The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU state as of April 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 14.00 percentage points (down from 14.20 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 7.67 times the unemployment rate that Czechia does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was down from 8.10 last month and down from 9.20 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 28 EU states is 5.90 (up from 5.30 the previous month and up from 5.35 last year) and the mean 6.42 (up from 5.90 the previous month and up from 6.01 last year).
- Five states did not see a change in their unemployment rate from the previous month, three saw an improvement, and 20 states saw their rate increase.
- Zero states saw no change in their unemployment rate from last year, six saw an improvement, and 22 states saw their rate increase.
Caveats
- Data is from April 2020 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from March 2020 and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from February 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 1.7 percentage points. Cyprus had the biggest spike rising 2.2 percentage points. Year over year, Italy had the greatest improvement with a 3.9 percentage point drop while Latvia had the greatest deterioration with a 2.7 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, Italy had the greatest improvement over the previous month with a 21.25% drop in its rate while Bulgaria had the biggest deterioration with a 37.78% rise in its rate. Year over year, Italy had the greatest improvement with a 38.24% drop in its rate while Bulgaria had the greatest deterioration with a 44.19% rise in its rate.
Six EU states have an unemployment rate below four percent (down from eight last month, down from eight last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Fifteen have a rate between four and eight percent (down from 18 last month, down from 16 last year), and seven have a rate above eight percent (up from two last month, up from four last year).
Italy (from 26th lowest unemployment rate to 16th lowest) bested ten states over the course of the month. On the flip side, Bulgaria (from 9th to 15th) was bested by six states. Year-over-year, Italy (from 26th to 16th) surpassed ten states. Conversely, Latvia (from 19th to 26th) was bested by seven states.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 4.6 | 4.8 | 4.8 |
| Belgium | 5.5 | 5.3 | 5.6 |
| Bulgaria | 4.3 | 4.5 | 6.2 |
| Croatia | 6.8 | 6.8 | 8.1 |
| Cyprus | 7.5 | 6.7 | 8.9 |
| Czechia | 2 | 2 | 2.1 |
| Denmark | 5.2 | 4.7 | 4.6 |
| Estonia | 4 | 4.7 | 4.8 |
| Finland | 6.7 | 6.6 | 6.6 |
| France | 8.5 | 7.6 | 8.7 |
| Germany | 3.1 | 3.5 | 3.5 |
| Greece | 18.4 | 16.2 | 16.1 |
| Hungary | 3.4 | 3.6 | 3.7 |
| Ireland | 5.2 | 5.3 | 5.4 |
| Italy | 10.2 | 8 | 6.3 |
| Latvia | 6.3 | 7.4 | 9 |
| Lithuania | 6 | 6.6 | 8.6 |
| Luxembourg | 5.7 | 6.6 | 7.5 |
| Malta | 3.4 | 3.6 | 4 |
| Netherlands | 3.3 | 2.9 | 3.4 |
| Poland | 3.4 | 2.9 | 2.9 |
| Portugal | 6.6 | 6.2 | 6.3 |
| Romania | 3.9 | 4.6 | 4.8 |
| Slovakia | 5.8 | 5.6 | 6.8 |
| Slovenia | 4.3 | 3.8 | 4.6 |
| Spain | 14.2 | 14.2 | 14.8 |
| Sweden | 6.4 | 6.7 | 7.9 |
| United Kingdom | 3.7 | 3.8 | 3.8 |
Sources
Eurostat. 2020. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed June 9, 2020. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_1D6465A3_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.