unemployable

[uhn-em-ploi-uh-buhl]

adjective

1. unsuitable for employment; unable to find or keep a job.

noun

1. an unemployable individual.

unemployable

/ ˌʌnɪmˈplɔɪəbəl /

adjective

1. unable or unfit to keep a job

Other Word Forms

• unemployability noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of unemployable¹

First recorded in 1885–90; un- ¹ + employable

Example Sentences

Defendants find themselves both unemployed and unemployable, blacklisted, bankrupt and broken.

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After more than a year, the Maryland bar dismissed the charges; the D.C. bar charges remained a Sword of Damocles over my head for another eight years, rendering me both unemployed and unemployable.

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For most of its history, it was home to an almost exclusively white population consisting mainly of older alcoholic, disabled and unemployable men.

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A number have been left bankrupt and broken, unemployed and unemployable.

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She also wrote, directed and starred in the defiantly weird comedy “Mandy,” which follows an unemployable woman as she skips from one odd job to the next.

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When To Use

What does unemployable mean?

Unemployable most commonly means unsuitable for employment or unable to keep a job.The word employable generally means available and able to be hired for a job, especially for long-term employment, but usually also implies that a person is a desirable candidate for a job. Unemployable is the opposite of this.When a person is described as unemployable, it’s usually a very negative and often insulting statement about how they’re not fit to hold a job in any way.However, unemployable can also be used in a neutral way that means they’re not able to be hired for some reason, such as legal status or a lack of positions.Example: Most employers consider convicted felons unemployable, but we give people a second chance.