The line graph illustrates changes in joblessness levels in three different parts of the world between 1993 and 2007.
Overall, there was an increase in the rate of unemployed people in Japan, whereas the opposite was true in the cases of the UK and the rest of Europe. Additionally, the EU’s unemployment figures were consistently higher than those of the other two for the majority of the period.
At the beginning of the period, the percentage of jobless people in the UK was the highest, at about 11%. This figure then plummeted to a low of 5% after 8 years before remaining unchanged until 2005, when it experienced a slight rise of 1% in the final year.
Meanwhile, the EU followed a similar downward trend. It began the period at 9%, and by 1997 had overtaken the UK and reached a peak of nearly 12%, followed by a sharp fall to finish at just under 8%.
With an initial unemployment rate of 2%, which was the lowest in the chart, Japan’s joblessness figures increased slightly to 3% in 1995, with a subsequent leveling off over the following 4 years. From 1999 onwards, it grew considerably to peak at 6% in 2003, but by the end of the timeframe had fallen to 4%.