EU and US Regional Unemployment Rates, March 2019

May 14, 2019
Unemployment Rate in EU and US Regions

The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU and US region as of March 2019 (unless otherwise noted - see caveats below), the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior.  US regions continue to have considerably lower unemployment rates than EU regions.

Findings

  • The difference between the region with the lowest unemployment rate, the Southern US, and the region with the highest, the Southern EU, is 8.25 percentage points (down from 8.47 last month and down from 9.48 last year).  The Midwestern US had the lowest rate last year.
  • The Southern EU has 3.24 times the unemployment rate that the Southern US does (down from 3.30 last month and down from 3.52 last year - the Midwestern US had the lowest rate last year).
  • All US regions and the Eastern and Western EU each has an unemployment rate that is lower than every state in the Northern EU.
  • The Southern EU has an unemployment rate that is higher than every state in every other region.
  • Four regions saw an improvement in their rate from the previous month while four saw a deterioration.
  • Six regions saw an improvement in their rate from last year while two saw a deterioration.

Caveats

  • Data is from March 2019 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from February 2019 and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from January 2019.
  • 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 Southern US consists of Texas, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, Louisiana, South Carolina, Alabama, Kentucky, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Mississippi, and West Virginia.
  • 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 Eastern EU consists of Poland, Czech Republic, Romania, Hungary, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Slovenia, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia.
  • The Western US consists of California, Washington, Colorado, Arizona, Oregon, Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Hawaii, Idaho, Alaska, Montana, and Wyoming.
  • The Western EU consists of Germany, United Kingdom, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Ireland, and Luxembourg.
  • The Northern EU consists of Sweden, Denmark, and Finland.
  • The Southern EU consists of Italy, Spain, Portugal, Greece, Cyprus, and Malta.

Details

In absolute terms, the Southern EU had the biggest monthly improvement dropping its rate 0.21 percentage points from 12.15% to 11.94%.  The Northern EU had the greatest deterioration over the previous month raising its rate 0.25 percentage points from a rate of 6.05% to a rate of 6.30%.  Year over year, the Southern EU saw the greatest improvement dropping its rate 1.30 percentage points from 13.24% to 11.94%.  The Northern EU saw the greatest deterioration raising its rate 0.10 percentage points from 6.20% to 6.30%.

In relative terms, the Eastern EU had the biggest monthly improvement dropping its rate 1.79%.  The Northern EU had the greatest deterioration over the previous month raising its rate 4.13%.  Year over year, the Eastern EU saw the greatest improvement with a 12.90% drop in its rate.  The Northern EU saw the greatest deterioration with a 1.61% rise in its rate.

The Northern EU has the smallest range in unemployment rates this month with a low of 5.3% in Denmark to a high of 6.7% in Sweden.  The Southern EU has the greatest range with a low of 3.5% in Malta to a high of 18.5% in Greece.

The Midwestern US states had both the lowest median and mean unemployment rates at 3.25% and 3.30% respectively, while the Southern EU states had the highest median and mean unemployment rates at 8.60% and 9.93% respectively.  Although the Southern US as a whole had the lowest rate, the relatively large range in rates in the region gave its states the second smallest median rate at 3.75% and the third lowest mean rate at 3.85%, bested in the mean by the Northeastern US.

No changes in the rank of the rate were made from the previous month.  However, the Southern US went from second lowest rate last year to lowest rate passing the Midwestern US which now has the second lowest rate.  Also, the Eastern EU went from having a higher rate than the Western US last year which was tied with the Northeastern US for the third lowest rate and the Eastern EU is now ranked fourth lowest while the Western US now has the fifth lowest rate.

Sources

Bureau of Labor Statistics.  2019.  "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release."  Accessed May 7, 2019.  https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.

Eurostat.  2019.  "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average."  Accessed May 6, 2019.  http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_-64E038A_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.