The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU state as of February 2020 (unless otherwise noted - see caveats below), the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. Czechia, the Netherlands, 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 14.30 percentage points (down from 14.50 last month and down from 16.60 last year). Czechia and Greece had the lowest and highest rates respectively both last month and last year.
- Greece has 8.15 times the unemployment rate that Czechia does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was down from 8.25 last month and down from 9.74 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 28 EU states is 5.05 (up from 5.00 the previous month and down from 5.25 last year) and the mean 5.77 (down from 5.79 the previous month and down from 6.11 last year).
- Thirteen states did not see a change in their unemployment rate from the previous month, 11 saw an improvement, and four 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 February 2020 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from January 2020 and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from December 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, Cyprus, and Portugal had the greatest improvement over the previous month dropping 0.2 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 2.2 percentage point drop while Sweden had the greatest deterioration with a 0.9 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, Cyprus and the Netherlands had the greatest improvement over the previous month with a 3.33% drop in their rate while Estonia had the biggest deterioration with a 6.82% 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 13.43% rise in its rate.
Nine EU states have an unemployment rate below four percent (same as nine last month, up from eight last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Fifteen have a rate between four and eight percent (same as 15 last month, down from 16 last year), and four have a rate above eight percent (same as four last month, same as four last year).
Portugal (from 23rd lowest unemployment rate to 21st lowest) bested two states over the course of the month. On the flip side, Hungary (from 5th to 6th), the United Kingdom (from 7th to 8th), Denmark (from 13th to 14th), Finland (from 20th to 21st), and Lithuania (from 22nd to 23rd) were each bested by one state. Year-over-year, Cyprus (from 24th to 18th) surpassed six states. Conversely, Lithuania (from 18th to 23rd) was bested by five states.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 4.7 | 4.3 | 4.4 |
| Belgium | 5.5 | 5.2 | 5.2 |
| Bulgaria | 4.7 | 4.1 | 4.1 |
| Croatia | 7.2 | 6.3 | 6.2 |
| Cyprus | 7.5 | 6 | 5.8 |
| Czechia | 1.9 | 2 | 2 |
| Denmark | 5.1 | 4.8 | 4.9 |
| Estonia | 4.2 | 4.4 | 4.7 |
| Finland | 6.7 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| France | 8.7 | 8.2 | 8.1 |
| Germany | 3.2 | 3.2 | 3.2 |
| Greece | 18.5 | 16.5 | 16.3 |
| Hungary | 3.5 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
| Ireland | 5 | 4.8 | 4.8 |
| Italy | 10.5 | 9.8 | 9.7 |
| Latvia | 6.6 | 6.5 | 6.4 |
| Lithuania | 6 | 6.6 | 6.6 |
| Luxembourg | 5.4 | 5.7 | 5.7 |
| Malta | 3.7 | 3.4 | 3.3 |
| Netherlands | 3.4 | 3 | 2.9 |
| Poland | 3.8 | 2.9 | 2.9 |
| Portugal | 6.5 | 6.7 | 6.5 |
| Romania | 3.8 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| Slovakia | 5.9 | 5.5 | 5.5 |
| Slovenia | 4.5 | 3.7 | 3.6 |
| Spain | 14.2 | 13.7 | 13.6 |
| Sweden | 6.7 | 7.2 | 7.6 |
| United Kingdom | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
Sources
Eurostat. 2020. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed April 13, 2020. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_-2827241C_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.