The employment, in its current significance, corresponds to the exercise of a remunerated profession, (subsidized or not by the public authorities), which means that person Bénévole does not occupy an employment in a strict sense term.

The concept of employment is often comparable with that of Salariat. Actually the Rémunération can just as easily take the form:

• of a treatment, if the employer is a public person
• of a Salaire, if the employer is a moral person or physics other than the worker
• of Honoraire S when it is about independent which is its " clean employeur" (craftsman, trading, farmer, liberal profession,…).

At the macroeconomic level , employment represents the whole of the work provided within an nation's economy, by the whole of the Active population which is not with the Chômage.

The density in employment of an economy is estimated by the Taux of employment; the situation on the Job market can be estimated by the Taux of employment, and the Unemployment rate.

Within the meaning of the National accounting, employment indicates the fact of assigning resources to a given use.

Creation and destruction of jobs

Permanently, a great number of employment are destroyed, and an almost equivalent number of employment are created; for example, in France, one estimates at 10  000 the number of employment created and the number of destroyed employment each day. The idea that the quantity of available employment would be fixed, and that it would have “to be divided”, is a current error (see Sophisme of a fixed mass of work).

Economic policies acting on employment

See also: Employment Policy

In France

See also: Job market in France, Unemployment in France

In France, at December 31st, 2005, 24,9 million people has an employment. Among them, 18 million is employment in the Private sector and 5,2 million is uses of civils servant. In addition, there exists 125  000  helped Employment, 712  000 employment in the State enterprises, and 848  000 employment in various public agencies.