Meaning & use
employment
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Meanings
noununcountable
the state of having paid work, or the work itself
Grammar: No plural and no 'a/an' when talking about work in general: She found employment. For one position, use 'a job'.
Patterns
- employment in something
- find employment
- full-time employment
- seek employment
After months of searching, he finally found employment at a local bank.
The new factory will provide employment for hundreds of people.
She is looking for full-time employment in the marketing sector.
noununcountablebusinessfinance
the number of people in a country or area who have paid work
Grammar: Used in economics and news reports: Employment rose last month. It is not used with 'a' in this sense.
Patterns
- employment figures
- employment rate
- rise in employment
Employment rose by two percent in the last quarter.
The government is worried about falling employment in rural areas.
Employment figures for young people remain low.
noununcountableformal
the act of using something, especially a skill or method
Grammar: Formal; often followed by 'of': the employment of new technology.
Patterns
- the employment of something
- employment of force
The report criticizes the employment of child labor in the supply chain.
The employment of modern farming methods increased the harvest.
Common combinations
- employment opportunities
- There are few employment opportunities in the small town.
- employment contract
- Read your employment contract carefully before you sign.
- employment agency
- She registered with an employment agency to find temporary work.
- full-time employment
- He moved from part-time to full-time employment last month.
- terms of employment
- The terms of employment include paid holidays.
Synonyms and how they differ
- work
- Work is the general everyday word; employment is more formal and often refers to the official state of having a job.
- job
- A job is one specific position; employment is the broader situation of having paid work or the total number of jobs.
- occupation
- Occupation is the type of work you do (teacher, nurse); employment is the fact of being employed.
Opposites
Word family
- employ verb
- to give someone a paid job
- employer noun
- a person or company that pays others to work
- employee noun
- a person who is paid to work for someone
- employable adjective
- having skills that make an employer likely to hire you
- unemployment noun
- the state of not having a job
Commonly confused: employment or unemployment? employment or employee?
employment vs unemployment
Unemployment means not having a job; employment means having one. They are opposites, so check the prefix.
employment vs employee
An employee is a person who works for someone; employment is the situation or the work itself.
Practice
Choose the correct sentence.
Choose one answer.
Employment is uncountable in this sense, so 'offers employment' is correct. Option A wrongly uses 'an'. Option C also uses 'an' and is unnatural. Option D uses a plural 'employments', which is not standard for this meaning.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “employment”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.