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Unemployment Rate

The unemployment rate is defined as the percentage of unemployed workers in the total labor force. Workers are considered unemployed if they currently do not work, despite the fact that they are able and willing to do so. The total labor force consists of all employed and unemployed people within an economy.

The unemployment rate provides insights into the economy’s spare capacity and unused resources. Unemployment tends to be cyclical and decreases when the economy expands as companies contract more workers to meet growing demand. Unemployment usually increases as economic activity slows.

There are different types of unemployment: Frictional unemployment refers to temporary unemployment during the period when people are searching for a job. Structural unemployment is a mismatch between workers’ skills or locations and job requirements. Seasonal unemployment is caused by seasonal patterns in economic activity, such as harvesting or tourism.

The methodology for calculating the unemployment rate often varies among countries since different definitions of employment and unemployment, as well as different data sources, are used.

This chart displays Unemployment (% of active population, aop) for Major Economies, Latin America, Euro Area, South Asia, Middle East & North Africa from 2010 to 2023.

Unemployment Rate Data

2018 2019 2020 2021 2022
Albania 12.3 11.6 11.7 11.6 11.0
Algeria 12.1 12.3 14.0 13.7 12.5
Angola 16.6 16.5 16.7 15.8 14.5
Argentina 9.2 9.8 11.5 8.8 6.8
Armenia 20.4 19.0 17.9 15.4 13.0
Australia 5.3 5.2 6.5 5.1 3.7
Austria 5.2 4.8 6.1 6.2 4.7
Azerbaijan 4.9 4.9 6.4 6.4 5.8
Bahrain 4.3 4.7 5.9 5.9 5.4
Bangladesh 4.4 4.4 5.3 5.2 4.3
Belarus 4.8 4.2 4.1 3.9 3.6
Belgium 6.0 5.4 5.6 6.3 5.6
Belize 9.4 9.0 13.7 10.2 6.1
Bolivia 4.9 5.0 8.3 6.9 4.7
Bosnia-Herz. 36.0 33.1 33.8 32.4 30.1
Botswana 19.6 20.1 21.0 23.1 23.6
Brazil 12.4 12.1 13.5 13.5 9.5
Brunei 8.7 6.6 7.4 4.9 4.5
Bulgaria 6.2 5.2 6.1 5.3 4.2
Cambodia 0.1 0.1 0.3 0.3 0.4
Cameroon 3.6 3.7 4.0 4.1 3.8
Canada 5.9 5.7 9.7 7.5 5.3
CdI 2.8 2.4 2.6 2.7 2.5
Chile 7.3 7.2 10.6 9.1 7.8
China 4.9 5.2 5.6 5.1 5.6
Colombia 10.0 10.9 16.7 13.8 11.2
Costa Rica 10.3 11.8 19.6 16.4 12.2
Croatia 8.4 6.7 7.7 7.6 6.7
Cuba 1.7 1.2 1.4 1.4 1.3
Cyprus 8.4 7.1 7.6 7.5 6.8
Czech Republic 2.2 2.0 2.6 2.8 2.4
Denmark 5.2 5.0 5.6 5.1 4.5
Dominican Republic 5.7 6.2 5.8 7.4 5.3
DR Congo 4.7 4.7 5.5 5.5 4.7
Ecuador 4.1 4.4 6.1 5.2 4.3
Egypt 9.9 7.9 8.0 7.4 7.2
El Salvador 6.4 6.3 6.9 6.3 5.0
Estonia 5.4 4.5 6.9 6.2 5.6
Ethiopia 2.7 2.9 3.9 3.9 3.4
Euro Area 8.2 7.6 8.0 7.7 6.7
Finland 7.4 6.7 7.8 7.6 6.8
France 9.0 8.4 8.0 7.9 7.3
Georgia 19.3 17.6 18.5 20.6 17.3
Germany 5.2 5.0 5.9 5.7 5.3
Ghana 3.3 3.2 3.4 3.6 3.5
Greece 19.8 17.9 17.6 14.8 12.4
Guatemala 2.3 2.2 2.2 2.2 3.1
Haiti 13.8 13.8 15.1 15.0 14.8
Honduras 5.6 5.4 10.9 8.6 8.9
Hong Kong 2.8 2.9 5.5 5.4 4.4
Hungary 3.6 3.4 4.0 4.1 3.6
Iceland 3.1 3.9 6.4 6.0 3.8
Indonesia 5.2 5.1 6.0 6.4 5.8
Iran 12.1 10.7 9.6 9.2 9.0
Iraq 13.4 14.0 15.7 16.2 15.3
Ireland 5.8 5.0 5.8 6.3 4.5
Israel 4.0 3.8 4.3 5.0 3.8
Italy 10.6 9.9 9.3 9.5 8.1
Jamaica 9.1 7.7 10.2 8.4 6.3
Japan 2.4 2.4 2.8 2.8 2.6
Jordan 18.6 19.1 22.7 24.1 22.9
Kazakhstan 4.9 4.8 4.9 4.9 4.9
Kenya 4.2 5.0 5.6 5.6 5.5
Korea 3.8 3.8 3.9 3.7 2.9
Kosovo 29.5 25.7 26.0 20.8 12.6
Kuwait 2.2 2.2 3.3 2.8 2.5
Kyrgyzstan 2.6 3.2 3.1 3.0 2.9
Laos 3.3 3.4 3.9 4.2 3.8
Latvia 7.4 6.3 8.1 7.6 6.8
Lebanon 10.7 11.3 13.0 12.5 12.6
Lithuania 6.2 6.3 8.5 7.1 6.0
Luxembourg 5.5 5.4 6.4 5.7 4.8
Malaysia 3.3 3.3 4.5 4.6 3.8
Malta 3.7 3.6 4.4 3.4 2.9
Mexico 3.3 3.5 4.4 4.1 3.3
Moldova 3.0 5.1 3.8 3.3 3.1
Mongolia 7.8 10.0 7.0 8.1 7.3
Montenegro 18.7 15.3 19.1 22.4 17.8
Morocco 9.6 9.2 11.9 12.3 11.9
Mozambique 3.5 3.5 3.8 3.9 3.9
Myanmar 5.1 5.1 11.5 - -
Netherlands 4.9 4.4 4.9 4.2 3.5
New Zealand 4.3 4.1 4.6 3.8 3.3
Nicaragua 5.4 5.6 5.0 4.5 3.5
Nigeria 5.1 5.2 5.6 5.3 3.8
North Macedonia 20.7 17.3 16.4 15.4 14.4
Norway 3.9 3.7 4.6 4.4 3.2
Oman 1.8 2.1 2.9 1.9 1.5
Pakistan 5.8 6.9 6.6 6.3 -
Panama 5.3 6.4 18.6 10.3 -
Paraguay 6.2 6.6 7.7 7.5 6.7
Peru 6.7 6.6 12.8 11.3 7.7
Philippines 5.3 5.1 10.4 7.8 5.4
Poland 6.1 5.4 6.0 6.4 5.4
Portugal 7.1 6.7 7.1 6.7 6.2
Puerto Rico 9.2 8.3 8.9 7.9 6.0
Qatar 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.2 0.1
Romania 5.3 4.9 6.1 5.6 5.6
Russia 4.8 4.6 5.8 4.8 3.9
Rwanda 10.8 11.2 11.8 15.8 15.1
Saudi Arabia 6.0 5.6 7.7 6.6 5.6
Senegal 3.6 2.9 3.3 3.3 3.0
Serbia 13.7 11.2 9.7 11.2 9.6
Singapore 2.1 2.3 3.2 2.8 2.1
Slovakia 6.5 5.7 6.7 6.8 6.2
Slovenia 5.1 4.5 5.0 4.8 4.0
South Africa 27.1 28.7 29.2 34.3 33.5
Spain 15.3 14.1 15.5 14.8 12.9
Sri Lanka 4.5 4.8 5.5 5.2 4.7
Sudan 17.3 17.5 19.2 19.2 17.6
Sweden 6.5 6.9 8.5 8.9 7.5
Switzerland 2.5 2.3 3.2 3.0 2.2
Taiwan 3.7 3.7 3.8 4.0 3.7
Tajikistan 6.9 6.9 7.3 7.5 7.0
Tanzania 2.3 2.4 2.8 2.9 2.6
Thailand 1.1 1.0 1.7 1.9 1.3
Trinidad and Tobago 3.9 4.3 5.7 5.4 4.9
Tunisia 15.5 15.2 16.7 17.6 15.5
Turkey 10.9 13.7 13.1 12.0 10.5
Turkmenistan 4.2 4.2 4.8 4.8 5.0
UAE 2.2 2.3 4.3 3.1 3.0
Uganda 3.4 3.1 3.8 3.4 2.9
Ukraine 9.0 8.5 9.2 10.0 -
United Kingdom 4.1 3.8 4.6 4.5 3.7
United States 3.9 3.7 8.1 5.4 3.6
Uruguay 8.4 8.9 10.4 9.3 7.9
Uzbekistan 9.3 9.1 11.1 9.8 8.9
Venezuela 6.9 - - - -
Vietnam 2.2 2.2 2.5 3.1 2.3
Yemen 17.7 17.4 18.3 18.6 17.6
Zambia 5.0 5.5 6.0 5.2 4.4
Zimbabwe 6.8 7.4 8.7 9.5 9.3

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