Funemployment

“Funemployment” (fun + unemployment) usually refers to a young person without family obligations, who experiences a layoff or a release from an unexciting job, and who uses unemployment benefits to do more exciting things (take a vacation, write a blog, develop a hobby, volunteer, teach, etc.). The term “funemployment” was entered in the Urban Dictionary on March 17, 2004 and became Urban Word of the Day on December 20, 2006.
   
The blog Recessionwire entered “funemployment” in its “Recession Lexicon” on April 23, 2009. A Los Angeles (CA) Times article of June 4, 2009, titled “For the ‘funemployed,’ unemployment is welcome,” popularized the term in the mass media.
 
   
Urban Dictionary
funemployment
December 20, 2006 Urban Word of the Day
a happy time in one’s life when one is not employed and is not wanting to be employed
people wonder how I pay my bills when I’m on funemployment
by JBMason Mar 17, 2004
 
Teton Gravity Research Forums
Odin
03-14-2005, 05:09 PM
Splat, I am getting some bro shots for you this week. just waiting for the funemployment check to arrive so I can buy gas and such to get to the pass.
 
The Typing Makes Me Sound Busy
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
You Say “Unemployment”, I Say “FUNemployment”
Things to Do in North Carolina When You’re Dead Unemployed:...
   
FUNEMPLOYMENT Blog
Monday, December 29, 2008
Funemployment, Good (update)
I have tons of time on my hands and none simultaneously.
I feel identityless, but recognize that there is so much more to me than the brand on a business card.
I do not know what day of the week it is, much less the date.
I am one of those people who is out grocery shopping mid day, mid week.
I am funemployed*.

After a late night Conversation with some dear high school friends and a Facebook status that generated quite a bit of interest from others, I’ve decided to publicly chronicle my life as a jobless 20-something living in San Francisco.
 
Recessionwire
Recession Lexicon: Funemployment
By Sara Clemence ⋅ 3:36 pm April 23, 2009
A period of joblessness that you actually enjoy—maybe you get to lay out, sleep in, work out, read up. It helps to have savings, severance or an unemployment check to help pay the bills. We’re hearing this word used more and more, especially as people realize they may not be able to find a new job right away, so they might as well try to enjoy the time off.
 
COMMENTS
I’ve been using this term freely since my November 2008 layoff in my blog, aptly titled “funemployment blog”
Check it out!
http://funemploymentblog.blogspot.com/
Posted by Alexis Mansinne | April 24, 2009, 5:13 pm
 
[...] the last week, both LA Times and SF Weekly have featured articles on “funemployment”–the young and the unemployed who are making pink lemonade out of their pink slips by [...]
Posted by What’s so fun about “Funemployment”? « Gainful Unemployment | June 9, 2009, 7:14 am
 
Los Angeles (CA) Times
For the ‘funemployed,’ unemployment is welcome
These jobless folks, usually singles in their 20s and 30s, find that life without work agrees with them. Instead of punching the clock, they’re hitting the beach.
By Kimi Yoshino
June 4, 2009
(...)
What most people would call unemployment, Van Gorkom embraced as “funemployment.”
 
While millions of Americans struggle to find work as they face foreclosures and bankruptcy, others have found a silver lining in the economic meltdown. These happily jobless tend to be single and in their 20s and 30s. Some were laid off. Some quit voluntarily, lured by generous buyouts.
 
Buoyed by severance, savings, unemployment checks or their parents, the funemployed do not spend their days poring over job listings. They travel on the cheap for weeks. They head back to school or volunteer at the neighborhood soup kitchen. And at least till the bank account dries up, they’re content living for today.
 
MostMost
List: New Vocabulary for ‘The Great Recession’
(...)
Funemployment: If someone can figure out how to make paying bills and supporting a family on $400/week fun, please call me. From the Los Angeles Times; Also found on Recession Wire
Posted on Wednesday, August 5th, 2009