The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU and US 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. 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 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 the lowest rate last year. Greece had the highest rate last month and the highest rate 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).
- The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 6.05 (down from 6.70 last month and up from 3.45 last year) and the mean 6.33 (down from 7.21 the previous month and up from 3.54 last year).
- The median unemployment rate in the 78 EU and US states is 6.10 (down from 6.70 last month and up from 3.70 last year) and the mean 6.65 (down from 7.21 the previous month and up from 4.37 last year).
- Of the 78 states, seven (1 US, 6 EU) saw no change in the unemployment rate from the previous month, 52 saw an improvement (39 US, 13 EU), and 19 saw the rate increase (10 US, 9 EU).
- Of the 78 states, one (1 US, 0 EU) saw no change in the unemployment rate from last year, while three saw an improvement (1 US, 2 EU), and 74 saw the unemployment rate increase over the year (48 US, 26 EU).
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, Illinois had the best performance over the previous month dropping 3.6 percentage points. Kentucky had the worst performance rising 1.8 percentage points. Year over year, Alaska had the best performance with a 0.2 percentage point drop while Hawaii had the worst performance with a 11.6 percentage point rise.
In relative terms, Michigan had the best performance over the previous month with a 36.05% drop in its rate while Kentucky had the worst performance with a 32.14% rise in its rate. Year over year, Alaska had the best performance with a 3.28% drop in its rate while Hawaii had the worst performance with a 429.63% rise in its rate.
Seven states (4 US, 3 EU) have an unemployment rate below four percent (up from 4 - 1 US, 3 EU - last month and down from 47 - 39 US, 8 EU - last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Fifty-five (39 US, 16 EU) have a rate between four and eight percent (up from 49 - 34 US, 15 EU - last month, up from 27 - 11 US, 16 EU - last year), and 16 (7 US, 9 EU) have a rate above eight percent (down from 25 - 15 US, 10 EU - last month, up from 4 - 0 US, 4 EU - last year).
Michigan (from 62nd lowest unemployment rate to 28th lowest out of 78) bested 34 states between last month and this month. On the other hand, Kentucky (from 23rd to 54th) was bested by 31 states. Year-over-year, Belgium (from 61st to 22nd) bested 39 states. Conversely, Hawaii (from 8th to 76th) was bested by 68 states.
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2020. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed December 9, 2020. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.
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.