The table shows the unemployment rate in the labour force of nine different countries in 1994 and 2024.
Overall, most countries experienced a fall in unemployment, except for Poland, Germany, Australia and Japan, which saw some increases. Ireland had the biggest drop, while Poland had the largest rise in the percentage of unemployed people.
In 1994, Poland’s unemployment rate was 12.4%, and this figure went up sharply to 19% in 2024, becoming the highest among all countries. Germany also showed an increase, from 7% to 9.4%. Meanwhile, the rates for Australia and Japan increased slightly to 5.4% and 4.7%.
By contrast, Ireland had the highest unemployment in 1994 at 14.8%, but this number fell significantly to 4.4% after 30 years. The UK and the USA also saw clear declines, to 4.7% and 5.4%, while smaller drops were recorded in Italy and Canada, to 8.4% and 7.7%, respectively.
