This is a list of countries by unemployment rate. Methods of calculation and presentation of

unemployment rate Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refere ...

vary from country to country. Some countries count insured unemployed only, some count those in receipt of welfare benefit only, some count the disabled and other permanently unemployable people, some countries count those who choose (and are financially able) not to work, supported by their spouses and caring for a family, some count students at college and so on. There may also be differences in the minimum requirements and some consider people employed even if only marginally associated with employment market (for example, working only one hour per week). There can be differences in the age limit. For example,

Eurostat Eurostat ('European Statistical Office'; DG ESTAT) is a Directorate-General of the European Commission located in the Kirchberg, Luxembourg, Kirchberg quarter of Luxembourg City, Luxembourg. Eurostat's main responsibilities are to provide stati ...

uses 15 to 74 years old when calculating unemployment rate, and the

Bureau of Labor Statistics The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is a unit of the United States Department of Labor. It is the principal fact-finding agency for the U.S. government in the broad field of labor economics and statistics and serves as a principal agency of ...

uses anyone 16 years of age or older (in both cases, people who are under education, retired, on maternity/paternity leave, prevented from working due to health, or do not work but have been inactive in seeking employment in the last four weeks are excluded from the

workforce The workforce or labour force is a concept referring to the pool of human beings either in employment or in unemployment. It is generally used to describe those working for a single company or industry, but can also apply to a geographic reg ...

, and therefore not counted as unemployed). Unemployment rates are often

seasonally adjusted Seasonal adjustment or deseasonalization is a statistical method for removing the seasonal component of a time series. It is usually done when wanting to analyse the trend, and cyclical deviations from trend, of a time series independently of th ...

to avoid variations that depend on time of year. Employment rate as a percentage of total population in working age is sometimes used instead of unemployment rate. For purposes of comparison, harmonized values are published by

International Labour Organization The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and o ...

(ILO) and by

OECD The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD; french: Organisation de coopération et de développement économiques, ''OCDE'') is an intergovernmental organisation with 38 member countries, founded in 1961 to stimulate ...

. Th
ILO harmonized unemployment rate
refers to those who are currently not working but are willing and able to work for pay, currently available to work, and have actively searched for work. Th

gives the number of unemployed persons as a percentage of the labour force. Most unemployment rates given in the table below are derived from national statistics and therefore not directly comparable.

List

* indicates "Unemployment in COUNTRY or TERRITORY" or "Economy of COUNTRY or TERRITORY" links.

OECD

* indicates "Economy of COUNTRY or TERRITORY" links.

References

External links

*, , {{Finance country lists *

Unemployment rate Unemployment, according to the OECD (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development), is people above a specified age (usually 15) not being in paid employment or self-employment but currently available for work during the refere ...