The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU state as of November 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 13.50 percentage points (down from 13.60 last month and down from 14.80 last year). Czechia had the lowest rate last month and last year. Greece had the highest rate last month and last year.
- Spain has 5.66 times the unemployment rate that Czechia does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was down from 5.69 last month and down from 8.05 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 28 EU states is 6.80 (same as 6.80 the previous month and up from 5.15 last year) and the mean 7.04 (down from 7.22 the previous month and up from 5.86 last year).
- Of the 28 states, eight saw no change in the unemployment rate from the previous month, 13 saw an improvement, and seven 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 November 2020 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from October 2020 and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from September 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, Cyprus had the best performance over the previous month dropping 2.7 percentage points. Ireland, Spain, France, and the United Kingdom had the worst performance rising 0.2 percentage points. Year over year, Greece had the best performance with a 0.8 percentage point drop while Estonia had the worst performance with a 4.0 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, Cyprus had the best performance over the previous month with a 25.71% drop in its rate while the United Kingdom had the worst performance with a 4.26% rise in its rate. Year over year, Italy had the best performance with a 7.29% drop in its rate while Estonia had the worst performance with a 97.56% rise in its rate.
Two EU states have an unemployment rate below four percent (same as two last month, down from seven last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Eighteen have a rate between four and eight percent (up from 16 last month, up from 17 last year), and eight have a rate above eight percent (down from 10 last month, up from four last year).
Cyprus (from 26th to 19th) rose seven spots over the course of the month. On the flip side, Austria (from 9th to 11th), Ireland (from 15th to 17th), Estonia (from 19th to 21st), Latvia (from 19th to 21st), and France (from 22nd to 24th) fell two spots. Year-over-year, Portugal (from 22nd to 16th) rose six spots. Conversely, Estonia (from 9th to 21st) fell 12 spots.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 4.3 | 5.1 | 5.2 |
| Belgium | 5.2 | 6.3 | 6.1 |
| Bulgaria | 4.2 | 5.1 | 4.9 |
| Croatia | 6.4 | 7.8 | 7.5 |
| Cyprus | 6.5 | 10.5 | 7.8 |
| Czechia | 2.1 | 2.9 | 2.9 |
| Denmark | 5.1 | 5.9 | 5.8 |
| Estonia | 4.1 | 8.1 | 8.1 |
| Finland | 6.8 | 8.1 | 7.8 |
| France | 8.2 | 8.6 | 8.8 |
| Germany | 3.2 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Greece | 16.9 | 16.5 | 16.1 |
| Hungary | 3.6 | 4.4 | 4.5 |
| Ireland | 4.6 | 7.1 | 7.3 |
| Italy | 9.6 | 9.5 | 8.9 |
| Latvia | 6 | 8.1 | 8.1 |
| Lithuania | 6.5 | 10.4 | 10.4 |
| Luxembourg | 5.6 | 6.5 | 6.5 |
| Malta | 3.6 | 4.7 | 4.8 |
| Netherlands | 3.5 | 4.3 | 4 |
| Poland | 2.9 | 3.4 | 3.3 |
| Portugal | 6.7 | 7.5 | 7.2 |
| Romania | 4 | 5.3 | 5.1 |
| Slovakia | 5.6 | 7.1 | 7.1 |
| Slovenia | 4.1 | 4.9 | 4.9 |
| Spain | 13.8 | 16.2 | 16.4 |
| Sweden | 7.4 | 8.6 | 8.3 |
| United Kingdom | 3.7 | 4.7 | 4.9 |
Sources
Eurostat. 2021. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed January 13, 2021. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_6BEC649F_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-055624AGE,TOTAL;DS-055624S_ADJ,SA;DS-055624UNIT,PC_ACT;DS-055624SEX,T;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.