noun · neutral
unemployment
/ˌʌnɪmˈplɔɪmənt/un·em·PLOY·ment
Band 4-5speakingtask2
the state of being without a paid job; the number of people without jobs in a population
Examples
“Youth unemployment in the region rose last year.”
“High unemployment can cause social problems.”
“The government introduced a programme to reduce unemployment.”
Band 8 sentence
“Tackling long-term unemployment requires co‑ordinated economic and social policies.”
Collocations
- unemployment rate
- reduce unemployment
- high unemployment
Word family
employ verbemployed adjectiveunemployed adjective / noun
Common mistakes
Many people are unemployment in the town.→Many people are unemployed in the town.
The unemployment is high this year.→Unemployment is high this year.
Say it for a higher band
5no job→6jobless→7+unemployment
Synonyms
joblessness
Easily confused
unemployed
“After the factory closed, he was unemployed for six months.”
Related words
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In Work & Career
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