Labor Markets Improve Across Most Advanced Economies

July 10, 2014

Labor markets improved overall across the advanced economies, according to unemployment rates and employment growth data compiled and standardized by The Conference Board International Labor Comparisons (ILC) program for May 2014.

Unemployment rates in May fell in four of the nine countries compared, and were unchanged in the remaining five.  Sweden saw the greatest improvement, with joblessness falling 0.3 points to 7.7 percent.  Unemployment fell 0.2 points in the Netherlands (to 7.0 percent) and 0.1 points each in Japan (to 3.1 percent) and Germany (to 5.1 percent).

"In May, despite a continued high unemployment rate for the European Union as a whole, employment picked up in several European economies, including France, Italy, and the Netherlands," said Elizabeth Crofoot, Senior Economist with the International Labor Comparisons program at The Conference Board.  "Yet Germany's slight dip in employment, the first in over two years, underscores the continued fragility of Europe's labor market recovery going forward."

Employment in May increased in all economies compared except Germany and Australia.  Japan and Sweden saw the largest increases, rising 0.5 points to 99.6 and 105.5, respectively.  Despite an improvement of 0.3 points, Italy continues to have the lowest employment index (96.9), while Australia retains the highest (112.6) despite May's 0.1-point decline.  With a gain of 0.1 points to 99.9, the U.S. inched even closer to reaching the employment index level of 2007 (=100) for the first time since the recession.

Source: The Conference Board