The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU state as of January 2020 (unless otherwise noted - see caveats below), the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. Czechia and Poland are the only states with an unemployment rate below three percent.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the lowest unemployment rate, Czechia, and the state with the highest, Greece, is 14.50 percentage points (down from 14.60 last month and down from 16.50 last year). Czechia and Greece had the lowest and highest rates respectively both last month and last year.
- Greece has 8.25 times the unemployment rate that Czechia does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was down from 8.30 last month and down from 8.86 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 28 EU states is 5.10 (same as 5.10 the previous month and down from 5.25 last year) and the mean 5.84 (up from 5.81 the previous month and down from 6.15 last year).
- Eleven states did not see a change in their unemployment rate from the previous month, seven saw an improvement, and ten states saw their rate increase.
- Two states saw no change in their unemployment rate from last year, 20 saw an improvement, and six states saw their rate increase.
Caveats
- Data is from January 2020 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from December 2019 and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from November 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, Cyprus had the greatest improvement over the previous month dropping 0.3 percentage points. Sweden had the biggest spike in its rate rising 0.5 percentage points. Year over year, Greece had the greatest improvement with a 2.1 percentage point drop while Sweden had the greatest deterioration with a 1.0 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, the Netherlands had the greatest improvement over the previous month with a 6.25% drop in its rate while Sweden had the biggest deterioration with a 7.58% rise in its rate. Year over year, Poland had the greatest improvement with a 23.68% drop in its rate while Sweden had the greatest deterioration with a 16.39% rise in its rate.
Eight EU states have an unemployment rate below four percent (up from seven last month, same as eight last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Sixteen have a rate between four and eight percent (down from 17 last month, same as 16 last year), and four have a rate above eight percent (same as four last month, same as four last year).
Hungary (from 6th lowest unemployment rate to 5th lowest), Slovakia (from 17th to 16th), Cyprus (from 19th to 18th), Finland (from 22nd to 21st), and Portugal (from 24th to 23rd) each bested one state over the course of the month. On the flip side, Sweden (from 22nd to 24th) was bested by two states. Year-over-year, Cyprus (from 24th to 18th) surpassed six states. Conversely, Sweden (from 18th to 24th) was bested by six states.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 4.7 | 4.2 | 4.3 |
| Belgium | 5.6 | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| Bulgaria | 4.8 | 4.2 | 4.1 |
| Croatia | 7.2 | 6.2 | 6.1 |
| Cyprus | 7.6 | 6.3 | 6 |
| Czechia | 2.1 | 2 | 2 |
| Denmark | 5.3 | 4.9 | 4.9 |
| Estonia | 4.3 | 4.3 | 4.5 |
| Finland | 6.7 | 6.6 | 6.6 |
| France | 8.7 | 8.2 | 8.2 |
| Germany | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3.2 |
| Greece | 18.6 | 16.6 | 16.5 |
| Hungary | 3.6 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
| Ireland | 5.1 | 4.7 | 4.8 |
| Italy | 10.4 | 9.8 | 9.8 |
| Latvia | 6.7 | 6.3 | 6.4 |
| Lithuania | 6.1 | 6.4 | 6.6 |
| Luxembourg | 5.2 | 5.6 | 5.7 |
| Malta | 3.6 | 3.3 | 3.4 |
| Netherlands | 3.6 | 3.2 | 3 |
| Poland | 3.8 | 2.9 | 2.9 |
| Portugal | 6.6 | 6.7 | 6.9 |
| Romania | 3.9 | 4 | 3.9 |
| Slovakia | 5.9 | 5.7 | 5.7 |
| Slovenia | 4.5 | 4.6 | 4.7 |
| Spain | 14.3 | 13.7 | 13.7 |
| Sweden | 6.1 | 6.6 | 7.1 |
| United Kingdom | 3.9 | 3.8 | 3.7 |
Sources
Eurostat. 2020. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed March 6, 2020. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_-100CDDE9_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.