The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU and US region as of January 2019 (unless otherwise noted), the change from the previous month, and the previous year. Although US regions have some of the lowest unemployment rates, most US regions saw a monthly increase in their unemployment rate while most EU regions saw a monthly improvement.
Findings
- The difference between the region with the lowest unemployment rate, the Southern US, and the region with the highest, the Southern EU, is 8.46 percentage points.
- The Southern EU has 3.31 times the unemployment rate that the Southern US does.
- The Southern, Midwestern, and Northeastern US each has an unemployment rate that is lower than every state in the Northern and Southern EU.
- The Eastern and Western EU and the Western US each has an unemployment rate that is lower than every state in the Northern EU.
- The Southern EU has an unemployment rate that is higher than every state in every other region.
- The Northern EU has an unemployment rate that is higher than every state in the Northeastern, Midwestern, and Southern US.
- The Western EU has an unemployment rate that is higher than every state in the Northeastern and Midwestern US.
- The Western US and the Eastern EU each has an unemployment rate that is higher than every state in the Northeastern US.
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 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
The Northern EU had the best monthly improvement in its unemployment rate dropping from 6.15% to 5.90%. The Southern EU had the best improvement year over year dropping from a rate of 13.56% to a rate of 12.13%.
The Western US had the worst monthly performance in its rate as it went from 4.14% to 4.21%. It also had the worst performance year over year only dropping from a rate of 4.24% to a rate of 4.21%.
Twenty-six states have an unemployment rate lower than that of the Southern US: four from the EU and 22 from the US. Two states have a rate higher than that of the Southern EU and they are both from the EU.
Unemployment rates in the US range from a low of 2.4% in Iowa and New Hampshire to a high of 6.5% in Alaska. The EU's rates range from a low of 2.1% in the Czech Republic to a high of 18.3% in Greece.
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2019. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed February 6, 2019. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.
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.