Hmmm. Then what would my occupation be? I described my situation several posts ago…
Oh, that’s easy. You’re a teaching assistant.
You used to be called a teacher’s assistant, but I suspect some didn’t like the possessive sound of that. Can’t blame them, really.
But I thought that didn’t count as an occupation unless I was getting paid - as I mentioned, I receive no paycheck. Try again?
mangeorge, first, I am not a student nor do I play one on TV.
The difficulty is that “unemployed” is a term of art. (A “term of art” is a word used in a very particular, usually very well-defined sense by those people for whom the subject is their business or field of work or study).
Now, for “unemployed”, whose field of work would that be? Well, in the US it’s the Labor Department, in particular, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, who say :
So to be unemployed, a person has to meet three tests. They have to be:
Not working, and
Looking for work, and
Available for work.
Everyone else is either employed, or “not in the labor force”. So students, or moms, are very definitely not “unemployed”. They are simply not in the labor force.
Now the question “Occupation” on a form is asking a larger question than “Are you in the labor force”. For example, “retired” is as valid an answer as “carpenter”. So is student, or mother. And none of them is unemployed.
Me, I have no “occupation”. My last four jobs, in chronological order, were three years as a construction manager for a multi million dollar resort project in Fiji, the summer as a sport salmon fishing guide on the Kenai River in Alaska, six months on the single-handed design and construction of a high end bedroom addition to a house in Hawaii, and currently CFO for a multi-million dollar company in the South Pacific.
What is my “occupation”? And when I’m between jobs … am I “unemployed”?
Now when I first entered the labor force, I liked short-term work. But I was often unemployed. I didn’t like it. It entailed a lot of worry and uncertainty.
But one day, I had a strange insight, and I adopted a new motto, which was:
And since that day, I’ve never been unemployed when I’m between jobs. I’m retired.
Sure, make me a good enough offer, I’ll come out of retirement in an instant, that’s how I got the job I have now … and when I’m done with my current job, I’ll retire again.
So at the moment, I’m employed, and about a year from retirement, with no unemployment in sight.
My best to all,
w.
No need for another try. Maybe I misunderstood “compensation” and “free” in exchange for services.
No, I’m pretty sure you didn’t. In fact, you made a point of telling us exactly what does and doesn’t count as gainful employment in this post:
So, like I said, try again?
I’ll re-try:
I think we’re somehow going in circles.
I had to go back and refresh my mood in that posting.
Anyway, those things you speak of as rewards for your efforts are surely included in things “we want money for” in the linked reply. Compensation, just as you said.
How is the university letting me take free classes a “thing I want money for”?
I assume mangeorge’s logic (and, in this case, I understand it) is that those are classes you would normally pay to take, hence classes are a thing you want money for.
Anyhow, I was a barista when I went to college, and, if you asked me, my occupation was most certainly “student.”
That’s the way I read it too, but I didn’t want to put words in his mouth. Seems like that would be more a “thing they would want my money for”.
But either way - if we’re agreeing that compensation doesn’t have to be in monetary form, then I really don’t see the problem with “student” as an occupation. Students study, write papers, take exams, etc (their Work) in return for education and a degree (their Compensation). Both education and a degree are things that are clearly worth money, so what’s the problem?
My point was not that I work harder as a med student than I did as a college student. It was that as a college student I my education consisted of going to class. As a medical student I am actually part of the labor force of the hospital. This year 4th of July happened to fall between student rotations so they had to do 1 of the 2 busiest trauma weekends of the year with no student labor. The paid staff was very glad to see the new crop of students when we arrived on July 7 and told us so repeatedly.
Sure they appreciate your work. So do I. I’m sure it’s a valuable experience for you.
I watch “House”. I know how it works. 
<note the winky.