The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU state as of October 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, Greece, is 13.90 percentage points (down from 14.20 last month and down from 14.90 last year). Czechia had the lowest rate last month and last year. Greece had the highest rate last month and last year.
- Greece has 5.79 times the unemployment rate that Czechia does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was down from 6.07 last month and down from 8.45 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 28 EU states is 6.75 (same as 6.75 the previous month and up from 5.20 last year) and the mean 7.21 (down from 7.22 the previous month and up from 5.86 last year).
- Of the 28 states, six saw no change in the unemployment rate from the previous month, 13 saw an improvement, and nine saw the rate increase.
- Of the 28 states, zero saw no change in the unemployment rate from last year, two saw an improvement, and 26 saw the rate increase.
Caveats
- Data is from October 2020 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from September 2020 and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from August 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, Bulgaria had the best performance over the previous month dropping 0.5 percentage points. Cyprus had the worst performance rising 1.2 percentage points. Year over year, Belgium and Greece had the best performance with a 0.1 percentage point drop while Lithuania had the worst performance with a 4.0 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, Bulgaria had the best performance over the previous month with a 8.06% drop in its rate while Cyprus had the worst performance with a 12.90% rise in its rate. Year over year, Belgium had the best performance with a 1.92% drop in its rate while Estonia had the worst performance with a 88.37% rise in its rate.
Three EU states have an unemployment rate below four percent (same as three last month, down from eight last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Sixteen have a rate between four and eight percent (up from 15 last month, same as 16 last year), and nine have a rate above eight percent (down from 10 last month, up from four last year).
The Netherlands (from 5th to 4th), Germany (from 7th to 6th), Belgium (from 10th to 9th), Bulgaria (from 13th to 12th), Croatia (from 19th to 18th), Latvia (from 19th to 18th), Sweden (from 23rd to 22nd), Italy (from 25th to 24th), and Lithuania (from 26th to 25th) each bested one state over the course of the month. On the flip side, the United Kingdom (from 4th to 7th) was bested by three states. Year-over-year, Belgium (from 14th to 9th) surpassed five states. Conversely, Estonia (from 10th to 20th) was bested by 10 states.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 4.4 | 5.4 | 5.4 |
| Belgium | 5.2 | 5.2 | 5.1 |
| Bulgaria | 4.2 | 6.2 | 5.7 |
| Croatia | 6.4 | 8.2 | 8 |
| Cyprus | 6.6 | 9.3 | 10.5 |
| Czechia | 2 | 2.8 | 2.9 |
| Denmark | 5.2 | 6 | 5.8 |
| Estonia | 4.3 | 8 | 8.1 |
| Finland | 6.8 | 8.3 | 8.3 |
| France | 8.3 | 8.8 | 8.6 |
| Germany | 3.1 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Greece | 16.9 | 17 | 16.8 |
| Hungary | 3.5 | 4.4 | 4.4 |
| Ireland | 4.7 | 7.2 | 7.2 |
| Italy | 9.5 | 9.7 | 9.8 |
| Latvia | 5.8 | 8.2 | 8 |
| Lithuania | 6.4 | 10.5 | 10.4 |
| Luxembourg | 5.5 | 6.7 | 6.5 |
| Malta | 3.6 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
| Netherlands | 3.5 | 4.4 | 4.3 |
| Poland | 3 | 3.4 | 3.5 |
| Portugal | 6.5 | 7.9 | 7.5 |
| Romania | 3.9 | 5.1 | 5.3 |
| Slovakia | 5.7 | 6.8 | 7 |
| Slovenia | 4.4 | 4.7 | 4.9 |
| Spain | 14 | 16.3 | 16.2 |
| Sweden | 6.8 | 8.9 | 8.6 |
| United Kingdom | 3.8 | 4.3 | 4.6 |
Sources
Eurostat. 2020. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed December 10, 2020. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_-164133C8_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.