out of work

Idioms  

1. Unemployed; also, having no work to do. For example, He lost his job a year ago and has been out of work ever since, or They don't give her enough assignments—she's always out of work. Shakespeare used this expression in Henry V (1:2): “All out of work and cold for action.”

---

Example Sentences

There was a stint during the Covid-19 pandemic when this cohort was out of work at higher rates, and a more prolonged stretch as the U.S. climbed out of the recession in 2008 and 2009.

From The Wall Street Journal • May 18, 2026

Some of them are much easier to make when you have a job than when you are out of work.

From MarketWatch • Apr. 25, 2026

Sheffield-based PM Law Ltd, which had 25 offices in Yorkshire, Cumbria, Berkshire, Derbyshire and London, shut on 2 February, leaving hundreds of people out of work and tens of thousands of cases affected.

From BBC • Apr. 21, 2026

But one thing is certain - the 43-year-old is unlikely to be out of work for long.

From BBC • Apr. 18, 2026

During the Great Depression, which began in late 1929, businesses across the United States closed down, putting millions of people out of work.

From "Spooked!" by Gail Jarrow