Skip to main content
unemployed

unemployed

4 1.4
People without work who are looking for jobs
  • noun
  • /ˌʌnɪmˈplɔɪd/
translation icon : desempleado
  • The government has introduced new initiatives aimed at helping the unemployed find work.

Why, for example, are pensioners much happier than the young unemployed?

Autoplay Next

Examples

  • Half a million more people unemployed because Labour governments always leave office with more people out of work than when they went in.

  • Despite high demand for highly skilled workers, migrants with degrees are also unemployed at nearly double the rate of native workers.

  • Now the country needs them, the unemployed need them.

  • The unemployed did not have money to buy goods, so production was cut back more.

    Academic text (1992)
  • Additionally, housing debt amongst the unemployed especially has reached an all time high in December.

  • A record 44% of the nation's unemployed have been out of work at least six months.

    Blog text (3)
  • That means when the unemployment rate is high, it is harder for unemployed workers to find a job.

  • About a quarter of the unemployed had been jobless for more than a year.

    Blog text (25)
  • And the unemployed are unable to get a job in this dire economy?

    Blog text (31)
  • The unemployed are not reliant upon government for wages and are extremely economically vulnerable in an unstable economy.

    Academic text (1992)

Synonyms

unemployed people
vsunemployed
5 1.7

People without a job who are looking for work

are available for work but not necessarily looking
unwaged
vsunemployed
  • UK
7.1

People who do not have paid work

are defined by availability for work rather than pay status

Antonyms

People who do jobs using their hands in places like factories

Compounds

People without a job who are looking for work

A person without a paid job who is looking for work

How Employed

full employment
  • Specialized
10 4.1
employment
403 2.1
unemployed
4 1.4

Surface Forms

unemployed singular
unemployed plural

Morphology

unemployed = unemployed (transparent) = un + employ + ed

The noun use is a straightforward conversion of the adjective 'unemployed', which itself transparently means 'not employed'.

Etymology

Unemployed can also be a noun for the group of people who are 'not employed' and looking for work. It comes from un- 'not' + employ 'to give work', so 'the unemployed' are those without a job.