Desempleo, desocupación, cesantía o paro, en el mercado de trabajo, hace referencia a la situación del ciudadano que carece de empleo y, por lo tanto, de salario. Por extensión es la parte de la población que estando en edad, condiciones y disposición de trabajar -población activa- carece de un puesto de trabajo. Para referirse al número de parados de la población se utiliza la tasa de desempleo por país u otro territorio. La situación contraria al desempleo es el pleno empleo. Además de la población activa, en la que se incluye tanto a los que están trabajando como al conjunto de los parados o desempleados de un país, las sociedades cuentan con una población inactiva compuesta por aquellos miembros de la población que no están en disposición de trabajar, sea por estudios, edad -niños y población anciana o jubilada-, enfermedad o cualquier otra causa legalmente establecida. Para que exista el desempleo se necesita que la persona desempleada desee trabajar y que acepte los salarios actuales que se están pagando en un momento dado. Las causas de esta situación son múltiples, produciendo como consecuencia distintos tipos de desempleo (cíclico, estructural, friccional y monetario).Además existe el desempleo tecnológico que se origina cuando hay cambios en los procesos productivos que hacen que las habilidades de los trabajadores no sean útiles. Si bien el desempleo suele ser considerado un flagelo, en ocasiones se lo utiliza como una herramienta de política pública, orientada a dinamizar la economía, por medio de la competencia entre los trabajadores desocupados.

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Unemployment occurs when people who are without work are actively seeking paid work. The unemployment rate is a measure of the prevalence of unemployment and it is calculated as a percentage by dividing the number of unemployed individuals by all individuals currently in the labor force. During periods of recession, an economy usually experiences a relatively high unemployment rate. According to International Labour Organization report, more than 200 million people globally or 6% of the world's workforce were without a job in 2012. There remains considerable theoretical debate regarding the causes, consequences and solutions for unemployment. Classical economics, New classical economics, and the Austrian School of economics argue that market mechanisms are reliable means of resolving unemployment. These theories argue against interventions imposed on the labor market from the outside, such as unionization, bureaucratic work rules, minimum wage laws, taxes, and other regulations that they claim discourage the hiring of workers. Keynesian economics emphasizes the cyclical nature of unemployment and recommends government interventions in the economy that it claims will reduce unemployment during recessions. This theory focuses on recurrent shocks that suddenly reduce aggregate demand for goods and services and thus reduce demand for workers. Keynesian models recommend government interventions designed to increase demand for workers; these can include financial stimuli, publicly funded job creation, and expansionist monetary policies. Its namesake, economist John Maynard Keynes, believed that the root cause of unemployment is the desire of investors to receive more money rather than produce more products, which is not possible without public bodies producing new money. In addition to these comprehensive theories of unemployment, there are a few categorizations of unemployment that are used to more precisely model the effects of unemployment within the economic system. The main types of unemployment include structural unemployment which focuses on structural problems in the economy and inefficiencies inherent in labour markets, including a mismatch between the supply and demand of laborers with necessary skill sets. Structural arguments emphasize causes and solutions related to disruptive technologies and globalization. Discussions of frictional unemployment focus on voluntary decisions to work based on each individuals' valuation of their own work and how that compares to current wage rates plus the time and effort required to find a job. Causes and solutions for frictional unemployment often address job entry threshold and wage rates. Behavioral economists highlight individual biases in decision making, and often involve problems and solutions concerning sticky wages and efficiency wages.

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