Week 27, 2011: International Unemployment Comparisons

Summary: Unemployment data from the Eurozone (for May 2011) and for the US (for June 2011) came out this week, showing no change for the Euro area and a 0.1% increase in the US. It remains unusual for US unemployment to be as high as it is, whereas Europe might be used to it.

What does the chart show? The chart shows the seasonally adjusted monthly unemployment rate for the UK (blue), the US (red) and the Euro Area (green). The unemployment rate is defined as the percentage of people who are unemployed (aged 16 or over, are not in work and are looking for work) out of the total labour force (the total number of people who are employed plus the number who are unemployed). The Euro Area measured here is the group of countries using the Euro at the time; so the number of countries included grows over the period from 11 to 17.

Why is the chart interesting? It is interesting to compare the fortunes of the USA to the Euro area and the UK. For most of the last decade, unemployment in the US has hovered around the level in the UK - between 4% and 6% - while unemployment in the Euro area has traditionally been a couple of percentage points higher than both. Since 2008, unemployment everywhere has risen, but most dramatically in the US, which despite a recent dip is still closer to the Euro area than the UK.