The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU state as of August 2021 (unless otherwise noted - see caveats below), the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. One state has an unemployment rate below three percent.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the lowest unemployment rate, Czechia, and the state with the highest, Greece, is 12.00 percentage points (down from 13.00 last month and down from 14.80 last year). Czechia had the lowest rate last month and last year. Greece had the highest rate last month and last year.
- Greece has 5.14 times the unemployment rate that Czechia does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was down from 5.64 last month and down from 6.48 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 28 EU states is 6.20 (up from 6.15 the previous month and down from 6.90 last year) and the mean 6.30 (down from 6.43 the previous month and down from 7.36 last year).
- Of the 28 states, 9 saw no change in the unemployment rate from the previous month, 13 saw an improvement, and 6 saw the rate increase.
- Of the 28 states, 1 saw no change in the unemployment rate from last year, 23 saw an improvement, and 4 saw the rate increase.
Caveats
- Data is from August 2021 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from July 2021, and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from June 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, Greece had the best performance over the previous month dropping 0.9 percentage points. Sweden had the worst performance rising 0.4 percentage points. Year over year, Cyprus had the best performance with a 4.2 percentage point drop while the United Kingdom had the worst performance with a 0.6 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, Cyprus had the best performance over the previous month with a 15.38% drop in the rate while Sweden had the worst performance with a 4.76% rise in the rate. Year over year, Cyprus had the best performance with a 48.84% drop in the rate while the United Kingdom had the worst performance with a 15.00% rise in the rate.
Of the 28 states, 6 EU states have an unemployment rate below four percent (up from 5 last month, up from 2 last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Of the 28, 18 have a rate between four and eight percent (down from 19 last month, up from 15 last year), and 4 have a rate above eight percent (same as 4 last month, down from 11 last year).
Cyprus (from 11th to 8th) rose 3 spots over the course of the month. On the flip side, Ireland (from 16th to 18th) fell 2 spots. Year-over-year, Cyprus (from 19th to 8th) rose 11 spots. Conversely, the United Kingdom (from 3rd to 10th) fell 7 spots.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 6.4 | 6.1 | 6.1 |
| Belgium | 6.4 | 6.2 | 6.4 |
| Bulgaria | 5.1 | 5.6 | 5.6 |
| Croatia | 8.6 | 7.7 | 7.6 |
| Cyprus | 8.6 | 5.2 | 4.4 |
| Czechia | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.9 |
| Denmark | 6.3 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| Estonia | 7.7 | 6.5 | 6.3 |
| Finland | 8.8 | 7.8 | 7.2 |
| France | 9 | 8 | 8 |
| Germany | 4.1 | 3.6 | 3.6 |
| Greece | 17.5 | 15.8 | 14.9 |
| Hungary | 4.3 | 4.1 | 4.2 |
| Ireland | 7.1 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| Italy | 10 | 9.3 | 9.3 |
| Latvia | 8.6 | 7.5 | 7.1 |
| Lithuania | 9.8 | 7.5 | 7.2 |
| Luxembourg | 6.7 | 5.6 | 5.5 |
| Malta | 4.9 | 3.2 | 3.2 |
| Netherlands | 4.6 | 3.1 | 3.2 |
| Poland | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
| Portugal | 8.2 | 6.6 | 6.4 |
| Romania | 5.3 | 5.1 | 5.2 |
| Slovakia | 7.1 | 6.6 | 6.5 |
| Slovenia | 5.3 | 4 | 3.9 |
| Spain | 16.7 | 14.5 | 14 |
| Sweden | 9.1 | 8.4 | 8.8 |
| United Kingdom | 4 | 4.9 | 4.6 |
Sources
Eurostat. 2021. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed October 18, 2021. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_-4FA1EA7B_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 October 18, 2021. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/labourforcesurveysinglemonthestimatesx01.