Band 9: The graph below shows the percentage of people unemployed in the total labour work force across 9 countries in 1994 and 2004. Summarise the information by selecting and reporting the main features, and make comparisons where relevant.

The table compares the unemployment rates in the labour force across nine countries in 1994 and 2004.

Overall, most of the countries surveyed experienced declines in their unemployment rates over the ten-year period, while Poland, Germany, Australia and Japan recorded increases. Ireland saw by far the steepest decline, falling from the highest unemployment rate in 1994 to the lowest in 2004, whereas Poland experienced the most substantial rise and ended the period with the highest rate.

In 1994, Ireland registered the highest unemployment rate, at 14.8%, followed by Poland and Italy, at 12.4% and 11.8%, respectively. Canada and the UK occupied the middle positions, with rates of 10.6% and 9.5%, respectively. At the other end of the scale, Japan recorded the lowest rate, at just 2.7%, while Australia, Germany and the USA had relatively low figures of 5%, 7% and 7.2%, respectively.

By 2004, the overall picture had shifted considerably. Ireland experienced a dramatic reduction in unemployment, with its rate plummeting by 10.4 percentage points to 4.4%. The UK’s rate almost halved, falling from 9.5% to 4.7%, while more moderate declines were recorded in Italy, Canada and the USA, whose respective rates fell to 8.4%, 7.7% and 5.4%. By contrast, Poland’s rate climbed sharply by 6.6 percentage points to 19%, making it the country with the highest unemployment rate. Germany also saw a substantial rise, from 7% to 9.4%, while Japan and Australia experienced more modest increases, reaching 4.7% and 5.4%, respectively.