At the end of last month Eurostat published a report with the updated unemployment rate figures across the Euro Area. Overall unemployment was 8.8%. Although the highest rates are still observed in Greece (20.6%, Aug. 2017) and Spain (16.7%), they have decreased compared to the previous year.

The lowest rates, on the other hand, were observed in October 2017: Czechia (2.7%), Malta (3.5%), and Germany (3.6%).

Wikipedia has an interesting article called Where-to-be-born Index, which discusses an article published by The Economist that classifies countries based on which ones provide the best opportunities for a healthy, safe and prosperous life in the years ahead.

Not surprisingly, Switzerland and the Scandinavian countries are at the top of the list, joined by Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and Singapore.

At the end of last month Eurostat published a report on the unemployment rate in Europe. This report shows how Germany, Malta, and Czechia had the lowest rates, while Greece and Spain still have the highest. Still, it's remarkable how much it has decreased in both Spain and Ireland.

A couple of days ago Eurostat published a report describing the annual inflation rate in the EU area and some other non-EU European countries. As you can see in the map above, the Baltic countries had the highest inflation rates (Estonia: 3.6%, Lithuania: 3.5%, and Latvia: 3.3%), while Romania (0.6%), Ireland (0.7%), and Slovakia (0.8%) had the lowest ones.

Eurostat updated its unemployment rate figures. Iceland has one of the lowest unemployment rates in Europe (followed by Czechia and Germany), while Greece still has the highest, followed by Spain.

The charts above contain unemployment data extracted from Eurostat data sources. Even if the trend is going down, it is still quite high in countries such as Spain and Greece.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics published the unemployment figures for January, and the rate is low: 4.9%. It’s one of the lowest unemployment rates since the financial crisis of 2008. The rate is half of what it was at the peak in October 2009:

Even though this is very good news for the American people, the increase in wages is still sluggish. In the last quarter of 2015, the rate was 1.9%. It was around 3% before the crisis hit hard.

If I were American, I would ask the presidential candidates these questions.