The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU region as of February 2020 (unless otherwise noted - see caveats below), the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. The Northern EU is the only region with an unemployment rate higher than the previous month and higher than the previous year.
Findings
- The difference between the region with the lowest unemployment rate, the Eastern EU, and the region with the highest, the Southern EU, is 7.78 percentage points (down from 7.89 last month and down from 8.15 last year). The Eastern and Southern EU held the lowest and highest rates respectively both last month and last year.
- The Southern EU has 3.15 times the unemployment rate that the Eastern EU does (down from 3.18 last month and up from 3.03 last year).
- The Southern EU has an unemployment rate that is higher than every state in every other region.
- One region saw no change in its rate from the previous month, two regions saw an improvement, and one saw a deterioration.
- Zero regions saw no change in their rate from last year, three regions saw an improvement in their rate, and one saw a deterioration.
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.
- The Eastern EU consists of Poland, Czechia, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
- The Northern EU consists of Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.
- The Southern EU consists of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta.
- The Western EU consists of Germany, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, and Luxembourg.
Details
In absolute terms, the Southern EU had the largest monthly decrease dropping its rate 0.11 percentage points from 11.51% to 11.40%. The Northern EU had the largest increase over the previous month raising its rate 0.24 percentage points from 6.38% to 6.62%. Year over year, the Southern EU saw the greatest improvement dropping its rate 0.76 percentage points from 12.16% to 11.40%. The Northern EU had the largest increase raising its rate 0.35 percentage points from 6.27% to 6.62%.
In relative terms, the Southern EU had the largest monthly decrease dropping its rate 0.96%. The Northern EU had the largest deterioration over the previous month raising its rate 3.76%. Year over year, the Eastern EU saw the greatest improvement with a 9.73% drop in its rate. The Northern EU had the largest deterioration with a 5.58% rise in its rate.
The Eastern EU has an unemployment rate lower than all Northern EU states; Czechia, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, Malta, Hungary, and Slovenia are the only states with lower rates. The Southern EU has an unemployment rate that is higher than every state in every other region; Greece and Spain are the only states with a higher rate.
The Northern EU has the smallest range in unemployment rates this month with a low of 4.9% in Denmark to a high of 7.6% in Sweden. The Southern EU has the greatest range with a low of 3.3% in Malta to a high of 16.3% in Greece.
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.