Job vs. Business — What's the Difference?
By Tayyaba Rehman & Urooj Arif — Published on February 10, 2024
A job is a paid position of regular employment, while a business is an entity engaged in commercial, industrial, or professional activities.
Difference Between Job and Business
Table of Contents
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Key Differences
A job is a role performed by an individual as an employee in exchange for payment, typically referred to as a salary or wage. Businesses, however, are entities that provide goods or services, usually with the goal of making a profit. While a job is about performing specific tasks or responsibilities, a business involves managing these tasks and often overseeing employees who perform them.
Jobs often imply a hierarchical relationship where the employee reports to a superior, such as a manager or supervisor. In contrast, a business owner or entrepreneur assumes the risk and control of the business operations. This distinction highlights the differing levels of responsibility and authority between having a job and running a business.
The stability and predictability of income are more often associated with jobs, where employees receive a steady paycheck. On the other hand, business income can be variable, with profits depending on factors like market demand, business strategy, and operational efficiency.
In terms of career growth and development, a job might offer structured progress through promotions and skill development. Business ownership, however, provides opportunities for growth mainly through business expansion and increased market share. This path often requires a higher degree of risk-taking and innovation.
The nature of commitment differs as well. Jobs typically require a commitment to the role and organization, with set hours and job duties. Businesses demand a broader commitment, often involving investment of personal time, capital, and resources to ensure success and growth.
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Comparison Chart
Nature
Position of employment.
Commercial, industrial, or professional entity.
Income
Regular salary or wage.
Profits which can vary.
Authority
Employees report to superiors.
Owners have control and decision-making power.
Stability
Often provides steady income and job security.
Involves risk and potential for variable income.
Growth Opportunities
Structured career progression.
Growth through business expansion and market share.
Compare with Definitions
Job
A paid position of regular employment.
She recently got a job as a graphic designer.
Business
A matter or situation meriting attention.
Keeping the park clean is everybody's business.
Job
A role or function that someone or something has.
In the play, her job was to portray the antagonist.
Business
The activity of buying and selling commodities, products, or services
New systems now being used in business.
Job
A regular activity performed in exchange for payment, especially as one's trade, occupation, or profession
Her job is doing drug research.
Business
The amount or volume of this activity
Business was off all day.
Job
A position of employment
How many jobs are open at the factory?.
Business
The variety of this activity in which a person is engaged
The wholesale food business.
Job
A task that must be done
Let's finish this job before we start another.
Business
A specific occupation or pursuit
The best designer in the business.
Job
A specified duty or responsibility
Your job is to watch the kids while we're away.
Business
A commercial enterprise or establishment
Bought his uncle's construction business.
Job
(Informal) A difficult or strenuous task
It's a real job getting people to help out at these events.
Business
Commercial dealings; patronage
Took her business to a trustworthy salesperson.
Job
A specific piece of work to be done for a set fee
An expensive repair job.
Business
One's rightful or proper concern or interest
"The business of America is business" (Calvin Coolidge).
Job
The object to be worked on
Those overgrown shrubs are a big job.
Business
Something involving one personally
It's none of my business.
Job
Something resulting from or produced by work
I like the job they did on those shrubs.
Business
Serious work or endeavor
Got right down to business.
Job
An operation done to improve one's appearance, or the result of such an operation. Often used in combination
A face job.
Business
An affair or matter
"We will proceed no further in this business" (Shakespeare).
Job
(Computers) A program application that may consist of several steps but is performed as a single logical unit.
Business
An incidental action performed by an actor on the stage to fill a pause between lines or to provide interesting detail.
Job
(Informal) A state of affairs
Their marriage was a bad job from the start. It's a good job that we left early to avoid the traffic.
Business
(Informal) Strong verbal criticism; scolding
Gave me the business for being late.
Job
(Informal) A criminal act, especially a robbery
A bank job.
Business
(Informal) Urination or defecation
The dog did its business on the lawn.
Job
(Informal) An example of a specified type, especially of something made or constructed. Often used in combination
A new building that is just another glass and steel job.
A cowboy hat that is one of those ten-gallon jobs.
Business
(Obsolete) The condition of being busy.
Job
A jab.
Business
(countable) A specific commercial enterprise or establishment.
I was left my father's business.
Job
See Table at Bible.
Business
(countable) A person's occupation, work, or trade.
He is in the motor and insurance businesses.
I'm going to Las Vegas on business.
Job
To work at odd jobs.
Business
(uncountable) Commercial, industrial, or professional activity.
He's such a poor cook, I can't believe he's still in business!
We do business all over the world.
Job
To work by the piece.
Business
(uncountable) The volume or amount of commercial trade.
Business has been slow lately.
They did nearly a million dollars of business over the long weekend.
Job
To act as a jobber.
Business
(uncountable) One's dealings; patronage.
I shall take my business elsewhere.
Job
To purchase (merchandise) from manufacturers and sell it to retailers.
Business
(uncountable) Private commercial interests taken collectively.
This proposal will satisfy both business and labor.
Job
To arrange for (contracted work) to be done in portions by others; subcontract.
Business
(uncountable) The management of commercial enterprises, or the study of such management.
I studied business at Harvard.
Job
To transact (official business) dishonestly for private profit.
Business
(countable) A particular situation or activity.
This UFO stuff is a mighty strange business.
Job
To jab or make a jab.
Business
(countable) Any activity or objective needing to be dealt with; especially, one of a financial or legal matter.
Our principal business here is to get drunk.
Let's get down to business.
Job
A task.
I've got a job for you - could you wash the dishes?
Business
(uncountable) Something involving one personally.
That's none of your business.
Job
An economic role for which a person is paid.
That surgeon has a great job.
He's been out of a job since being made redundant in January.
Business
Matters that come before a body for deliberation or action.
If that concludes the announcements, we'll move on to new business.
Job
(in noun compounds) Plastic surgery.
He had had a nose job.
Business
Business class, the class of seating provided by airlines between first class and coach.
Job
(in noun compounds) A sex act.
Hand job
Business
(acting) Action carried out with a prop or piece of clothing, usually away from the focus of the scene.
Job
(computing) A task, or series of tasks, carried out in batch mode (especially on a mainframe computer).
Business
The collective noun for a group of ferrets.
Job
A sudden thrust or stab; a jab.
Business
Something very good; top quality. (possibly from "the bee's knees")
These new phones are the business!
Job
A public transaction done for private profit; something performed ostensibly as a part of official duty, but really for private gain; a corrupt official business.
Business
The act of defecation, or the excrement itself, particularly that of a non-human animal.
Your ferret left his business all over the floor.
As the cart went by, its horse lifted its tail and did its business.
Job
Any affair or event which affects one, whether fortunately or unfortunately.
Business
(slang) Disruptive shenanigans.
I haven't seen cartoons giving someone the business since the 1990s.
Job
(colloquial) A thing (often used in a vague way to refer to something whose name one cannot recall).
Pass me that little job with the screw thread on it.
Business
(Australian Aboriginal) matters (e.g sorry business = a funeral)
Job
The police as a profession, act of policing, or an individual police officer.
Business
Of, to, pertaining to or utilized for purposes of conducting trade, commerce, governance, advocacy or other professional purposes.
Please do not use this phone for personal calls; it is a business phone.
Job
(intransitive) To do odd jobs or occasional work for hire.
Business
Professional, businesslike, having concern for good business practice.
Job
(intransitive) To work as a jobber.
Business
Supporting business, conducive to the conduct of business.
Job
To take the loss.
Business
That which busies one, or that which engages the time, attention, or labor of any one, as his principal concern or interest, whether for a longer or shorter time; constant employment; regular occupation; as, the business of life; business before pleasure.
Wist ye not that I must be about my Father's business?
Job
To buy and sell for profit, as securities; to speculate in.
Business
Any particular occupation or employment engaged in for livelihood or gain, as agriculture, trade, art, or a profession.
Job
To subcontract a project or delivery in small portions to a number of contractors.
We wanted to sell a turnkey plant, but they jobbed out the contract to small firms.
Business
Financial dealings; buying and selling; traffic in general; mercantile transactions.
It seldom happens that men of a studious turn acquire any degree of reputation for their knowledge of business.
Job
(intransitive) To seek private gain under pretence of public service; to turn public matters to private advantage.
Business
That which one has to do or should do; special service, duty, or mission.
The daughter of the King of France,On serious business, craving quick despatch,Importunes personal conference.
What business has the tortoise among the clouds?
Job
To strike or stab with a pointed instrument.
Business
Affair; concern; matter; - used in an indefinite sense, and modified by the connected words.
It was a gentle business, and becomingThe action of good women.
BestowYour needful counsel to our business.
Job
To thrust in, as a pointed instrument.
Business
The position, distribution, and order of persons and properties on the stage of a theater, as determined by the stage manager in rehearsal.
Job
To hire or let in periods of service.
To job a carriage
Business
Care; anxiety; diligence.
Job
A sudden thrust or stab; a jab.
Business
A commercial or industrial enterprise and the people who constitute it;
He bought his brother's business
A small mom-and-pop business
A racially integrated business concern
Job
A piece of chance or occasional work; any definite work undertaken in gross for a fixed price; as, he did the job for a thousand dollars.
Business
The activity of providing goods and services involving financial and commercial and industrial aspects;
Computers are now widely used in business
Job
A public transaction done for private profit; something performed ostensibly as a part of official duty, but really for private gain; a corrupt official business.
Business
Business concerns collectively;
Government and business could not agree
Job
Any affair or event which affects one, whether fortunately or unfortunately.
Business
The volume of business activity;
Business is good today
Show me where the business was today
Job
A situation or opportunity of work; as, he lost his job.
Business
A rightful concern or responsibility;
It's none of your business
Mind your own business
Job
A task, or the execution of a task; as, Michelangelo did a great job on the David statue.
Business
The principal activity in your life that you do to earn money;
He's not in my line of business
Job
A task or coordinated set of tasks for a multitasking computer, submitted for processing as a single unit, usually for execution in background. See job control language.
Business
An immediate objective;
Gossip was the main business of the evening
Job
The hero of the book of that name in the Old Testament; the prototypical patient man.
Business
Incidental activity performed by an actor for dramatic effect;
His business with the cane was hilarious
Job
To strike or stab with a pointed instrument.
Business
Customers collectively;
They have an upper class clientele
Job
To thrust in, as a pointed instrument.
Business
The practice of making one's living by engaging in commerce.
She has been in the retail business for ten years.
Job
To do or cause to be done by separate portions or lots; to sublet (work); as, to job a contract.
Business
An organization or entity engaged in commercial, professional, or industrial activities.
His business specializes in digital marketing.
Job
To buy and sell, as a broker; to purchase of importers or manufacturers for the purpose of selling to retailers; as, to job goods.
Business
The regular occupation or trade of someone.
Her business is providing legal consultancy services.
Job
To hire or let by the job or for a period of service; as, to job a carriage.
Business
Affairs or tasks concerning the operation of a company.
He is busy with business meetings all day.
Job
To do chance work for hire; to work by the piece; to do petty work.
Authors of all work, to job for the season.
Job
To seek private gain under pretense of public service; to turn public matters to private advantage.
And judges job, and bishops bite the town.
Job
To carry on the business of a jobber in merchandise or stocks.
Job
The principal activity in your life that you do to earn money;
He's not in my line of business
Job
A specific piece of work required to be done as a duty or for a specific fee;
Estimates of the city's loss on that job ranged as high as a million dollars
The job of repairing the engine took several hours
The endless task of classifying the samples
The farmer's morning chores
Job
The performance of a piece of work;
She did an outstanding job as Ophelia
He gave it up as a bad job
Job
The responsibility to do something;
It is their job to print the truth
Job
A workplace; as in the expression
On the job
Job
An object worked on; a result produced by working;
He held the job in his left hand and worked on it with his right
Job
A state of difficulty that needs to be resolved;
She and her husband are having problems
It is always a job to contact him
Urban problems such as traffic congestion and smog
Job
A damaging piece of work;
Dry rot did the job of destroying the barn
The barber did a real job on my hair
Job
A crime (especially a robbery);
The gang pulled off a bank job in St. Louis
Job
A Jewish hero in the Old Testament who maintained his faith in God in spite of afflictions that tested him
Job
Any long-suffering person who withstands affliction without despairing
Job
(computer science) a program application that may consist of several steps but is a single logical unit
Job
A book in the Old Testament containing Job's pleas to God about his afflictions and God's reply
Job
Profit privately from public office and official business
Job
Arranged for contracted work to be done by others
Job
Work occasionally;
As a student I jobbed during the semester breaks
Job
Invest at a risk;
I bought this house not because I want to live in it but to sell it later at a good price, so I am speculating
Job
A task or piece of work, especially one done for payment.
His job was to fix the broken window.
Job
A specific duty, role, or function.
Part of his job involves answering customer queries.
Job
An undertaking requiring effort to achieve.
Organizing the event was a big job.
Common Curiosities
What defines a job?
A job is defined as a paid position of regular employment where one works as an employee.
Are jobs subject to business performance?
Jobs within a business can be affected by the business's overall performance and market conditions.
Can a job offer ownership?
A job does not offer ownership but provides employment under an employer.
Is job security a feature of business ownership?
Business ownership does not guarantee job security as it depends on business success.
What is a business?
A business is an entity that engages in commercial, professional, or industrial activities, often aimed at profit.
Can businesses provide jobs?
Yes, businesses create jobs by hiring individuals to perform various roles.
How do businesses generate income?
Businesses earn income through sales, services, or other commercial activities.
Are businesses responsible for their debts?
Yes, businesses are responsible for their debts and financial obligations.
Do jobs offer decision-making authority?
Jobs may offer limited decision-making authority, depending on the role, unlike business ownership.
Does a business require investment?
Starting and running a business typically requires capital investment and financial risk.
Do jobs always provide a steady income?
Jobs typically offer a regular income, such as a salary or wage.
What is the risk level in a job compared to a business?
Jobs generally have lower financial risk compared to running a business.
Can a business operate without employees?
Some businesses can operate as sole proprietorships without employees, but others may require staff.
What is the main goal of a business?
The main goal of a business is often to make a profit, though it can vary based on the type of business.
Can one have a job in their own business?
A business owner can have a role or job within their own business, but it's different from being an employee.
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Written by
Tayyaba RehmanTayyaba Rehman is a distinguished writer, currently serving as a primary contributor to askdifference.com. As a researcher in semantics and etymology, Tayyaba's passion for the complexity of languages and their distinctions has found a perfect home on the platform. Tayyaba delves into the intricacies of language, distinguishing between commonly confused words and phrases, thereby providing clarity for readers worldwide.
Co-written by
Urooj ArifUrooj is a skilled content writer at Ask Difference, known for her exceptional ability to simplify complex topics into engaging and informative content. With a passion for research and a flair for clear, concise writing, she consistently delivers articles that resonate with our diverse audience.
