The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU state as of December 2020 (unless otherwise noted - see caveats below), the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. There are no states 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 13.30 percentage points (down from 13.70 last month and down from 14.70 last year). Czechia had the lowest rate last month and last year. Greece had the highest rate last month and last year.
- Greece has 5.29 times the unemployment rate that Czechia does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was down from 5.72 last month and down from 8.35 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 28 EU states is 6.15 (down from 6.30 the previous month and up from 5.10 last year) and the mean 6.98 (down from 7.00 the previous month and up from 5.81 last year).
- Of the 28 states, three saw no change in the unemployment rate from the previous month, 13 saw an improvement, and 12 saw the rate increase.
- Of the 28 states, zero saw no change in the unemployment rate from last year, three saw an improvement, and 25 saw the rate increase.
Caveats
- Data is from December 2020 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from November 2020 and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from October 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, Portugal had the best performance over the previous month dropping 0.6 percentage points. Finland had the worst performance rising 0.6 percentage points. Year over year, Italy had the best performance with a 0.6 percentage point drop while Lithuania had the worst performance with a 3.7 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, Portugal had the best performance over the previous month with a 8.45% drop in its rate while the United Kingdom had the worst performance with a 10.20% rise in its rate. Year over year, Italy had the best performance with a 6.25% drop in its rate while Estonia had the worst performance with a 81.40% rise in its rate.
Three EU states have an unemployment rate below four percent (up from two last month, down from eight last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Seventeen have a rate between four and eight percent (down from 18 last month, up from 16 last year), and eight have a rate above eight percent (same as eight last month, up from four last year).
Belgium (from 14th to 11th) rose three spots over the course of the month. On the flip side, the United Kingdom (from 7th to 10th) and Finland (from 19th to 22nd) fell three spots. Year-over-year, Portugal (from 24th to 15th) rose nine spots. Conversely, Estonia (from 11th to 20th) fell nine spots.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 4.3 | 5.5 | 5.8 |
| Belgium | 5.2 | 6.1 | 5.8 |
| Bulgaria | 4.2 | 5 | 4.8 |
| Croatia | 6.4 | 7.5 | 7.5 |
| Cyprus | 6.3 | 7.8 | 7.3 |
| Czechia | 2 | 2.9 | 3.1 |
| Denmark | 5 | 5.7 | 5.8 |
| Estonia | 4.3 | 8.1 | 7.8 |
| Finland | 6.6 | 7.8 | 8.4 |
| France | 8.2 | 8.8 | 8.9 |
| Germany | 3.3 | 4.5 | 4.6 |
| Greece | 16.7 | 16.6 | 16.4 |
| Hungary | 3.4 | 4.5 | 4.3 |
| Ireland | 4.9 | 6 | 5.8 |
| Italy | 9.6 | 8.8 | 9 |
| Latvia | 6.5 | 8.1 | 8.2 |
| Lithuania | 6.4 | 10.4 | 10.1 |
| Luxembourg | 5.6 | 6.5 | 6.7 |
| Malta | 3.6 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
| Netherlands | 3.2 | 4 | 3.9 |
| Poland | 2.9 | 3.3 | 3.3 |
| Portugal | 6.7 | 7.1 | 6.5 |
| Romania | 4 | 5.1 | 4.9 |
| Slovakia | 5.6 | 7.1 | 7 |
| Slovenia | 3.8 | 4.9 | 4.7 |
| Spain | 13.7 | 16.1 | 16.2 |
| Sweden | 6.6 | 8.3 | 8.7 |
| United Kingdom | 3.7 | 4.9 | 5.4 |
Sources
Eurostat. 2021. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed February 23, 2021. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_2B7A2CD3_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.
Office for National Statistics. 2021. "X01: Labour Force Survey Single-Month Estimates." Accessed February 23, 2021. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/labourforcesurveysinglemonthestimatesx01.