Talk:List of countries by unemployment rate

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents

[edit] World

175-30.00% unemployment rate World is stupidity if all big countries has lower unemployment rate and only few smaller countries have over 30% how can be than average 30%????


I was wondering the same thing myself. The factbook link states that there is "30% combined unemployment and underemployment in many non-industrialized countries; developed countries typically 4%-12% unemployment (2006 est.)." It seems that they listed the wrong statistic in the rankings. Natsirtguy (talk) 08:49, 28 November 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Uzbekistan

0.6% unemployment for Uzbekistan is pure vandalism. The Uzbekistan wiki page itself cites an unemployment rate of 20%.

On other wiki lists, the country is said to have a 99.3% literacy rate, and to be one of the most egalitarian nations in the world.

Vandals have not yet found the wiki page for the corruption index, where Uzbekistan still ranks as one of the most corrupt countries in the world. Hmm...


—The preceding unsigned comment was added by 140.180.132.35 (talk • contribs) 08:36, 3 December 2006 (UTC).

[edit] Japan

I've updated the unemployment statistics and ranking for Japan based on a statistics bureau estimation. --Pavithran 01:23, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] All CIA misquotes

Just a new thought. As we have the web why not get the unemployment figures from the governmental statistical agencies rather than some pie in the sky secondary source. ie Chinas rural unemployment is something like 30% so how can it have a overall estimation of about 5-9?? even the Chinese SSB who cooks there own books doesnt put it this low. Or maybe it is the real CIA??!! and then we know we have a conspiracy.

According to the Chinese government, the unemployment rate in the whole country is 15%, which means that it's probably much higher than that, but certainly not lower. -The monkeyhate 16:45, 1 August 2006 (UTC)


The Figures provieded by national govenments cannot easily be compared, becasue different countries use different ways to define unemployment. It makes thus sense to take as many rates as possible from a single source unless one can verify how figures are computed.134.105.168.67 12:09, 26 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] Canada

There was a severe discrepency in Canada's unemployment rate (CIA noted it as 6.8 and Statistics Canada notes it as 6.1) so I updated it with reference. This does through out of line the rankings. Maybe someone could invest the time in updating these rankings? Jeff 14:37, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

  • Fixed the ranking for Canada --Pavithran 01:06, 31 October 2006 (UTC)

[edit] United States

Out of curiosity, does anyone know why the United States is ranked at (by entity) 48, with an unemployment rate of 4.90%, when Mali, with an unemployment rate of 5.30% is at 47? Has the USA been misplaced? All the other countries are set out in the correct order of unemployment rates. Also, on the unemployment page it states that the US unemployment rate is 5.0%. Bgh251f2 13:40, 27 November 2005 (UTC)

1.5% of the U.S. working population is incarcerated. 4.9+1.5=6.4% unemployment.

Looking at the history of this article, it seems that the original source (CIA World Factbook) said 5.5% (which it probably was in 2004), but someone later changed the figure to reflect more recent unemployment rates of the US. This begs the question, which one should we put? Both have their advantages: 5.5% is the number found in the original source, but ~4.9% is probably closer to the current US unemployment rate of today, not 2004. Any thoughts? --jonsafari 06:12, 15 December 2005 (UTC)
There have been a number of accuracy problems with the CIA world factbook. So it is useful only as a convenient starting point to build the list; and if there are more authoritative sources, they should be used instead. I have replaced the US figure to 5.00, based on Dept. of Labor figure and provided a link to the source. As for Nauru, I still couldn't find a good source for its unemployment rate. --Vsion 17:58, 15 December 2005 (UTC)
The nauru one does seem nuts until you realise it only really had one employer, the phosphate mine, and now its closed. Nauru is kind of in trouble. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 58.7.0.146 (talk) 03:41, 14 December 2007 (UTC)
Also, I seem to recall that the U.S. does not include those who are not actively pursuing work in their unemployment figures, only those who are currently looking. Do other countries have the same system? I seem to recall hearing that things were different in the U.S., in which case the figure given would be misleading.--91.89.130.190 (talk) 17:09, 16 March 2008 (UTC)
True enough, but do we have evidence that countries across the board use the alternative calculation? Moreover, as a subjective point, if we're going to choose between the two methods, I would propose we follow the American model simply because unemployment numbers should be about people who are trying to get jobs but can't, and that being a gauge for the health of an economy. (Including those in prison, for instance, is nonsense and says nothing about an economy, nor does including people who have no desire to get into the workforce.) --Kallahan (talk) 17:21, 16 March 2008 (UTC)

[edit] Kiribati

Why is Kiribati listed as both 8th (sovereign) at 2.00% and at 57th (sovereign) at 70.00% unemployment? --jonsafari 23:42, 9 December 2005 (UTC)

the later entry is removed, thanks. --Vsion 22:09, 14 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] Nauru

Nauru is at the very bottom of this list with a stunning 90% unemployment but according to the Economy_of_Nauru article the unemployment rate is close to zero. 213.114.244.151 17:29, 13 December 2005 (UTC)

[edit] South Korea

South korean labor department said that unemployment rate in age of 20s and 30s are over 20%. This stats shows south korean economy is the worst since 1980s.

Many of economist said, as long as the ruling political party puesues social democratic economic policies, the ecomomic situation will get worse.

[edit] Mexico

I find Mexico's low unemployment rate to be unbelievable. Why do they pour across the border for US jobs? This list is VERY unreliable.

Yea, I agree with you, I love my country but I don't believe this statistics, I think that the goverment is lying.

I agree too. Do they get these numbers from the government of each country?

Mexico has a low unemployment rate because mexicans try harder and are more willing to work than the rest of us, exemplified by their excursions across the border.

Mexico has jobs but they have a low minimum wage 48 poesos a day. Thats why they pour across the border for US jobs. So they can make 5 dollars an hour instead of a day. Mexico city is the largest city in the world so there are jobs in mexico.

Mexico IS NOT the largest city in the world. That statement is so false as the low unemployment. IS Not the largest by population, Area or density. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_population

Why mexicans keep saying that ?

[edit] EU

Removed EU, not a country.--Numerousfalx 23:27, 31 January 2006 (UTC)

It is an entity though - User:Dalta

[edit] Other countries

I'm sorry, but I can't believe that the economies of Uzbekistan, Cuba and Myanmar are really between the 20 most successful in the field of unemployment's rate. I rather think that theirs leaders are lying. I think this category of list is very interesting, but I propose that its sources should be changed, or fostered. For instance, the data of ONGs, ONU and other more or less neutral organizations should be considered.

I agree. Thought may be the definition of "having a job" may varies between countries. Tttrung 10:10, 5 October 2006 (UTC)
Why can't you believe it? Do you think the USA walks on water or something? Don't believe everything your right-wing, imperialist government tells you. Cuba is a socialist state and the state is a major employer meaning that more people can be employed unlike in the USA where employees are considered expendable because of your neocon politics. Oh, I'm not Cuban but British and have tried to understand w=for years what the USA's problem with Cuba really is. Could it be that they have higher standards of living, lower crime and better longivity and healthcare than most of the Western world? Xania 23:28, 28 October 2006 (UTC)
Xania, please consider that Cuba has a GDP/capita of ~$3K (PPP adjusted). As for life expectancy, Cuba is ranked slightly below Western Europe and the US. The HDI for Cuba is lower as well. More importantly, I don't know of any country in the western world that thousands of people have died trying to escape. Must be that "higher standard of living" that's making them risk their lives sailing on flimsy rafts.. Algorythmic 12:08, 8 November 2006 (UTC)

[edit] New Zealand

In the election last year in New Zealand, the current prime minister Helen Clark used New Zealand's current 'lowest unemployment rate in the OECD' as something to gather in votes. From sources, it seems that New Zealand has the lowest unemployment rate closley followed by South Korea.

[edit] Iraq

I heard report that Iraq's unemployment rate is around 50%.

[edit] Unemployment

There`s also the fact that different countries have different ways of monitoring unemployment rates.


[edit] Dates

If more recent information is available for individual entries, which is probably the case with many of the 2004 estimates, should the new information replace the CIA information for the sake of up-to-dateness, or should the list stay as it is – until the next World Factbook is published – for the sake of comparability?

May monthly unemployment rates be given if they are newer than yearly rates? If so, should we use seasonally adjusted rates (for the sake of comparability to other entries' yearly rates) or unadjusted rates? Wikipeditor 03:48, 17 August 2006 (UTC)

As was discussed above in the United States section, it seems reasonable to use more recent information as long as it's relatively reliable. Your second question concerning seasonal fluxuation is interesting, and merits further discussion. –jonsafari 05:08, 17 August 2006 (UTC)
Unemployment figures for Germany are available here. I just don't know how to sort the table.

[edit] Real U.S. Jobless Rate Is Much Higher

This article should point out that the real U.S. jobless rate is vastly higher than the "official" rate. The fact is, the government only counts jobless people who are actively seeking employment and ignores the tens of millions of discouraged jobless people who have given up seeking a job.

But that's a constant in any country because it can't be measured--thus I have no idea how you can say it's "much higher." David Youngberg 15:57, 31 January 2007 (UTC)
In fact, most countries judge unemployment by those that are seeking jobs, and "tens of millions" of Americans have not given up seeking jobs. Please get your facts checked before throwing out random anti-american foolishness. Travis Cleveland (talk) 20:42, 19 January 2008 (UTC)

[edit] World Fact Book is an incorrect source

I very much doubt the accuracy of the numbers given in the World Fact Book. Let's look at the latest Eurostat numbers in comparison : http://epp.eurostat.cec.eu.int/pls/portal/docs/PAGE/PGP_PRD_CAT_PREREL/PGE_CAT_PREREL_YEAR_2007/PGE_CAT_PREREL_YEAR_2007_MONTH_03/3-30032007-EN-BP.PDF and the World Fact Book numbers in brackets: Denmark 3.4 (3.8); Netherlands 3.5 (5.5); Irland 4.4 (4.3); Cyprus 4.5 (5.5); Austria 4.5 (4.9); Slovenia 4.7 (9.6); Estonia 4.9 (4.5); Luxembourg 5.0 (4.1); United Kingdom 5.4 (2.9); Lithuania 5.7 (3.7); Latvia 5.8 (6.5); Czech Republic 6.4 (8.4); Italy 6.5 (7.0); Malta 6.7 (6.8); Sweden 6.7 (5.6); Finland 7.0 (7.0); Germany 7.1 (7.1); Romania 7.3 (6.1); Portugal 7.5 (7.6); Belgium 7.7 (8.1); Hungary 7.9 (7.4); Bulgaria 8.2 (9.6); Greece 8.6 (9.2); Spain 8.6 (8.1); France 8.8 (8.7); Slovakia 11.0 (10.2); Poland 11.8 (14.9).

Eurostat is a compilation of official reconciled numbers from EU memberstates, from a point of accuracy it should be trusted as the prime source of data. In the case of the Netherlands, Slovenia, the UK, Lithuania, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria or Poland the World Fact Book is so far off that its credibility has to be seriously questioned. I suggest that "It should be noted that statistics are not directly comparable." in the intro is modified to say something like "It should be noted that the following statistics can not be directly compared with each other and in many cases deviate problematically from offical statistics."

Isn't there another source of information for worldwide unemployment figures? Themanwithoutapast 16:50, 21 April 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Italy

I've just updated Italy's unemployment rate. It's 5.7%. For more information visit www.istat.it. Oct. 12 2007, 20.28

[edit] Germany - discrepancy between figures and map.

Germany's unemployment rate is listed as 7.1% for 2006 (est.) yet its colour on the map indicates a rate of 10-15%. Please fix this.--Mgill 08:05, 28 August 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Poland

Poland's unemployment rate is listed as 8,8% for September 2007, yet its colour on the map indicates a rate of over 15%. Please fix this :) —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.22.240.91 (talk) 21:10, 21 November 2007 (UTC)

  • Yes, it would be great, if somebody could change it :)

[edit] Isle of Man, Jersey, Guernsey etc...

Why are these countries listed with the UK next to them? None of them are part of the UK - simply being a crown dependency instead. They are actual states in their own right.-217.42.79.244 (talk) 19:47, 15 December 2007 (UTC)

[edit] Uruguay

According to the Instituto Nacional de Estadística del Uruguay, the average unemployment rates for 2007 are [1]:

  • Year average: 9.1%
  • October-December: 8.1%
  • December: 7.7%

--NaBUru38 (talk) 13:55, 5 March 2008 (UTC)