The chart above shows the unemployment rate in each EU state as of October 2021 (unless otherwise noted - see caveats below), the change from the previous month, and the rate one year prior. Two states have an unemployment rate below three percent.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the lowest unemployment rate, Czechia, and the state with the highest, Spain, is 11.90 percentage points (down from 12.00 last month and down from 13.80 last year). Czechia had the lowest rate last month and Czechia and Poland had the lowest rate last year. Spain had the highest rate last month and Greece had the highest rate last year.
- Spain has 5.58 times the unemployment rate that Czechia does. The ratio of highest rate to lowest rate was down from 5.62 last month and up from 5.31 last year.
- The median unemployment rate in the 28 EU states is 5.75 (same as 5.75 the previous month and down from 6.30 last year) and the mean 6.17 (down from 6.25 the previous month and down from 7.21 last year).
- Of the 28 states, 11 saw no change in the unemployment rate from the previous month, 12 saw an improvement, and 5 saw the rate increase.
- Of the 28 states, 1 saw no change in the unemployment rate from last year, 24 saw an improvement, and 3 saw the rate increase.
Caveats
- Data is from October 2021 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from September 2021, and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from August 2021 (previous month and year rates also reflect the respective one, two, and three 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, Finland had the best performance over the previous month dropping 1.0 percentage points. Austria had the worst performance rising 0.6 percentage points. Year over year, Cyprus had the best performance with a 3.4 percentage point drop while Belgium had the worst performance with a 0.5 percentage point rise in the unemployment rate.
In relative terms, Finland had the best performance over the previous month with a 12.99% drop in the rate while Austria had the worst performance with a 11.54% rise in the rate. Year over year, Cyprus had the best performance with a 34.00% drop in the rate while Belgium had the worst performance with a 8.62% rise in the rate.
Of the 28 states, 6 EU states have an unemployment rate below four percent (up from 5 last month, up from 2 last year) which traditionally has placed inflationary pressure on wages. Of the 28, 18 have a rate between four and eight percent (down from 19 last month, up from 15 last year), and 4 have a rate above eight percent (same as 4 last month, down from 11 last year).
Luxembourg (from 12th to 9th) rose 3 spots over the course of the month. On the flip side, Austria (from 10th to 15th) fell 5 spots. Year-over-year, Luxembourg (from 14th to 9th), Estonia (from 19th to 14th), Lithuania (from 24th to 19th), and Cyprus (from 25th to 20th) rose 5 spots. Conversely, Belgium (from 11th to 16th) and France (from 19th to 24th) fell 5 spots.
Data
| State | Last Year | Previous Rate | Latest Rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Austria | 6.1 | 5.2 | 5.8 |
| Belgium | 5.8 | 6.3 | 6.3 |
| Bulgaria | 5.3 | 5.5 | 5.3 |
| Croatia | 8.5 | 7.3 | 7 |
| Cyprus | 10 | 6.2 | 6.6 |
| Czechia | 3.2 | 2.6 | 2.6 |
| Denmark | 5.9 | 5.1 | 5.1 |
| Estonia | 8.3 | 6 | 5.7 |
| Finland | 8.3 | 7.7 | 6.7 |
| France | 8.3 | 7.7 | 7.6 |
| Germany | 4.1 | 3.3 | 3.3 |
| Greece | 17 | 14.1 | 13.8 |
| Hungary | 4.3 | 4.1 | 3.6 |
| Ireland | 6.4 | 5.2 | 5.2 |
| Italy | 10 | 9.2 | 9.4 |
| Latvia | 8.2 | 7 | 7 |
| Lithuania | 9.3 | 6.7 | 6.5 |
| Luxembourg | 6.2 | 5.3 | 5.1 |
| Malta | 4.6 | 3.5 | 3.6 |
| Netherlands | 4.3 | 3.1 | 2.9 |
| Poland | 3.2 | 3.4 | 3.4 |
| Portugal | 7.6 | 6.4 | 6.4 |
| Romania | 5.1 | 5.3 | 5.3 |
| Slovakia | 7.1 | 6.3 | 6.3 |
| Slovenia | 5.1 | 4.7 | 4.8 |
| Spain | 16.3 | 14.6 | 14.5 |
| Sweden | 8.7 | 8.8 | 8.5 |
| United Kingdom | 4.7 | 4.5 | 4.5 |
Sources
Eurostat. 2021. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed December 12, 2021. https://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_-53DC17CA_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 December 12, 2021. https://www.ons.gov.uk/employmentandlabourmarket/peopleinwork/employmentandemployeetypes/datasets/labourforcesurveysinglemonthestimatesx01.