The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU and US state as of July 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. No 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 14.30 percentage points (down from 15.00 last month and down from 15.20 last year). Czechia had the lowest rate last month and the lowest rate last year. Massachusetts had the highest rate last month while Greece had the highest rate last year.
- Greece has 6.30 times the unemployment rate that Czechia does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was down from 6.56 last month and down from 8.60 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 28 EU states is 6.40 (up from 6.30 the previous month and up from 5.20 last year) and the mean 6.92 (up from 6.80 the previous month and up from 5.99 last year).
- The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 8.55 (down from 9.00 last month and up from 3.45 last year) and the mean 9.22 (down from 9.85 the previous month and up from 3.56 last year).
- The median unemployment rate in the 78 EU and US states is 7.95 (down from 8.35 last month and up from 3.75 last year) and the mean 8.39 (down from 8.76 the previous month and up from 4.43 last year).
- Seven states (1 from the US and 6 from the EU) saw no change in the unemployment rate from the previous month, 44 saw an improvement (36 from the US and 8 from the EU), and 27 saw the rate increase (13 from the US and 14 from the EU).
- Three states (0 from the US and 3 from the EU) saw no change in the unemployment rate from last year, while five saw an improvement (0 from the US and 5 from the EU), and 70 saw the unemployment rate increase over the year (50 from the US and 20 from the EU).
Caveats
- Data is from July 2020 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from June 2020 and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from May 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, Michigan had the best performance over the previous month dropping 6.2 percentage points. New Mexico had the worst performance rising 4.3 percentage points. Year over year, France had the best performance with a 1.6 percentage point drop while Massachusetts had the worst performance with a 13.2 percentage point rise.
In relative terms, Michigan had the best performance over the previous month with a 41.61% drop in its rate while New Mexico had the worst performance with a 51.19% rise in its rate. Year over year, France had the best performance with a 18.82% drop in its rate while Massachusetts had the worst performance with a 455.17% rise in its rate.
Three states (0 from the US and 3 from the EU) have an unemployment rate below four percent (same as 3 - 0 US, 3 EU - last month and down from 45 - 38 US, 7 EU - last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Thirty-nine (22 from the US and 17 from the EU) have a rate between four and eight percent (up from 33 - 15 US, 18 EU - last month, up from 29 - 12 US, 17 EU - last year), and 36 (28 from the US and 8 from the EU) have a rate above eight percent (down from 42 - 35 US, 7 EU - last month, up from 4 - 0 US, 4 EU - last year).
Colorado (from 61st lowest unemployment rate to 33rd lowest) bested 28 states between last month and this month. On the other hand, Maine (from 22nd to 57th) was bested by 35 states. Year-over-year, France (from 75th to 24th) bested 51 states. Conversely, Massachusetts (from 12th to 77th) was bested by 65 states.
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2020. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed September 8, 2020. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.
Eurostat. 2020. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed September 9, 2020. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_-48B4C3BD_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.