The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU and US region as of December 2018. The Southern EU has nearly double the unemployment rate of the next region.
Findings
- The difference between the region with the lowest unemployment rate, the Southern US, and the region with the highest, the Southern EU, is 8.53 percentage points.
- The Southern US has 0.30 times - or less than one-third - the unemployment rate that the Southern EU does.
- The Southern and Midwestern US have an unemployment rate lower than all Northern and Southern EU states.
- The Northeastern and Western US and the Eastern and Western EU have an unemployment rate lower than all Northern EU states.
- The Southern EU has an unemployment rate that is higher than every state in every other region.
- The Northern EU has an unemployment rate higher than all Northeastern, Southern, and Midwestern US states.
- The Western EU has an unemployment rate higher than all Northeastern and Midwestern US states.
Caveats
- Data is from December 2018.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
- The Southern US consists of Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia.
- The Midwestern US consists of Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
- The Northeastern US consists of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Delaware, Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
- The Eastern EU consists of Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
- The Western US consists of California, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Hawaii, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming.
- The Western EU consists of Germany, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, and Luxembourg.
- The Northern EU consists of Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.
- The Southern EU consists of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta.
Details
Twenty-nine states have an unemployment rate lower than that of the Southern US: nine from the Midwestern US, eight from the Southern US, six from the Western US, four from the Northeastern US, and two from the Eastern EU.
Two states have an unemployment rate higher than that of the Southern EU; both are from the Southern EU.
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2019. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed February 6, 2019. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/laus_01182019.htm.
Eurostat. 2019. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed February 6, 2019. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_6C6753DD_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-055624SEX,T;DS-055624UNIT,PC_ACT;DS-055624S_ADJ,SA;DS-055624AGE,TOTAL;DS-055624INDICATORS,OBS_FLAG;&rankName1=TIME_1_0_0_0&rankName2=UNIT_1_2_-1_2&rankName3=GEO_1_2_0_1&rankName4=AGE_1_2_-1_2&rankName5=INDICATORS_1_2_-1_2&rankName6=SEX_1_2_-1_2&rankName7=S-ADJ_1_2_-1_2&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.