The table illustrates the proportion of people who were out of work in the overall labour workforce in 9 different nations in 1994 and 2004
Overall, there was a downward trend in the USA, Italy, Canada, and Australia, while Ireland and the UK recorded a significant decrease. In contrast, Poland, Germany, and Japan exhibited an upward trend, with Poland recording the highest unemployment rate at the end of the period.
Looking at the countries that have modest reduction, the USA started the period with 6% in 1994 and decreased by 0,6% to 5.4% in 2004. Next, Italy, Canada, and Australia recorded a similar decrease with approximately 3% in all three nations.
In terms of nations that made far more significant improvements in tackling unemployment, the unemployment rate declined twofold, from 9.5% in 1994 to 4.7% in 2004. Moreover, Ireland saw the highest decrease from 14.8% in 1994 to 4.4% in 2004.
In contrast, the remaining countries saw the proportion of people out of work grow. Japan and Germany recorded a slight growth from 2.7% and 7% in 1994 to 4.5% and 9.4% in 2004, respectively. Meanwhile, Poland experienced a surge in the unemployment rate from 12.4% to 19% , which was the highest figure in the board.