Employment most generally means the state of having a paid job—of being employed.

To employ someone is to pay them to work. An employer provides employment to employees.

Employment can also refer to the act of employing people, as in We’re working to increase our employment of women. 

Or it can refer to a person’s work or how they earn a living, as in What does he do for employment?

In the context of economics, employment is commonly used to mean the total number of people employed, such as in a country, as in Employment is up this quarter, with thousands of new jobs having been created. The opposite of this is unemployment—the total number of people who are unemployed (who do not have a job). Unemployment also commonly means the state of being unemployed.

Employ can also be used as a synonym of the verb use, and employment can be employed as a synonym of the noun use, as in The employment of artificial intelligence creates many ethical concerns. 

Example:In this economy, finding consistent employment is a challenge for many workers.

Employment is a noun form of the verb employ, which is first recorded in the 1400s. Employ ultimately derives from the Latin implicāre, meaning “to engage” (the word engage is sometimes used to mean “to hire” or “to employ”). The words employer and employee came later. In employee, the suffix -ee indicates a person who is the object or beneficiary of employment.

While employees are often seen as the ones getting this benefit—and the benefits that sometimes come with it, such as health insurance—the employee-employer relationship is based on the exchange of work for money. This exchange is often formalized through some kind of contract or employment agreement, and employment is most often used in the context of official situations like this. Sometimes, a person may get paid by a company or person for work, but they may not consider themselves to be in the employment of that person or company—that is, they don’t consider themselves an employee.

Workers’ employment is sometimes discussed in terms of whether it’s full-time or part-time.

When employment refers to the total number of people employed, it’s often used in news reports that discuss whether employment numbers are “up” (meaning the total has increased since the last time it was measured) or “down” (meaning it has decreased).

What are some other forms related to employment?

• employ (verb)
• unemployment (noun)
• nonemployment (noun)
• underemployment (noun)
• overemployment (noun)
• reemployment (noun)
• proemployment (adjective)

What are some synonyms for employment?

• use
• employ (when used as a noun)

What are some words that share a root or word element with employment? 

• employer
• employee
• employable
• unemployed
• underemployed
• self-employed

What are some words that often get used in discussing employment?

• job
• full-time
• part-time
• report
• numbers
• up
• down
• work
• worker
• hire
• business
• company
• wages
• labor

Employment is most commonly used in the context of jobs. When it’s used to as another word for the noun use, it’s somewhat formal.

Employment surged by 2.5 million in May — the biggest one-month jobs gain on record. https://t.co/p9WpO6SNly pic.twitter.com/x3svAbtup5

— CNBC (@CNBC) June 5, 2020

There was a dramatic decline in the employment of African-American teachers in the aftermath of desegregation https://t.co/kMWgWiJcRU

— The Economist (@TheEconomist) July 8, 2019

Initiatives like these will go a long way in creating new avenues for employment, which is most needed nowadays.

— Education Minister (@Minister_Edu) October 25, 2017

Is employment used correctly in the following sentence?

Employment has been down for the last three quarters, but it’s expected to bounce back.