The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU and US 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 EU states with an unemployment rate below three percent. Six US states have a 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 had the lowest rate last month and last year. Greece had the highest rate 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).
- The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 3.95 (up from 3.40 last month and up from 3.50 last year) and the mean 4.16 (up from 3.48 the previous month and up from 3.64 last year).
- The median unemployment rate in the 78 EU and US states is 4.50 (up from 3.60 last month and up from 3.70 last year) and the mean 4.80 (up from 4.30 the previous month and up from 4.53 last year).
- Seventeen states (11 from the US and 6 from the EU) did not see a change in their unemployment rate from the previous month, 11 saw an improvement (7 from the US and 4 from the EU), and 50 saw their rate increase (32 from the US and 18 from the EU).
- Six states (4 from the US and 2 from the EU) did not see a change in their unemployment rate from last year, while 30 saw an improvement (13 from the US and 17 from the EU), and 42 saw their unemployment rate increase over the year (33 from the US and 9 from the EU).
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. Nevada had the biggest spike rising 2.7 percentage points. Year over year, Greece had the greatest improvement with a 2.3 percentage point drop while Louisiana had the greatest deterioration with a 2.4 percentage point rise.
In relative terms, Sweden had the greatest improvement over the previous month with a 10.67% drop in its rate while Colorado had the biggest deterioration with a 80.00% rise in its rate. Year over year, South Carolina had the greatest improvement with a 23.53% drop in its rate while Nevada had the greatest deterioration with a 53.66% rise in its rate.
Thirty-three states (25 from the US and 8 from the EU) have an unemployment rate below four percent (down from 50 - 41 US, 9 EU - last month and down from 41 - 33 US, 8 EU - last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Forty-one (25 from the US and 16 from the EU) have a rate between four and eight percent (up from 25 - 9 US, 16 EU - last month, down from 33 - 17 US, 16 EU - last year), and four (0 from the US and 4 from the EU) have a rate above eight percent (up from 3 - 0 US, 3 EU - last month, same as 4 - 0 US, 4 EU - last year).
Connecticut (from 45th lowest unemployment rate to 28th lowest) bested 17 states between last month and this month. On the other hand, Colorado (from 4th to 39th) was bested by 35 states. Year-over-year, Oregon (from 43rd to 16th) bested 27 states. Conversely, Colorado (from 10th to 39th) was bested by 29 states.
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2020. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed May 11, 2020. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.
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.