unemployment compensation

noun

: compensation paid at regular intervals (as by a government agency) to an unemployed worker and especially one who has been laid off

called also unemployment benefit

Examples of unemployment compensation in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

And that, in turn, could destabilize the joint federal-state unemployment compensation program that has existed for decades. —Nina Totenberg, NPR, 31 Mar. 2025

More than 1,100 former federal workers had filed initial unemployment compensation claims as of March 20 — up from about 450 a month earlier — since Trump took office in January, according to the Maryland Department of Labor. —Lorraine Mirabella, Baltimore Sun, 25 Mar. 2025

Don't simply ignore it—remember that unemployment compensation is taxable. —Kelly Phillips Erb, Forbes, 20 Mar. 2025

The big picture: The number of federal employees filing initial claims for unemployment compensation has risen sharply in the District since President Trump took office and Elon Musk's DOGE began its purge, per Department of Labor data. —Mimi Montgomery, Axios, 11 Mar. 2025

Word History

First Known Use

1935, in the meaning defined above

Rhymes for unemployment compensation

• deindustrialization
• immunoprecipitation
• individualisation
• individualization
• institutionalisation
• institutionalization
• internationalization
• neovascularization
• operationalization
• abbreviation
• abomination
• acceleration

Legal Definition

unemployment compensation

noun

un·​em·​ploy·​ment compensation

: compensation paid at regular intervals (as by a state agency) to an unemployed worker and especially one who has been laid off

called also unemployment benefit

Note: Unemployment compensation is usually a fixed percentage of the former wages of an unemployed worker.