The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU state as of March 2020 (unless otherwise noted - see caveats below), the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. Czechia and the Netherlands 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 14.20 percentage points (down from 14.50 last month and down from 16.40 last year). Czechia and Greece had the lowest and highest rates respectively both last month and last year.
- Greece has 8.10 times the unemployment rate that Czechia does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was down from 8.63 last month and down from 8.81 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 28 EU states is 5.30 (up from 5.00 the previous month and down from 5.40 last year) and the mean 5.95 (up from 5.77 the previous month and down from 6.11 last year).
- Six states did not see a change in their unemployment rate from the previous month, four saw an improvement, and 18 states saw their rate increase.
- Two states saw no change in their unemployment rate from last year, 17 saw an improvement, and nine states saw their rate increase.
Caveats
- Data is from March 2020 except for Estonia, Hungary, and Portugal which are from February 2020 and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from January 2020 (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, Italy had the greatest improvement over the previous month dropping 0.9 percentage points. Spain and Cyprus had the biggest spike rising 0.9 percentage points. Year over year, Greece had the greatest improvement with a 2.3 percentage point drop while Lithuania had the greatest deterioration with a 1.1 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, Sweden had the greatest improvement over the previous month with a 10.67% drop in its rate while Romania had the biggest deterioration with a 17.95% rise in its rate. Year over year, Italy had the greatest improvement with a 19.23% drop in its rate while Romania had the greatest deterioration with a 24.32% rise in its rate.
Eight EU states have an unemployment rate below four percent (down from nine last month, same as eight last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Sixteen have a rate between four and eight percent (same as 16 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).
Portugal (from 23rd lowest unemployment rate to 17th lowest) bested six states over the course of the month. On the flip side, Croatia (from 19th to 22nd) and Latvia (from 20th to 23rd) were each bested by three states. Year-over-year, Cyprus (from 24th to 20th) surpassed four states. Conversely, Lithuania (from 18th to 24th) was bested by six states.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 4.7 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Belgium | 5.5 | 5.2 | 5.3 |
| Bulgaria | 4.5 | 4 | 4.5 |
| Croatia | 7 | 6.2 | 6.8 |
| Cyprus | 7.6 | 5.8 | 6.7 |
| Czechia | 2.1 | 1.9 | 2 |
| Denmark | 5.3 | 4.8 | 4.8 |
| Estonia | 4.4 | 4.7 | 4.7 |
| Finland | 6.7 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| France | 8.6 | 7.9 | 8.4 |
| Germany | 3.2 | 3.4 | 3.5 |
| Greece | 18.5 | 16.4 | 16.2 |
| Hungary | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.6 |
| Ireland | 5 | 4.8 | 5.3 |
| Italy | 10.4 | 9.3 | 8.4 |
| Latvia | 6.4 | 6.5 | 6.9 |
| Lithuania | 6 | 6.6 | 7.1 |
| Luxembourg | 5.6 | 5.7 | 6.5 |
| Malta | 3.6 | 3.4 | 3.5 |
| Netherlands | 3.3 | 2.9 | 2.9 |
| Poland | 3.6 | 3 | 3 |
| Portugal | 6.5 | 6.8 | 6.4 |
| Romania | 3.7 | 3.9 | 4.6 |
| Slovakia | 5.8 | 5.5 | 5.6 |
| Slovenia | 4.4 | 3.6 | 3.8 |
| Spain | 14.2 | 13.6 | 14.5 |
| Sweden | 7.3 | 7.5 | 6.7 |
| United Kingdom | 3.8 | 3.7 | 3.8 |
Sources
Eurostat. 2020. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed May 12, 2020. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_-6227E363_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.