# unemployment

Pronunciation: US say "un-im-PLOY-muhnt" /ʌn.ɪmˈplɔɪ.mənt/; UK

## Noun

1. The state of being without a job; the condition of being jobless.
   - Simple: The situation of not having a paid job, especially when you want one.
   - _Her sudden unemployment forced the family to cut back on every expense._
   - _He struggled with the boredom and stress that came with unemployment._
2. The extent of joblessness across an economy, frequently given as the share of the labor force without work.
   - Simple: How many people in a country are without jobs, often shown as a percentage.
   - _Unemployment fell sharply as factories reopened and began hiring again._
   - _Economists watch unemployment closely to judge the health of the economy._
3. The occurrence of joblessness as a feature of an economy.
   - Simple: The problem of people in a country not being able to find work.
   - _Economists have long debated the causes of unemployment in modern economies._
   - _Persistent unemployment can erode skills and weaken entire communities._
4. A particular period or instance during which someone is without work.
   - Simple: A time when a person is without a job.
   - _A second unemployment in three years left him deeply discouraged._
   - _Her brief unemployment ended when a former colleague offered her a role._
5. A form of joblessness arising from a particular mechanism in the economy.
   - Simple: A type of joblessness that comes from one particular way the economy works.
   - _Structural unemployment arises when workers' skills no longer match available jobs._
   - _Cyclical unemployment rises during recessions and falls during recoveries._

## Origin

Formed from the prefix un- combined with employment.

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/unemployment (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).