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Economics vocabulary · Jobs and Unemployment

Structural unemployment

Meaning in economics, with examples

nounAdvanced term

In economics, structural unemployment means: Long-lasting unemployment caused by a mismatch between workers' skills or locations and the jobs available, often after technology or industries change.

In Turkish: yapısal işsizlik

How it is used

One of the three types taught in macroeconomics, together with frictional unemployment (time spent between jobs) and cyclical unemployment (caused by recessions). Interest rate cuts do little to reduce it; retraining and education are the usual policy responses.

Example sentences

  1. When the coal mines closed, many miners faced structural unemployment because their skills were no longer needed.

  2. Automation could increase structural unemployment among workers who do routine tasks.

Common collocations

  • frictional unemployment
  • cyclical unemployment
  • skills mismatch
  • long-term unemployment
  • unemploymentThe situation of people who have no job but are available for work and actively looking for one; also the number or share of such people.
  • labour marketThe market in which workers offer their time and skills and employers hire them, setting the level of employment and wages.
  • human capitalThe knowledge, skills, health and experience of workers, seen as an asset that raises productivity and income in the same way as machines or buildings.
  • productivityHow much output is produced from a given amount of input, most often measured as output per worker or per hour worked.

More terms: Jobs and Unemployment

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This page explains English vocabulary for learners. It is not financial advice.