whether work is available, but also whether it is suitably and productively matched to the people doing it.
adjectiveEmployed in work that does not make full use of one's abilities, qualifications, or available working time. It can also characterize a workforce in which many workers are employed below their full capacity.
- Of a person: working in a job or at a level that does not fully use one's skills, qualifications, or available work time.
- Of a workforce or labor market: characterized by workers being employed below their full capacity or in jobs that do not make full use of their abilities.
"Despite having several years of experience, she remained underemployed in a role that used only a fraction of her professional skills."
"The program helps underemployed graduates find positions that make better use of their degrees."
"The region's persistently underemployed workforce represents a substantial loss of human capital."
Underemployment asks a harder question than unemployment: not only whether people have work, but whether they have the right work.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of underemployed
Underemployed was formed in English by adding the prefix under-, meaning below or less than, to employed. Employed comes through Middle English from Anglo-French employer, ultimately from Latin applicare, meaning to apply or attach. The compound developed in English in economic and labor-market usage to describe workers whose employment did not make full use of their abilities.
Related word forms
How underemployed is actually used
The term is formal to neutral and is especially common in economics, employment policy, education, and workforce reporting. It is commonly used of people, although related uses for labor markets and workforces are also established.
Easily confused with underemployed
An unemployed person has no job, whereas an underemployed person has work but is not fully using their skills, qualifications, or available working time.