underemployed

[ uhn-der-em-ploid ]

adjective

1. employed at a job that does not fully use one's skills or abilities.
2. employed only part-time when one is available for full-time work.
3. not utilized fully.

noun

1. underemployed workers collectively.

underemployed

/ ˌʌndərɪmˈplɔɪd /

adjective

1. not fully or adequately employed

Derived Forms

• ˌunderemˈployment, noun

Other Words From

• under·em·ployment noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of underemployed¹

First recorded in 1905–10; under- + employ + -ed ²

Example Sentences

I think about my career and need to find work that gets me out of being constantly underemployed.

From Salon

Erica Tay, an economist at Maybank Investment Banking Group, said that since China considers employment as working at least one hour per week, there’s no way to account for underemployed youth.

From Los Angeles Times

The report noted that a key reason why some countries face labor shortages despite having ample numbers of unemployed or underemployed workers is a mismatch between jobs and skills and education.

From Seattle Times

Walk into the sunlit, 600-seat cafeteria and you’re guaranteed to spot those Angeleno archetypes — digital nomads, content creators and the underemployed — using it as a low-key place to get stuff done.

From Los Angeles Times

Some of them are underemployed or stuck in dead-end jobs that neither use their strengths and interests nor pay a living wage.

From Scientific American

Related Words

• idle
• inactive
• jobless

More About Underemployed

What does underemployed mean?

Underemployed means employed only part-time when one wants to be working full-time.

Someone who’s underemployed has a job and wants to be working more but can’t, often due to a lack of available jobs.

The term is often used in the same context as unemployed, which means not employed at all. Both underemployed and unemployed are sometimes used to refer to such people collectively, as in These programs are intended to help the unemployed and underemployed. 

Less commonly, underemployed refers not to working less than desired but to not being used to one’s full potential or abilities. People who are overqualified for a job sometimes end up underemployed in this way.

The state of being underemployed is underemployment.

The verb employ also means to use, and underemployed can be used to describe something that’s not used as much as it should be, as in an underemployed strategy. Synonyms for this sense of the word are underused and underutilized.

Example: The unemployment rate can be misleading if it doesn’t take into account the many people who are underemployed.

Where does underemployed come from?

The first records of the word underemployed come from the early 1900s. Its base word, employ, ultimately derives from the Latin implicāre, meaning “to engage” (the word engage is sometimes used to mean “to hire” or “to employ”).

When workers can’t find full-time employment, they often try to string together several part-time, freelance, or temporary gigs to try to make ends meet. But in many cases, these jobs still don’t add up to full-time work, and workers are still underemployed.

The opposite of being underemployed is being overemployed, which is an informal term to describe someone who’s overworked in their full-time job or who has more work than they can handle.

Did you know ... ?

What are some other forms related to underemployed?

• underemployment (noun)
• employed (adjective)

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

• unemployed
• unemployment
• employ
• employer
• employee

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

• job
• gig economy
• freelance
• part-time
• work
• worker

How is underemployed used in real life?

Being underemployed is considered negative, but the term itself is typically used in a neutral way.

Hong Kong April jobs report was terrible… 😥

# of unemployed +40k people
# of underemployed +36k people

% Change from March to April:
Labor Force -0.6%
Employed -1.7%
Unemployed +24.8%
Underemployed +43.8%https://t.co/w683aY3f9S pic.twitter.com/OKyHEMJmye

— David Ingles (@DavidInglesTV) May 19, 2020

Women who have worked hard to build careers, go to school, raise kids. Women who have made sacrifices to have kids. Women struggling with infertility, mental health, caring for a loved one. Women who are underemployed or overworked. The list is long.

I see you.

— Neha Chugh (@nehachughlaw) May 8, 2020

The “real” unemployment rate, which includes workers not looking for jobs and the underemployed, surged to 22.8%.

— Gregory Mannarino (@GregMannarino) May 8, 2020

 

 

Try using underemployed!

Is underemployed used correctly in the following sentence?

I’ve been feeling underemployed, so I’m going to ask my boss for some more challenging projects.