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I am writing an essay in Japanese and want to talk about non-skilled labor,
but found two different words for the opposite of a skilled laborer:
「未{み}-」and「不{ふ}-」+「熟{じゅく}練{れん}労{ろう}働{どう}者{しゃ}」. I was wondering what the
difference in meaning/connotation/usage is between these two words (if there
is such a difference), and in any case whether there is an obvious choice
between them (based on how commonly used they are, etc.) or whether they are
perfectly interchangeable.

Edit:

I also found 「非{ひ}熟練労働者」, which appears to be a synonym of the latter, but
might also be slightly different. This doesn't change the original question,
it merely adds a third point of comparison.
CC BY-SA 3.0
2017-12-07T20:33:40.213
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2017-12-08T11:11:42.893
2017-12-07T21:51:33.843
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question
word-choice synonyms word-usage negation prefixes
Difference between「未熟練労働者」and「不熟練労働者」
ABOUT 未
<https://kotobank.jp/word/%E6%9C%AA%E7%86%9F%E7%B7%B4%E5%8A%B4%E5%83%8D%E8%80%85-138539>
ABOUT 不
<https://kotobank.jp/word/%E7%86%9F%E7%B7%B4%E5%8A%B4%E5%83%8D%E8%80%85%E3%83%BB%E4%B8%8D%E7%86%9F%E7%B7%B4%E5%8A%B4%E5%83%8D%E8%80%85-1549354>
ABOUT 非
<https://www.weblio.jp/content/%E9%9D%9E%E7%86%9F%E7%B7%B4%E5%8A%B4%E5%83%8D%E8%80%85>

I asked my co-workers how they use these words and they looked at me like I
was speaking another language. Usually no ones use this words. If you want to
talk about someone who is unskilled, who has no experience you usually say
mikeikensha 未経験者.
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2017-12-08T02:55:10.890
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2017-12-08T02:55:10.890
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answer
You should use 非熟練労働者, when it comes to economics or so. If you use it in the
sense of those who are not yet (but expected to be) skilled, you could use
未熟練. I haven't seen 不熟練.

Negative prefix 不 is used when something lacks value that's essential for what
it is. e.g 不良 (shortage of quality), 不正 (irregularity). On the other hand, 非
can simply stand for the opposite nature of what's modified. In this regard,
unskilled workers are not necessarily a failure for, or a would-be, skilled
ones.
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2017-12-08T11:11:42.893
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2017-12-08T11:11:42.893
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answer