Definition of "unemployment"

unemployment

/ʌn.ɪmˈplɔɪ.mənt/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural unemployments
1. The state of having no job; joblessness.
  Quotations
  In 1928, an arrangement was made between the Government of Northern Ireland and the N.C.C. for the construction of a loop line as an unemployment scheme.
  1944 May and June, R. H. W. Bruce, “The L.M.S.R. in Northern Ireland—I”, in Railway Magazine, page 147
2. The phenomenon of joblessness in an economy.
3. The level of joblessness in an economy, often measured as a percentage of the workforce.
4. (countable) A type of joblessness due to a particular economic mechanism.
5. (countable) An instance or period of joblessness.