Noun

Singular employ

Plural employs

employ (plural employs)

1. The state of being an employee; employment.
   • The school district has six thousand teachers in its employ.

Synonyms

• employment
• hire

Verb

Infinitive to employ

Third person singular employs

Simple past employed

Past participle employed

Present participle employing

to employ (third-person singular simple present employs, present participle employing, simple past and past participle employed)

1. To give someone work or a job.
2. To put something into use or service; to make use of.

   How do you employ your spare time?

Derived terms

• employee
• employer
• employment

Employment is a contract between two parties, one being the employer and the other being the employee. An employee may be defined as: "A person in the service of another under any contract of hire, express or implied, oral or written, where the employer has the power or right to control and direct the employee in the material details of how the work is to be performed." Black's Law Dictionary page 471 (5th ed. 1979).

In a commercial setting, the employer conceives of a productive activity, generally with the intention of generating a profit, and the employee contributes labour to the enterprise, usually in return for payment of wages. Employment also exists in the public, non-profit and household sectors. To the extent that employment or the economic equivalent is not universal, unemployment exists.