This chapter reviews the literature on unemployment from the perspective of economics and sociology of conventions (EC/SC). As a framework for analyzing unemployment, EC/SC incorporates three key sets of concepts and theories: first, unemployment as a measurement convention; second, the convention of unemployment as a means of resolving uncertainty within the salaried employment relationship, alongside the convention of productivity; and third, the analysis of experiences, justifications, and explanations of unemployment, in relation to labor quality conventions and instances of evaluation when testing this quality. Convention theory-based research on unemployment focuses on the diversity of meanings, experiences, and justifications of unemployment. Beyond exploring various evaluation methods, EC/SC concepts also facilitate the analysis of unemployment trajectories, with particular attention to long-term unemployment and exclusion from the labor market, which allows for theorizing the persistence of high unemployment as an “unemployment of exclusion.” This approach aligns with Keynesian analysis but goes further by emphasizing the role of quality, selection, and evaluation rather than merely employment quantities, thereby enabling an analysis of unemployment inequalities and development of a new structural theory of involuntary unemployment. EC/SC offers valuable insights for designing more equitable public policies and recruitment processes to combat unemployment.