employed

Employed is a term used to indicate that someone currently has paid work or is engaged in labor. It can describe a person who holds a job, whether full-time or part-time, as well as the state of being active in paid employment. The adjective sense can also be applied to organizations, roles, or activities that involve work for compensation.

As a verb form, employed is the past tense and past participle of employ. To employ means to hire someone or to make use of something for a purpose. For example, a company may employ hundreds of workers, or a school may employ new teaching methods. When referring to people, employed individuals are those who are currently working or who are temporarily away from work but intended to return.

In labor statistics and everyday usage, employed typically distinguishes those who have jobs from those who are unemployed or not in the labor force. The category of employed can include varied work arrangements such as full-time, part-time, permanent, temporary, contract, self-employed, and gig workers. The term is often used in phrases like “employed population,” “employment rate,” and “employment opportunities.”

Etymology traces employed to the verb employ, with roots in Old French employer and ultimately from Latin terms meaning to involve or apply. Related terms include employment, employer, employee, self-employed, unemployment, and the broader concept of the labor market. See also labor force and workforce.