The chart above shows the ratio of the state's proportion of unemployed people in the EU and the US to the state's proportion of total people in the EU and the US. Fourteen states have an unemployed population that makes up a larger proportion of the EU and US total than their total population does. Thirteen of these states are from the EU. The only US state that has a greater proportion of unemployed than total population is Alaska.
Findings
- The difference between the state with the lowest ratio of unemployed within the EU and the US to people within the EU and the US, the Czech Republic, and the state with the highest, Greece, is 2.55.
- The Czech Republic has 0.14 times the ratio that Greece does.
- The difference between the EU state with the lowest ratio of unemployed within the EU and the US to people within the EU and the US, the Czech Republic, and the US state with the lowest, Hawaii, is 0.07.
- The Czech Republic has 0.86 times the ratio that Hawaii does.
- Denmark and Luxembourg are the only states whose unemployed and total populations make up the same percentage of the combined EU and US unemployed and total populations respectively.
Caveats
- Unemployment data is from December 2018 except for Estonia and Hungary which are from November 2018 and Greece and the United Kingdom which are from October 2018.
- EU population data is from 2011, US population data is from 2010.
- All figures are rounded to the nearest hundredth.
Details
Only three states have a proportion of unemployed people that is less than half the proportion of their total population: the Czech Republic, Hawaii, and Iowa. In addition, New Hampshire and Vermont have a ratio that is exactly half. The Czech Republic's unemployed population accounts for just 0.52% of the total EU and US unemployed population, whereas its total population accounts for 1.29% of the total EU and US population.
The EU has a serious unemployment problem as eleven of the states with the highest ratio are all from the EU, 13 of the 14 states with an unemployment proportion larger than their population proportion are from the EU, and 18 of the 20 states with the highest ratios are all from the EU. The total number of unemployed in the EU is 16,306,000 while in the US it is 6,140,207. The EU's total population is 508,937,748 while the US's is 308,270,203. The EU accounts for 72.64% of all unemployed persons in the EU and the US while the US only accounts for 27.36%. However, the EU only accounts for 62.28% of all people in the EU and the US while the US accounts for 37.72%. This gives the EU a 1.17 unemployed proportion to population proportion ratio and the US a 0.73 ratio.
Data
| State | Percent of EU and US Unemployed | Percent of EU and US Population |
|---|---|---|
| Alabama | 0.38 | 0.59 |
| Alaska | 0.1 | 0.09 |
| Arizona | 0.74 | 0.78 |
| Arkansas | 0.22 | 0.36 |
| Austria | 0.95 | 1.03 |
| Belgium | 1.24 | 1.35 |
| Bulgaria | 0.76 | 0.92 |
| California | 3.63 | 4.56 |
| Colorado | 0.48 | 0.62 |
| Connecticut | 0.34 | 0.44 |
| Croatia | 0.61 | 0.52 |
| Cyprus | 0.17 | 0.1 |
| Czech Republic | 0.52 | 1.29 |
| Delaware | 0.08 | 0.11 |
| Denmark | 0.68 | 0.68 |
| Estonia | 0.14 | 0.16 |
| Finland | 0.84 | 0.66 |
| Florida | 1.49 | 2.3 |
| France | 12.12 | 7.95 |
| Georgia | 0.82 | 1.19 |
| Germany | 6.3 | 10 |
| Greece | 3.9 | 1.32 |
| Hawaii | 0.08 | 0.17 |
| Hungary | 0.76 | 1.22 |
| Idaho | 0.1 | 0.19 |
| Illinois | 1.24 | 1.57 |
| Indiana | 0.54 | 0.79 |
| Iowa | 0.18 | 0.38 |
| Ireland | 0.57 | 0.56 |
| Italy | 11.95 | 7.26 |
| Kansas | 0.22 | 0.35 |
| Kentucky | 0.41 | 0.53 |
| Latvia | 0.31 | 0.24 |
| Lithuania | 0.41 | 0.37 |
| Louisiana | 0.46 | 0.55 |
| Luxembourg | 0.06 | 0.06 |
| Maine | 0.11 | 0.16 |
| Malta | 0.04 | 0.05 |
| Maryland | 0.56 | 0.71 |
| Massachusetts | 0.56 | 0.8 |
| Michigan | 0.87 | 1.21 |
| Minnesota | 0.39 | 0.65 |
| Mississippi | 0.27 | 0.36 |
| Missouri | 0.42 | 0.73 |
| Montana | 0.09 | 0.12 |
| Nebraska | 0.13 | 0.22 |
| Netherlands | 1.47 | 2.04 |
| Nevada | 0.3 | 0.33 |
| New Hampshire | 0.08 | 0.16 |
| New Jersey | 0.79 | 1.08 |
| New Mexico | 0.2 | 0.25 |
| New York | 1.69 | 2.37 |
| North Carolina | 0.79 | 1.17 |
| North Dakota | 0.05 | 0.08 |
| Ohio | 1.18 | 1.41 |
| Oklahoma | 0.26 | 0.46 |
| Oregon | 0.38 | 0.47 |
| Pennsylvania | 1.22 | 1.55 |
| Poland | 2.63 | 4.72 |
| Portugal | 1.54 | 1.29 |
| Rhode Island | 0.1 | 0.13 |
| Romania | 1.56 | 2.75 |
| Slovakia | 0.74 | 0.66 |
| Slovenia | 0.24 | 0.25 |
| South Carolina | 0.34 | 0.57 |
| South Dakota | 0.06 | 0.1 |
| Spain | 14.56 | 5.73 |
| Sweden | 1.56 | 1.16 |
| Tennessee | 0.52 | 0.78 |
| Texas | 2.29 | 3.08 |
| United Kingdom | 6.01 | 7.94 |
| Utah | 0.22 | 0.34 |
| Vermont | 0.04 | 0.08 |
| Virginia | 0.55 | 0.98 |
| Washington | 0.74 | 0.82 |
| West Virginia | 0.18 | 0.23 |
| Wisconsin | 0.42 | 0.7 |
| Wyoming | 0.05 | 0.07 |
Sources
Bureau of Labor Statistics. 2019. "State Employment and Unemployment (Monthly) News Release." Accessed February 6, 2019. https://www.bls.gov/news.release/archives/laus_01182019.htm.
Eurostat. 2017. "Population on 1 January by Age Groups and Sex - Functional Urban Areas." Accessed December 11, 2017. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?dataset=urb_lpop1&lang=en.
Eurostat. 2019. "Unemployment by Sex and Age - Monthly Average." Accessed February 6, 2019. http://appsso.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/nui/show.do?query=BOOKMARK_DS-055624_QID_6C6753DD_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=TIME_1_0_0_0&rankName2=UNIT_1_2_-1_2&rankName3=GEO_1_2_0_1&rankName4=AGE_1_2_-1_2&rankName5=INDICATORS_1_2_-1_2&rankName6=SEX_1_2_-1_2&rankName7=S-ADJ_1_2_-1_2&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.
United States Census Bureau. September 2012. "United States Summary: 2010: Population and Housing Unit Counts." Accessed January 23, 2018. https://www.census.gov/prod/cen2010/cph-2-1.pdf.