What does unemployment mean?
Unemployment means the condition of not having a paid job, particularly when a person is available for and seeking work. In a broader sense, it refers to a situation in which a community, population, or economy does not provide enough jobs for those who want them. The word is usually treated as an uncountable noun: one speaks of “high unemployment,” “a rise in unemployment,” or “unemployment benefits,” rather than counting individual instances. Its consequences include lost income, reduced consumer spending, financial pressure on families, and strain on public services. The term is especially common in economics, employment policy, labor markets, and news reporting, but it is also used in everyday conversation. Understanding the distinction between unemployment and underemployment is important: unemployment generally means no job is held, while underemployment means work is available but is insufficient, poorly paid, or does not use a worker’s skills fully.
nounThe state of being without a paid job, especially when a person is able and seeking work. It can also refer collectively to the condition of a population or economy in which people lack sufficient employment opportunities.
- The state of being without paid employment, especially while seeking work.
- The collective condition or phenomenon of a population having insufficient access to jobs.
"The region has seen a sharp rise in unemployment as several major industries have contracted."
"Rising unemployment has put pressure on local businesses and public services."
"The report examines how long-term unemployment affects household finances and mental health."
Rare and not normally used; the standard collective noun is “unemployment.”
"The study compares the causes of several urban unemployments."
A job can disappear overnight, but the disruption it causes reaches far beyond a lost paycheck.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does unemployment come from?
Unemployment was formed in English by adding the prefix un-, meaning “not” or the absence of something, to employment. Employment comes from the older verb employ, which developed through Middle English and Old French from the Latin implicare, meaning “to involve” or “to implicate.” In its older senses, employing a person meant engaging or occupying that person; the modern employment sense developed from the use of employ in the context of giving work and a wage. The related words employee, employer, and deployment belong to the same broad etymological family.
Related word forms
How unemployment is actually used
Unemployment is normally an uncountable mass noun. It describes the condition or phenomenon, while “an unemployed person” or “the unemployed” refers to people who do not have jobs. The term is used in formal economic, governmental, and news contexts as well as in ordinary conversation.
Easily confused with unemployment
Unemployment means having no job, whereas underemployment means having a job that does not make full use of a worker's skills or available working hours.