Unemployment Rates, List by Country

This page has a list of countries ranked by their unemployment rate. The unemployment rate is defined as the level of unemployment divided by the labor force. The labor force is defined as the number of people employed plus the number unemployed but seeking work. The unemployment rate is also a good indicator of the extent to which the economy is operating at full capacity.

Country	Latest	2011	2010	2009	2008	2007
Algeria	10.00	10.00	10.00	10.20	11.30	11.80
Angola	25.00		25.00	25.00	25.00	25.00
Argentina	7.20		7.30	8.40	7.30	7.50
Australia	5.10	5.20	4.90	5.50	4.60	4.30
Austria	3.70		4.20	4.70	4.20	4.00
Bangladesh	5.10			5.10
Belgium	7.20	7.20	7.60	8.20	7.20	7.20
Bolivia	8.30		8.30	8.50		8.70
Botswana	17.50			17.50		17.50
Brazil	5.50	4.70	5.30	6.80	6.80	7.50
Bulgaria	11.40	11.40	11.20	7.90	5.00	6.10
Canada	7.60	7.50	7.60	8.40	6.80	6.00
Chile	6.60	6.60	7.10	8.60	7.50	7.20
China	4.10		4.10	4.30	4.20	4.00
Colombia	9.80	9.80	11.10	11.30	10.60	9.90
Czech Republic	9.10	8.60	9.60	9.20	6.00	6.00
Denmark	4.00	4.00	4.10	4.30	2.20	2.10
Egypt	11.90		8.92	9.40	8.80
Estonia	11.40	11.40	13.60	15.70	7.70	4.20
Euro Area	10.40	10.40	10.00	9.80	8.20	7.40
Finland	7.80	7.40	7.90	8.80	6.90	6.50
France	9.70		9.60	10.00	8.20	7.90
Germany	6.60	6.60	7.40	8.10	7.70	8.40
Greece	20.90		14.20	10.30	7.90	8.07
Hong Kong	3.20	3.30	4.00	4.90	4.10	3.40
Hungary	10.70	10.70	10.80	10.50	8.00	7.70
Iceland	7.20	7.30	8.00	8.20	4.80	0.80
India	9.40		9.40	9.40		8.00
Indonesia	6.56	6.56	7.14	7.87	8.39	9.11
Ireland	14.20	14.30	13.60	13.10	8.60	4.80
Israel	5.60		6.60	7.30	6.50	6.69
Italy	8.90	8.90	8.30	8.40	6.80	6.70
Japan	4.60	4.60	4.90	5.20	4.40	3.80
Kazakhstan	5.40	5.40	5.50	6.30	6.60	7.00
Kenya	12.70
Latvia	14.30	14.30	17.20	20.10	10.10	5.40
Lithuania	13.90	13.90	17.10	15.60	7.90	4.20
Luxembourg	6.60	6.60	6.10	5.20	5.30	4.20
Macedonia	31.30		30.90	32.20	33.80	34.90
Malaysia	3.10	3.10	3.20	3.40	3.10	3.00
Mexico	5.04	5.04	4.94	5.29	4.89	3.83
Mongolia	3.60	3.60	3.60	3.60	2.80	2.80
Morocco	8.50	8.50	9.20	9.00	9.50	9.70
Mozambique	17.00					17.00
Namibia	51.20				51.20
Netherlands	6.00	5.80	5.10	5.20	3.60	3.70
New Zealand	6.30	6.30	6.80	7.00	4.60	3.50
Nigeria	23.90	23.90	21.10	19.70	11.80	5.80
Norway	3.30	3.40	2.70	2.60	2.00	1.60
Pakistan	5.95		5.95	5.50	5.20	5.30
Paraguay	7.10		6.10
Peru	7.80	7.00	7.70	8.90	8.10	6.90
Philippines	6.40		7.10	7.10	6.80	6.30
Poland	12.10		12.30	11.90	9.50	11.20
Portugal	14.00	14.00	11.10	10.10	7.80	7.80
Qatar	0.60	0.60	0.50	0.50	0.30	0.50
Romania	7.20		7.30	7.50	5.80	6.10
Russia	6.60	6.10	7.20	8.20	7.80	6.10
Rwanda	30.00				30.00
Saudi Arabia	10.50		10.50	10.50	9.80	11.00
Singapore	2.00	2.00	2.20	2.30	2.50	1.70
Slovakia	13.60	13.60	13.90	13.90	8.70	10.30
Slovenia	11.90		11.80	10.30	7.00	7.30
South Africa	23.90	23.90	24.00	24.20	21.90
South Korea	3.20	3.10	3.60	3.60	3.40	3.10
Spain	22.85	22.85	20.33	18.83	13.91	8.60
Sri Lanka	4.10		4.50	5.40	5.20	5.50
Sweden	7.60	7.50	7.40	8.90	6.80	6.00
Switzerland	3.40	3.30	3.50	4.20	2.80	2.60
Taiwan	4.18	4.18	4.67	5.74	5.03	3.83
Tanzania	10.70					11.70
Thailand	0.82		0.68	0.90	1.40	0.85
Tunisia	18.30	18.30	13.00	13.30	12.40	12.40
Turkey	9.30		11.40	13.50	14.00	10.60
Ukraine	8.50		8.80	9.60	6.90	6.90
United Arab Emirates	4.30		4.30	4.20	3.71	3.45
United Kingdom	8.40	8.40	8.10	7.90	6.70	5.30
United States	8.30	8.50	9.40	10.00	7.40	5.00
Venezuela	6.50	6.50	6.50	6.60	6.10	6.20
Vietnam	2.30	2.30	2.90	2.90	2.40	2.00

Export data csv

Latest News on Unemployment

Australia's Unemployment Rate Down to 5.1% in January
Published: 2/16/2012 1:14:57 PM By: TradingEconomics.com, ABS
Australia's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate decreased 0.1 percentage points to 5.1 per cent in January, as announced by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS).

U.K. Unemployment Rate at 8.4% in December
Published: 2/15/2012 10:47:34 AM By: TradingEconomics.com, ONS
U.K. unemployment rate was 8.4 per cent of the economically active population, up 0.1 on the quarter. There were 2.67 million unemployed people, up 48,000 on the quarter. The unemployment rate has not been higher since 1995.

U.S. Jobless Rate Down to 8.3%, Nonfarm Payrolls Up by 243K
Published: 2/3/2012 1:40:28 PM By: TradingEconomics.com, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Total U.S. nonfarm payroll employment rose by 243,000 in January, and the unemployment rate decreased to 8.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Total U.S.nonfarm payroll employment rose by 243,000 in January, and the unemployment rate decreased to 8.3 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported on February 3rd. Job growth was widespread in the private sector, with large employment gains in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and manufacturing.

Canada's Unemployment Rate Up to 7.6% in January
Published: 2/3/2012 12:13:03 PM By: TradingEconomics.com, Statistics Canada
Canada's unemployment rate edged up 0.1 percentage points to 7.6% as more people searched for work. Compared with 12 months earlier, employment rose by 129,000 (+0.7%), with most of the growth occurring in the first six months of this period.

Euro Area Unemployment Rate at 10.4% in December
Published: 1/31/2012 1:46:43 PM By: TradingEconomics.com, Eurostat
The euro area (EA17) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 10.4% in December 2011, unchanged compared with November. It was 10.0% in December 2010.

Australia Unemployment Rate Unchanged in December
Published: 1/19/2012 6:53:32 PM By: TradingEconomics.com, ABS
Australia unemployment rate remained steady at 5.2% in December. Employment decreased 29,300 (0.3%) to 11,421,300.

Canada's Unemployment Rate Up to 7.5% in December
Published: 1/6/2012 2:06:59 PM By: TradingEconomics.com, Statistics Canada
Following two months of declines, employment rose slightly in December, up 18,000. The unemployment rate edged up to 7.5% as more people participated in the labour market. Over the past 12 months, employment growth totalled 1.2% (+199,000), with nearly all of the gains in the first half of the year.

Unemployment Rate Falls to 8.5 percent
Published: 1/6/2012 1:49:00 PM By: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
Nonfarm payroll employment rose by 200,000 in December, and the unemployment rate, at 8.5 percent, continued to trend down, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported. Job gains occurred in transportation and warehousing, retail trade, manufacturing, health care, and mining.

Euro Aea Unemployment Rate at 10.3%
Published: 1/6/2012 12:02:02 PM By: TradingEconomics.com, Eurostat
The euro area (EA17) seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate was 10.3% in November 2011, unchanged compared with October. It was 10.0% in November 2010.

Japan's Unemployment Rate Unchanged in November
Published: 12/30/2011 7:00:49 PM By: TradingEconomics.com, Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications
Japan's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in November was unchanged at 4.5 percent from the previous month, signaling that the pace of recovery in labor market conditions is moderating.