Definitions

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun UK Unemployment; the state of being without paid work

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

workless +‎ -ness

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Examples

  • "We know that long-term worklessness is one of the greatest known risks to public health," Sir Mansel said - with suicide risk increasing and people at greater risk than most dangerous jobs.

    WalesOnline - Home 2011

  • "Previous recessions left a devastating legacy of long-term worklessness in many communities and the real test for government policy is now to ensure that these people do not become locked-in to longer-term unemployment and inactivity."

    PersonnelToday.com - All HR news stories 2010

  • Osborne warned that increasing numbers of people were living on "out-of-work" benefits and that a greater proportion of children in the UK were growing up in "worklessness" than anywhere else in Europe.

    George Osborne targets spiralling welfare costs 2010

  • The funemployed often use "worklessness" to find and revive their passions, get in shape, or to explore new career opportunities.

    The Spark of Yahoo! 2010

  • Apart from Cruddas, precious few Labour MPs from areas once called the party's heartlands, such as north east England, have made the plight of the old working class, their sons and daughters - too often now consigned either to the dole queue or 'worklessness' and, hence, outside official statistics - a political crusade.

    Blogposts | guardian.co.uk 2009

  • The funemployed often use "worklessness" to find and revive their passions, get in shape, or to explore new career opportunities.

    The Spark of Yahoo! 2009

  • The funemployed often use "worklessness" to find and revive their passions, get in shape, or to explore new career opportunities.

    The Spark of Yahoo! 2009

  • In a speech, Ms May will seek to draw attention to what the Tories say is the financial and human cost of a deep-rooted culture of "worklessness" in many communities.

    BBC News | News Front Page | UK Edition 2009

  • All the parties are now attacking the the poor while coating it in Orwellian terms like 'worklessness' and are supported by their friends in the 'charity / third sector' who smell new contracts.

    Dave's Part 2008

  • "Some areas of Britain are suffering from intergenerational worklessness, which is why we must act now to ensure that children living in workless households are not left behind like their parents have been. here

    Anglican Mainstream 2010

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  • (fr. Wordspy, n.) The condition of being unemployed and having little or no prospect for employment.

    Example Citation: My question about the meaning of the new buzzword 'worklessness', which is replacing the more traditional 'unemployment' in council

    documents produced a spirited response from Labour cabinet member Stewart Stacey.

    Unemployment, he said, could be translated as 'I haven't got a job this week.'

    Worklessness, meanwhile, could be defined as 'I never expect to have a job, no one in my family has had a job for two generations, so why should I bother'.

    May 14, 2008