The data compares nine countries in terms of the unemployment rate between 1994 and 2004.
Overall, there were fewer unemployed people in Ireland, Italy, Canada, the UK, and the USA, while that of Germany, Poland, Australia, and Japan increased. In addition, although unemployment was most serious in Ireland in the beginning of the period, Poland eventually became the nation with the highest jobless rate.
Regarding Ireland, Italy, Canada, the UK, and the USA, Ireland led the chart in the percentage of unemployed workers at 14,8% in 1994. In the next 30 years, the Irish government succeeded in curbing the unemployment rate, lowering it to 4,4%. 11,8% of the labour force in Italy was unhired in 1994, compared to 7,2% in the USA. After three decades, the figure for Italy dropped considerably to 8,4%, which was 3% higher than that of the USA at 5,4%. Canada and the UK had around 10% of their labour force jobless in the first year, and they managed to drop to 7,7% and 4,7% respectively in 2024, showing a 3% disparity.
Turning to the other countries, the unemployment rate among Japanese workers, albeit increasing from 2,7% to 4,7%, remained one of the lowest rates over the period. Noticeably, having started at 12,4%, Poland documented a huge surge in its unemployment/ the rate of unemployment, well surpassing the others to reach 19% in 2024. Moreover, the unemployed initially made up 7% of its total labour force, after which it witnessed a subsequent increase by almost 3%. Lastly, 5% of the Australian workforce was unemployed in 1994, which increased slightly to 5,4% by the end of the period.