The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU and US region as of December 2020 (unless otherwise noted - see caveats below), the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. All eight regions have higher rates than they did last year.
Findings
- The difference between the region with the lowest unemployment rate, the Eastern EU, and the region with the highest, the Southern EU, is 7.62 percentage points (up from 7.48 last month and down from 8.08 last year). The Southern EU had the highest rate last month and the highest rate last year. The Eastern EU had the lowest rate last month while the Southern US had the lowest rate last year.
- The Southern EU has 2.67 times the unemployment rate that the Eastern EU does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was up from 2.62 last month and down from 3.40 last year.
- Of the eight regions, zero (0 US, 0 EU) had the same rate as the previous month, three (2 US, 1 EU) saw an improvement in the rate from the previous month, and five (2 US, 3 EU) saw a deterioration.
- Of the eight regions, zero (0 US, 0 EU) had the same rate as last year, zero (0 US, 0 EU) saw an improvement in the rate from last year, and eight (4 US, 4 EU) saw a deterioration.
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.
- 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.
- The Eastern EU consists of Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
- The Midwestern US consists of Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Indiana, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Iowa, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota.
- The Northeastern US consists of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Delaware, Maine, Rhode Island, and Vermont.
- The Northern EU consists of Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.
- The Southern EU consists of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta.
- The Southern US consists of Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia.
- The Western EU consists of Germany, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, and Luxembourg.
- The Western US consists of California, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Hawaii, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming.
Details
In absolute terms, the Northeastern US had the best performance over the previous month dropping its rate 0.41 percentage points. The Western US had the worst performance over the previous month raising its rate 0.59 percentage points. Year over year, the Southern EU had the best performance raising its rate 0.73 percentage points. The Western US had the worst performance raising its rate 4.25 percentage points.
In relative terms, the Northeastern US had the best performance over the previous month dropping its rate 5.35%. The Western US had the worst performance over the previous month raising its rate 7.97%. Year over year, the Southern EU had the best performance with a 6.38% rise in its rate. The Western US had the worst performance with a 113.64% rise in its rate.
The Northern EU has the smallest range in unemployment rates this month with a low of 5.8% in Denmark to a high of 8.7% in Sweden. The Southern EU has the greatest range with a low of 4.5% in Malta to a high of 16.4% in Greece.
The Midwestern US states had the lowest median unemployment rate at 4.35%. The Midwestern US states had the lowest mean unemployment rate at 4.80%. On the other hand, the Northern EU states had the highest median unemployment rate at 8.40% and the Southern EU states had the highest mean unemployment rate at 9.98%. Although the Eastern EU as a whole had the lowest rate, the relatively large range in rates in the region gave its states the second lowest median rate at 4.90% and the fourth lowest mean rate at 5.97%.
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.