The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU and US state as of July 2019 (unless otherwise noted - see caveats below), the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. Czechia is the only EU state with an unemployment rate below three percent. Eleven US states have a rate below three percent.
Findings
- The difference between the states with the lowest unemployment rate, Czechia and Vermont, and the state with the highest, Greece, is 15.00 percentage points (down from 15.50 last month and down from 17.10 last year). Czechia and Greece had the lowest and highest rates respectively both last month and last year.
- Greece has 8.14 times the unemployment rate that Czechia and Vermont do. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was down from 9.16 last month and down from 8.43 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 28 EU states is 5.30 (down from 5.35 the previous month and down from 5.60 last year) and the mean 5.99 (same as 5.99 the previous month and down from 6.51 last year).
- The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 3.40 (down from 3.50 last month and down from 3.75 last year) and the mean 3.59 (down from 3.60 the previous month and down from 3.72 last year).
- The median unemployment rate in the 78 EU and US states is 3.80 (up from 3.75 last month and down from 4.00 last year) and the mean 4.45 (down from 4.46 the previous month and down from 4.72 last year).
- Thirty states (19 from the US and 11 from the EU) did not see a change in their unemployment rate from the previous month, 25 saw an improvement (17 from the US and 8 from the EU), and 23 saw their rate increase (14 from the US and 9 from the EU).
- Ten states (10 from the US and 0 from the EU) did not see a change in their unemployment rate from last year, while 52 saw an improvement (27 from the US and 25 from the EU), and 16 saw their unemployment rate increase over the year (13 from the US and 3 from the EU).
Caveats
- Data is from July 2019 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from June 2019 and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from May 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, Estonia had the greatest improvement over the previous month dropping 0.4 percentage points. Sweden had the biggest spike in its rate rising 0.4 percentage points. Year over year, Greece had the greatest improvement with a 2.3 percentage point drop while Sweden had the greatest deterioration with a 0.8 percentage point rise.
In relative terms, Estonia had the greatest improvement over the previous month with a 8.00% drop in its rate while Czechia had the biggest deterioration with a 10.53% rise in its rate. Year over year, Vermont had the greatest improvement with a 22.22% drop in its rate while Minnesota had the greatest deterioration with a 21.43% rise in its rate.
Forty-two states (34 from the US and 8 from the EU) have an unemployment rate below four percent (down from 42 - 34 US, 8 EU - last month and up from 37 - 30 US, 7 EU - last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Thirty-two (16 from the US and 16 from the EU) have a rate between four and eight percent (same as 32 - 16 US, 16 EU - last month, down from 35 - 20 US, 15 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).
Alabama (from 29th lowest unemployment rate to 18th lowest) and New Jersey (from 29th to 18th) each bested 11 states between last month and this month. On the other hand, Hungary (from 22nd to 33rd) and Tennessee (from 22nd to 33rd) were bested by 11 states. Year-over-year, Alabama (from 38th to 18th) and New Jersey (from 38th to 18th) each bested 20 states. Conversely, North Carolina (from 29th to 48th) was bested by 19 states.
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2019. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed September 9, 2019. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.
Eurostat. 2019. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed September 6, 2019. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_-3EAD1600_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=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.