After analyzing the data, 24/7 Wall St. concluded that only a
minority of the countries with low unemployment actually have a healthy
economy where middle-class jobs are abundant. Instead, in many nations,
employment is either being created by temporary government public works
or these nations have large amounts of subsistence farming, which is
counted as employment.
Interestingly, low unemployment is not
necessarily driven by large economies, the Gallup data show. Three of
the nine countries with the lowest unemployment fall within the bottom
half of countries with the lowest gross domestic product per capita out
of 226 countries outlined by the CIA's World Factbook. A
few other countries, including Thailand and Montenegro, have similarly
low GDP per capita, although not quite in the bottom half. This
illustrates that low-earning countries also can have low rates of
unemployment.
Because of the difficulties in comparing
unemployment rates, the Gallup study also reported the percentage of the
population employed full-time by an employer -- a measure believed to
more accurately reflect the employment situation of each country. In an
interview with 24/7 Wall St., Dennis J. Jacobe, Gallup’s chief
economist, explained that this method helps take into account those who
are working on their own and making just enough to get by. “We’ve
decided to focus on employed full-time for an employer,” Jacobe said.
“Our conclusion out of all of this has been that it is difficult to make
an across-country comparison because the rules are so different, and
what is defined as a job is different in each country.”
Matthias
Rumpf, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s chief
media officer, echoed Jacobe’s sentiments. Rumpt told 24/7 Wall St. that
using unemployment rates to compare developed and developing countries
was problematic for these very reasons.
Many of the countries we
examined, especially those in Asia, have unemployment rates less than 5
percent, but also have a relatively low percentage of their population
working full-time for an employer. This includes countries with a great
deal of subsistence farming. China, Thailand and Vietnam fall into this
category. In China, between 30 percent and 39 percent of the population
is working full-time. In Vietnam and Thailand, the range is between 20
percent and 29 percent. In contrast, most of the countries with the
lowest unemployment rates have 50 percent or more of their population
working full-time for an employer other than themselves.
There are
also quite a few countries on this list that may have healthy economies
in part, but their exceedingly low unemployment rates appear to be more
a product of a government artificially suppressing rates through public
programs. In Belarus, for example, everyone who registers for
unemployment benefits must sign up for some public works project. 24/7
Wall St. reviewed the nine countries with unemployment rates
less than 5 percent in 2011, according to the Gallup survey. For each of
these countries, we added the Gallup figures for the percentages of the
population that were employed full-time by an employer. We collected
GDP and GDP per capita data from the CIA's World Factbook. We also looked at long-term unemployment and GDP trends by country, provided by the World Bank.
These are the nine countries where unemployment does not exist.
1. Austria
- Unemployment: less than 5 percent
- GDP: $351.4 billion (35th highest, out of 225)
- GDP per capita (PPP): $41,700 (18th highest, out of 226)
- Percent working full-time for an employer: 50-plus percent
According to the World Bank, Austria’s unemployment rate has
remained below 5 percent -- excepting a minor hiccup of 5.2 percent in
2006 -- since the organization began recording the statistic in 1982.
Austria has a highly advanced market economy, which thrives on its large
service and industrial sectors. It has maintained low unemployment in
recent years, including throughout the recession. This is due largely to
the government subsidizing the reduction of work hours for companies.
According to the Austrian Times, the country currently has the lowest unemployment rate among all EU countries.
2. Belarus
- Unemployment: less than 5 percent
- GDP: $141.2 billion (60th highest, out of 225)
- GDP per capita (PPP): $14,900 (85th highest, out of 226)
- Percent working full-time for an employer: 50-plus percent
Since the mid-2000s, former Russian satellite nation Belarus has
had an above-average GDP growth nearly every year. In 2010, Belarus had
the one of the highest rates of industrial growth (a separate measure
than GDP growth) in the world, at 10.5 percent. This may have had some
impact on the country’s extremely low unemployment rates, but there are
other factors at work. According to the Belarus Digest, these
low unemployment numbers are not all they appear to be. As part of
public policy, those who register to receive unemployment benefits must
register for a public works program. These positions are usually only
part-time, and the pay is low. According to the CIA, there is a “large
number of underemployed workers” in the country. Still, at least 50
percent of residents are working full-time for an employer.
3. China
- Unemployment: less than 5 percent
- GDP: $11.3 trillion (2nd highest, out of 225)
- GDP per capita (PPP): $8,400 (119th highest, out of 226)
- Percent working full-time for an employer: 30 percent to 39 percent
Although China’s unemployment rate is reportedly below 5 percent,
only 30 percent to 39 percent of the labor force are working full-time
for an employer -- a relatively small amount. This is likely the result
of the country’s high rate of subsistence jobs. The country also has a
large number of jobs in the public sector. Additionally, it is the
world’s largest exporter. China enacted its 12th Five-Year Plan in March
2011, which “emphasizes continued economic reforms and the need to
increase domestic consumption in order to make the economy less
dependent on exports in the future,” according to the World Factbook.
4. Japan
> Unemployment: <5%
> GDP: $4.4 trillion (4th highest, out of 225)
> GDP per capita (PPP): $34,300 (37th highest, out of 226)
> Pct. working full-time for an employer: 50%+
> Unemployment: <5%
> GDP: $4.4 trillion (4th highest, out of 225)
> GDP per capita (PPP): $34,300 (37th highest, out of 226)
> Pct. working full-time for an employer: 50%+
Japan’s economy was hit hard by last year’s earthquake and tsunami. A
large proportion of the country’s power grid was crippled, which has
hurt Japan’s massive auto industry. The power grid remains crippled
still. The country’s GDP has either contracted or grown at a very low
rate in the past five years. Last year, it contracted 0.5%, the
14th-largest decline among the 215 countries measured by the CIA.
Nevertheless, unemployment in the country is less than 5%, and at least
50% of the population is employed full-time by an employer.
No comments:
Post a Comment