The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU state as of May 2020 (unless otherwise noted - see caveats below), the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. Czechia is the only state 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, Spain, is 12.10 percentage points (down from 13.70 last month and down from 16.10 last year). Czechia and Greece had the lowest and highest rates respectively both last month and last year.
- Spain has 6.04 times the unemployment rate that Czechia does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was down from 7.23 last month and down from 9.05 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 28 EU states is 5.55 (up from 5.35 the previous month and up from 5.30 last year) and the mean 6.61 (up from 6.41 the previous month and up from 6.00 last year).
- One state did not see a change in its unemployment rate from the previous month, six saw an improvement, and 21 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 May 2020 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from April 2020 and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from March 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, Greece had the greatest improvement over the previous month dropping 1.5 percentage points. Cyprus had the biggest spike rising 1.3 percentage points. Year over year, Greece had the greatest improvement with a 3.7 percentage point drop while Latvia had the greatest deterioration with a 3.5 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, Portugal had the greatest improvement over the previous month with a 12.70% drop in its rate while Estonia had the biggest deterioration with a 25.00% rise in its rate. Year over year, Italy had the greatest improvement with a 22.00% drop in its rate while Latvia had the greatest deterioration with a 55.56% rise in its rate.
Five EU states have an unemployment rate below four percent (down from six last month, down 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 eight have a rate above eight percent (up from seven last month, up from four last year).
France (from 24th lowest unemployment rate to 21st lowest) bested three states over the course of the month. On the flip side, Estonia (from 8th to 16th) was bested by eight states. Year-over-year, Portugal (from 20th to 14th) and Italy (from 26th to 20th) surpassed six states each. Conversely, Lithuania (from 18th to 24th) and Latvia (from 19th to 25th) were each bested by six states.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 4.5 | 5.2 | 5.4 |
| Belgium | 5.5 | 5.3 | 5.4 |
| Bulgaria | 4.1 | 4.8 | 4.6 |
| Croatia | 6.7 | 8.1 | 8.9 |
| Cyprus | 7.3 | 8.9 | 10.2 |
| Czechia | 2 | 2.2 | 2.4 |
| Denmark | 4.9 | 4.9 | 5 |
| Estonia | 4.9 | 4.8 | 6 |
| Finland | 6.7 | 6.9 | 7 |
| France | 8.5 | 8.7 | 8.1 |
| Germany | 3.1 | 3.8 | 3.9 |
| Greece | 18.1 | 15.9 | 14.4 |
| Hungary | 3.4 | 3.7 | 4.1 |
| Ireland | 5.1 | 5.4 | 5.6 |
| Italy | 10 | 6.6 | 7.8 |
| Latvia | 6.3 | 9 | 9.8 |
| Lithuania | 6.1 | 8.6 | 9.3 |
| Luxembourg | 5.7 | 7.5 | 7.7 |
| Malta | 3.4 | 4.1 | 4.2 |
| Netherlands | 3.3 | 3.4 | 3.6 |
| Poland | 3.3 | 2.9 | 3 |
| Portugal | 6.6 | 6.3 | 5.5 |
| Romania | 3.9 | 4.8 | 5.2 |
| Slovakia | 5.7 | 6.4 | 6.5 |
| Slovenia | 4.3 | 4.8 | 4.8 |
| Spain | 14.2 | 14.6 | 14.5 |
| Sweden | 6.6 | 7.9 | 8.5 |
| United Kingdom | 3.7 | 3.9 | 3.8 |
Sources
Eurostat. 2020. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed July 7, 2020. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_-4B77E5C8_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.