Employment

A person is employed when they are being paid to carry out a job of work by someone who has set and provided the conditions of that work - the time, place, equipment to be used, etc.

Employment usually carries with it the idea of the work being regular, and there is a great deal of legal protection setting out rights to fair treatment, holidays, sickness pay and the National Minimum Wage.

Employment can be permanent, temporary, fixed-term, full-time or part-time and will be covered by a contract of employment.

In official terms, a person is often only referred to as employed when they work for more than 16 hours a week (with part-time usually meaning between 16 and 30 hours a week).  This is because welfare benefits use 16 hours a week as the threshold between "out of work benefits", such as Jobseekers Allowance and Income Support, and "in work benefits", such as Working Tax Credits and Child Tax Credits.

Self-employment

This is also where someone is being paid to carry out a job of work, but a self-employed person can set his or her own conditions.  Self-employment has less security, both in terms of the regularity of work and also legal protection.

Unemployment

A person is generally regarded as unemployed when they are not in paid work but are actively seeking work. They may be officially registered as unemployed, receiving Jobseekers Allowance, receiving another "out of work benefit" or simply having no personal income, but they will have done something to try to find work in the last four weeks or so.

People who do not have paid work but are not actively seeking work are not regarded as unemployed but are defined as "economically inactive".

Voluntary work

Voluntary work is the same as either employment or self-employment but there is no payment involved.

Sometimes there may be payment to cover expenses (for example travel or meals), but this does not count as paid work because the person is no better off financially.