European Jobless Rates Surge

Some of the hardest-hit countries from the COVID-19 crisis have been in Europe, and projected unemployment estimates in countries like Spain and Italy are greatly outpacing numbers from 2019.

As businesses remain closed across Europe, Spain leads the continent with a projected unemployment rate of 20.8 percent for 2020 from the International Monetary Fund – up from 14.1 percent last year. Italy’s unemployment rate is projected to be 12.7 percent – up from 10 percent last year. France’s unemployment is projected to be nearly 2 percent higher than last year, while the U.K. and Germany are only supposed to increase by one percent or less.

The U.S. stands out as an outlier with a dramatic projected increase in unemployment compared to the increases in Europe. With an unemployment rate of 3.7 percent last year, the U.S. is projected to have that increase by nearly three times to 10.4 percent.

The good news from the IMF projections are that by 2021, unemployment rates are expected to return close to normal for most European countries. Rates in Spain and France are projected to still be high, but far less so than in 2020. Again, the U.S. stands out, as the 2021 unemployment rate is expected to be only slightly less than 2020.