EU and US Unemployment Rates, November 2019

Jan 14, 2020
Unemployment Rate in EU and US States

The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU and US state as of November 2019 (unless otherwise noted - see caveats below), the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior.  Czechia is the only EU state with an unemployment rate below three percent.  Thirteen US states have a rate below three percent.

Findings

  • The difference between the state with the lowest unemployment rate, Czechia, and the state with the highest, Greece, is 13.80 percentage points (down from 14.30 last month and down from 15.70 last year).  Czechia and Vermont had the lowest rate last month and Czechia had the lowest rate last year.  Greece had the highest rate last month and last year.
  • Greece has 7.57 times the unemployment rate that Czechia does.  The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was up from 7.50 last month and down from 9.26 last year.
  • The median unemployment rate in the 28 EU states is 5.00 (down from 5.05 the previous month and down from 5.35 last year) and the mean 5.89 (up from 5.78 the previous month and down from 6.20 last year).
  • The median unemployment rate in the 50 US states is 3.40 (same as 3.40 last month and down from 3.70 last year) and the mean 3.54 (same as 3.54 the previous month and down from 3.70 last year).
  • The median unemployment rate in the 78 EU and US states is 3.75 (same as 3.75 last month and down from 3.95 last year) and the mean 4.38 (up from 4.35 the previous month and down from 4.60 last year).
  • Twenty-seven states (20 from the US and 7 from the EU) did not see a change in their unemployment rate from the previous month, 26 saw an improvement (17 from the US and 9 from the EU), and 25 saw their rate increase (13 from the US and 12 from the EU).
  • Six states (4 from the US and 2 from the EU) did not see a change in their unemployment rate from last year, while 52 saw an improvement (32 from the US and 20 from the EU), and 20 saw their unemployment rate increase over the year (14 from the US and 6 from the EU).

Caveats

  • Data is from November 2019 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from October 2019 and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from September 2019 (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, Austria had the greatest improvement over the previous month dropping 0.7 percentage points.  Cyprus had the biggest spike in its rate rising 2.8 percentage points.  Year over year, Greece had the greatest improvement with a 1.7 percentage point drop while Sweden had the greatest deterioration with a 1.0 percentage point rise.

In relative terms, Austria had the greatest improvement over the previous month with a 15.56% drop in its rate while Cyprus had the biggest deterioration with a 47.46% rise in its rate.  Year over year, Alabama had the greatest improvement with a 28.95% drop in its rate while Mississippi had the greatest deterioration with a 19.15% rise in its rate.

Forty-six states (37 from the US and 9 from the EU) have an unemployment rate below four percent (up from 43 - 35 US, 8 EU - last month and up from 39 - 33 US, 6 EU - last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages.  Twenty-seven (13 from the US and 14 from the EU) have a rate between four and eight percent (down from 31 - 15 US, 16 EU - last month, down from 34 - 17 US, 17 EU - last year), and five (all from the EU) have a rate above eight percent (up from 4 last month, same as last year - all from the EU).

Austria (from 54th lowest unemployment rate to 40th lowest) bested 14 states between last month and this month.  On the other hand, New Jersey (from 20th to 27th) and Cyprus (from 67th to 74th) were each bested by 7 states.  Year-over-year, Alabama (from 35th to 11th) bested 24 states.  Conversely, Delaware (from 22nd to 40th) was bested by 18 states.

Sources

Bureau of Labor Statistics.  2019.  "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release."  Accessed January 13, 2019.  https://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.htm.

Eurostat.  2019.  "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average."  Accessed January 10, 2019.  https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_15D52FEF_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-055624SEX,T;DS-055624UNIT,PC_ACT;DS-055624S_ADJ,SA;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.