失业 shīyè unemployment
unemployment; to lose one's job
How to remember 失业: 失 to lose + 业 industry = unemployment.
Characters
How it is used
- To lose one's job / be unemployed - a verb-object, so 他失业了 (tā shīyè le) he's out of work, not "很失业."
- Pairs into 失业率 (shīyèlǜ) unemployment rate, a standard economic term.
- Contrast 下岗 (xiàgǎng), an older term for being laid off from a state enterprise.
Example sentences
- 数千人失业。 Shùqiān rén shīyè.Thousands of people lost their jobs.
- 听说最近失业者人数正在增加 Tīngshuō zuìjìn shīyèzhě rénshù zhèngzài zēngjiāI hear that the number of the unemployed has been increasing recently.