The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU region as of January 2019 (unless otherwise noted) and the change from the previous month. The Eastern EU continues to hold the lowest unemployment rate, however it is the only region where the rate grew over the previous month.
Findings
- The difference between the region with the lowest unemployment rate, the Eastern EU, and the region with the highest, the Southern EU, is 8.03 percentage points.
- The Southern EU has 2.96 times the unemployment rate that the Eastern EU does.
- The Eastern EU has an unemployment rate lower than all Northern EU states and all but one Southern EU states.
- The Southern EU has an unemployment rate that is higher than every state in every other region.
Caveats
- Data is from January 2019 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from December 2018 and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from November 2018.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
- The Eastern EU consists of Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
- 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
The Northern EU had the biggest monthly improvement in its rate dropping from 6.15% to 5.90%. The Southern EU had the best performance year over year dropping from a rate of 13.56% to a rate of 12.13%.
Eight states have an unemployment rate lower than that of the Eastern EU: four from the Eastern EU, three from the Western EU, and one from the Southern EU. Two states have a rate higher than that of the Southern EU and they are both from the Southern EU.
Sources
Eurostat. 2019. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed March 21, 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.