The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU state as of May 2021 (unless otherwise noted - see caveats below), the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. There are no states with an unemployment rate below three percent.
Findings
- The difference between the states with the lowest unemployment rate, Czechia and the Netherlands, and the state with the highest, Greece, is 13.10 percentage points (down from 13.30 last month and down from 13.60 last year). Czechia and the Netherlands had the lowest rate last month and Czechia had the lowest rate last year. Greece had the highest rate last month and last year.
- Greece has 4.97 times the unemployment rate that Czechia and the Netherlands do. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was up from 4.91 last month and down from 6.44 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 28 EU states is 6.70 (down from 6.90 the previous month and up from 5.95 last year) and the mean 7.02 (down from 7.08 the previous month and up from 6.76 last year).
- Of the 28 states, 4 saw no change in the unemployment rate from the previous month, 19 saw an improvement, and 5 saw the rate increase.
- Of the 28 states, 2 saw no change in the unemployment rate from last year, 11 saw an improvement, and 15 saw the rate increase.
Caveats
- Data is from May 2021 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from April 2021, and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from March 2021 (previous month and year rates also reflect the respective one, two, and three month delay).
- Data may conflict with previous month's report as statistical agencies make updates to the rates over the course of the month.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Details
In absolute terms, Austria had the best performance over the previous month dropping 0.4 percentage points. Cyprus had the worst performance rising 0.7 percentage points. Year over year, Lithuania had the best performance with a 1.7 percentage point drop while Ireland had the worst performance with a 2.7 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, Austria had the best performance over the previous month with a 5.48% drop in the rate while Hungary had the worst performance with a 15.38% rise in the rate. Year over year, Lithuania had the best performance with a 19.77% drop in the rate while Ireland had the worst performance with a 52.94% rise in the rate.
Of the 28 states, 5 EU states have an unemployment rate below four percent (down from 6 last month, same as 5 last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Of the 28, 18 have a rate between four and eight percent (up from 17 last month, up from 15 last year), and 5 have a rate above eight percent (same as 5 last month, down from 8 last year).
Austria (from 18th to 15th) and Finland (from 23rd to 20th) rose 3 spots over the course of the month. On the flip side, Portugal (from 15th to 18th) and Croatia (from 19th to 22nd) fell 3 spots. Year-over-year, Luxembourg (from 19th to 11th) and Lithuania (from 23rd to 15th) rose 8 spots. Conversely, Ireland (from 9th to 20th) fell 11 spots.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 7.2 | 7.3 | 6.9 |
| Belgium | 5 | 6.7 | 6.5 |
| Bulgaria | 5.8 | 6.2 | 6.2 |
| Croatia | 8.6 | 7.7 | 7.9 |
| Cyprus | 7.8 | 9.2 | 9.9 |
| Czechia | 2.5 | 3.4 | 3.3 |
| Denmark | 5.6 | 5.6 | 5.6 |
| Estonia | 5.9 | 6.8 | 6.5 |
| Finland | 8.7 | 8 | 7.8 |
| France | 7 | 7.8 | 7.5 |
| Germany | 3.8 | 3.8 | 3.7 |
| Greece | 16.1 | 16.7 | 16.4 |
| Hungary | 4.1 | 3.9 | 4.5 |
| Ireland | 5.1 | 7.9 | 7.8 |
| Italy | 8.5 | 10.7 | 10.5 |
| Latvia | 8.6 | 7.8 | 7.9 |
| Lithuania | 8.6 | 7 | 6.9 |
| Luxembourg | 7.7 | 6.4 | 6.2 |
| Malta | 4.5 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| Netherlands | 3.6 | 3.4 | 3.3 |
| Poland | 3.2 | 3.9 | 3.8 |
| Portugal | 6 | 7 | 7.2 |
| Romania | 5.5 | 5.7 | 5.5 |
| Slovakia | 6.7 | 7 | 6.9 |
| Slovenia | 5.4 | 5.2 | 5.1 |
| Spain | 15.4 | 15.5 | 15.3 |
| Sweden | 8.4 | 9.1 | 9.1 |
| United Kingdom | 3.9 | 4.8 | 4.7 |
Sources
Eurostat. 2021. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed July 13, 2021. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_4D4249A1_UID_-3F171EB0&layout=TIME,C,X,0;GEO,L,Y,0;S_ADJ,L,Z,0;AGE,L,Z,1;UNIT,L,Z,2;SEX,L,Z,3;INDICATORS,C,Z,4;&zSelection=DS-055624AGE,TOTAL;DS-055624S_ADJ,SA;DS-055624UNIT,PC_ACT;DS-055624SEX,T;DS-055624INDICATORS,OBS_FLAG;&rankName1=UNIT_1_2_-1_2&rankName2=AGE_1_2_-1_2&rankName3=INDICATORS_1_2_-1_2&rankName4=SEX_1_2_-1_2&rankName5=S-ADJ_1_2_-1_2&rankName6=TIME_1_0_0_0&rankName7=GEO_1_2_0_1&sortC=ASC_-1_FIRST&rStp=&cStp=&rDCh=&cDCh=&rDM=true&cDM=true&footnes=false&empty=false&wai=false&time_mode=NONE&time_most_recent=false&lang=EN&cfo=%23%23%23%2C%23%23%23.%23%23%23.
Office for National Statistics. 2021. "X01: Labour Force Survey Single-Month Estimates." Accessed July 13, 2021. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/labourforcesurveysinglemonthestimatesx01.