The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU and US state as of June 2019 (unless otherwise noted - see caveats below), the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. Czechia is the only state with an unemployment rate below two percent. Ten US states have a rate below three percent.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the lowest unemployment rate, Czechia, and the state with the highest, Greece, is 15.7 percentage points (down from 16.1 last month and down from 17.5 last year). Czechia and Vermont had the lowest rate last month while Greece had the highest rate last month and last year. Czechia had the lowest rates last year.
- Greece has 9.26 times the unemployment rate that Czechia does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was up from 8.67 last month and up from 8.61 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 28 EU states is 5.20 (same as 5.20 the previous month and down from 5.75 last year) and the mean 5.96 (down from 5.98 the previous month and down from 6.61 last year).
- The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 3.50 (down from 3.60 last month and down from 3.80 last year) and the mean 3.60 (down from 3.64 the previous month and down from 3.76 last year).
- The median unemployment rate in the 78 EU and US states is 3.80 (same as 3.80 last month and down from 4.05 last year) and the mean 4.45 (down from 4.48 the previous month and down from 4.78 last year).
- Thirty-seven states (27 from the US and 10 from the EU) did not see a change in their unemployment rate from the previous month, 29 saw an improvement (19 from the US and 10 from the EU), and 12 saw their rate increase (4 from the US and 8 from the EU).
- Six states (4 from the US and 2 from the EU) did not see a change in their unemployment rate from last year, while 57 saw an improvement (33 from the US and 24 from the EU), and 15 saw their unemployment rate increase over the year (13 from the US and 2 from the EU).
Caveats
- Data is from June 2019 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from May 2019 and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from April 2019 (previous month and year rates also reflect the respective one and two 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 greatest improvement over the previous month dropping 0.6 percentage points. Sweden had the biggest spike in its rate rising 0.2 percentage points. Year over year, Greece had the greatest improvement with a 2.2 percentage point drop while Minnesota had the greatest deterioration with a 0.5 percentage point rise.
In relative terms, Czechia had the greatest improvement over the previous month with a 9.52% drop in its rate while New Hampshire had the biggest deterioration with a 4.17% rise in its rate. Year over year, Ireland had the greatest improvement with a 23.73% drop in its rate while Minnesota had the greatest deterioration with a 17.86% rise in its rate.
Forty-one states (34 from the US and 7 from the EU) have an unemployment rate below four percent (down from 42 - 34 US, 8 EU - last month and up from 34 - 28 US, 6 EU - last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Thirty-three (16 from the US and 17 from the EU) have a rate between four and eight percent (same as 32 - 16 US, 16 EU - last month, down from 38 - 22 US, 16 EU - last year), and four (all from the EU) have a rate above eight percent (same as last month, down from six last year - all from the EU).
New Jersey bested two other states between last month and this month as it went from a rate of 3.8% to a rate of 3.5%. On the other hand, Rhode Island was bested by two states as its rate stayed steady at 3.6%. Year-over-year, Delaware bested ten other states as it went from a rate of 3.8% to a rate of 3.2%. Conversely, North Carolina was bested by 12 states as it went from a rate of 3.9% to a rate of 4.1%.
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2019. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed August 11, 2019. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.
Eurostat. 2019. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed August 8, 2019. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_406E325B_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-055624S_ADJ,SA;DS-055624UNIT,PC_ACT;DS-055624SEX,T;DS-055624AGE,TOTAL;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.