The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU and US state as of December 2020 (unless otherwise noted - see caveats below), the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. No states have a rate below three percent.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the lowest unemployment rate, Nebraska, and the state with the highest, Greece, is 13.40 percentage points (down from 13.70 last month and down from 14.70 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 5.47 times the unemployment rate that Nebraska 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).
- The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 5.90 (up from 5.85 last month and up from 3.45 last year) and the mean 5.91 (down from 6.04 the previous month and up from 3.54 last year).
- The median unemployment rate in the 78 EU and US states is 5.90 (down from 6.05 last month and up from 3.70 last year) and the mean 6.29 (down from 6.38 the previous month and up from 4.35 last year).
- Of the 78 states, seven (4 US, 3 EU) saw no change in the unemployment rate from the previous month, 41 saw an improvement (28 US, 13 EU), and 30 saw the rate increase (18 US, 12 EU).
- Of the 78 states, one (1 US, 0 EU) saw no change in the unemployment rate from last year, five saw an improvement (2 US, 3 EU), and 72 saw the unemployment rate increase over the year (47 US, 25 EU).
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, New Jersey had the best performance over the previous month dropping 2.6 percentage points. Colorado had the worst performance rising 2.0 percentage points. Year over year, Italy had the best performance with a 0.6 percentage point drop while Hawaii had the worst performance with a 6.6 percentage point rise.
In relative terms, Arkansas had the best performance over the previous month with a 33.33% drop in its rate while Colorado had the worst performance with a 31.25% rise in its rate. Year over year, South Dakota had the best performance with a 11.76% drop in its rate while Hawaii had the worst performance with a 244.44% rise in its rate.
Ten states (7 US, 3 EU) have an unemployment rate below four percent (up from 7 - 5 US, 2 EU - last month and down from 47 - 39 US, 8 EU - last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Fifty-three (36 US, 17 EU) have a rate between four and eight percent (down from 55 - 37 US, 18 EU - last month, up from 27 - 11 US, 16 EU - last year), and 15 (7 US, 8 EU) have a rate above eight percent (down from 16 - 8 US, 8 EU - last month, up from 4 - 0 US, 4 EU - last year).
Arkansas (from 43rd lowest unemployment rate to 13th lowest out of 78) rose 30 spots between last month and this month. On the other hand, Missouri (from 12th to 34th) fell 22 spots. Year-over-year, Alaska (from 67th to 34th) rose 33 spots. Conversely, Hawaii (from 8th to 75th) fell 67 spots.
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2021. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed February 4, 2021. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.
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.