The chômeur, in the context of grammar, is an element of a sentence that has been syntactically "demoted" from the nucleus to the periphery of a clause.
The term comes from the French word for "unemployed".
In a passive sentence, the agent is a chômeur, having been "demoted" from the central or nuclear function of subject.
The concept was introduced and used extensively in relational grammar; however, the term is rarely used outside of this framework.
The term was suggested by the linguist Colette Craig.