employ vs hire

employ

noun
  • The state of being an employee; employment. 

verb
  • To hire (somebody for work or a job). 

  • To use (somebody for a job, or something for a task). 

  • To make busy. 

hire

noun
  • The state of being hired, or having a job; employment. 

  • Payment for the temporary use of something. 

  • A person who has been hired, especially in a cohort. 

verb
  • To occupy premises in exchange for rent. 

  • To employ; to obtain the services of (a person) in exchange for remuneration; to give someone a job. 

  • To accept employment. 

  • To obtain the services of in return for fixed payment. 

  • To accomplish by paying for services. 

  • To exchange the services of for remuneration. 

  • (neologism) (in the Jobs-to-be-Done Theory) To buy something in order for it to perform a function, to do a job 

How often have the words employ and hire occurred in a corpus of books? (source: Google Ngram Viewer )