Unemployment international comparisons: Economic indicators

Unemployment data tells us about the strength of the labour market. Find the latest data on unemployment in several major world economies.

Economic indicators are quick-read summaries of the latest data focusing on different aspects of the UK economy. The full suite of indicators can be found on the main Economic Indicators page.

The OECD produces harmonised unemployment rates for OECD members based on the ILO definition of unemployment.

The UK harmonised unemployment rate for Q1 2026 was 5.0%. This was above Germany (3.9%) and the US (4.3%), but below France (8.2%). The Eurozone’s rate was 6.4%, while in the G7 it was 4.6%.

The Q2 2026 rate has not yet been published for the UK. The Eurozone’s rate was 6.4% in this quarter, while in the G7 it was 4.5%.

Finland had the highest unemployment rate out of the OECD member states in Q2 2026 at 10.5%, followed by Spain at 10.2%. Japan had the lowest at 2.5%.

Youth (aged 15 to 24) unemployment is a major issue in many developed economies at present. In Q2 2026 the youth unemployment rate was 24.9% in Sweden, and it was also 20% or higher in Spain (23.8%), Finland (23.6%), Chile (23.3%), Estonia (23.0%) and France (21.5%). It was 16.2% in the UK.

Next updates

This page is updated when new data is published. The next source updates will be:

• OECD, Harmonised Unemployment Rates, 10 November 2026

View the original briefing, with charts and downloads, on the House of Commons Library website →

Source: House of Commons Library, by Alex Adcock. © House of Commons. Contains Parliamentary information licensed under the Open Parliament Licence v3.0. Republished in full; charts and images are on the original page.