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Be very careful, before drawing any conclusions, to note that the study is only counting workers. This is particularly relevant because European economies have

Be very careful, before drawing any conclusions, to note that the study is only counting workers. This is particularly relevant because European economies have significantly higher unemployment rates. Especially long-term youth unemployment. This makes any difference of European and American workers an apples to orange comparison. You could have a low-skilled 23 year old American working a dead-end McJob. His counterpart in Italy is unable to get any work, has a pittance of disposable income and is stuck living with his parents. Only one is being counted. We don’t really know who’s more miserable. It’s quite possible the unemployed European still has it better than the Wal-Mary greeter. But the point is this survey doesn’t tell us, because it’s excluding the unemployed from the respondent pool.

standardUser 5y ago
People like to make a big deal of out the "higher" rate of unemployment in Europe, but for the most part we're talking about a difference of 1-4 percent.
- theptip 5y ago
  Random Google-searched data source pulling from World Bank data says 8% in USA, 18% in EU in 2019: https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/youth_unemployment/#USA https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/youth_unemployment... https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/youth_unemployment/#Euro_area https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/youth_unemployment... Double-clicking in, looking at France, Germany, Italy, Spain: only Germany has sub-20% unemployment (better than the USA actually). This seems to contradict your point. Where are you getting 1-4% from? I'm not sure if there's a "definition of unemployment" difference going on here?
  - standardUser 5y ago
    Those links are for youth unemployment rate. I don't know how those are calculated across different countries. The "regular" unemployment rate is supposed to have some level of reliability for cross-national comparisons, and I don't know if that holds true for other metrics. Looking at the overall unemployment rates, you'll see the variation is mostly in the 1-4% range.
    - theptip 5y ago
      Thanks, you're right. I got crossed wires as the GP was discussing youth unemployment in some places, but I see that there was another claim on general unemployment that you were referring to. For completeness the corrected 2019 stats from my data source would be USA 3.9% and EU 7.6% which is in the range you quoted. https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/Unemployment_rate/#USA https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/Unemployment_rate/... https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/Unemployment_rate/#Euro_area https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/Unemployment_rate/... Post-COVID (peri-COVID? 2020) numbers are US 8.3 vs. EU 8.2%, so it has narrowed recently.
- viro 5y ago
  what about the significantly higher homelessness rates?
theptip 5y ago
This is a spot on point, with respect to the OP. I was curious, and after a quick search it seems Gallup has a poll from 2019 that's more generic (across the whole population), and it points in the same direction: Summary: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/americans-are-some-most-stressed-out-people-world-reporting-negative-emotions-highest-rates-decade-180972047/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/americans-are-some... Original report press release: https://news.gallup.com/poll/249098/americans-stress-worry-anger-intensified-2018.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/249098/americans-stress-worry-a... I haven't taken the time to dig in to specific countries or demographic groups, I would be interested to compare, as you did, youth groups in US vs. FR for example.

standardUser 5y ago

People like to make a big deal of out the "higher" rate of unemployment in Europe, but for the most part we're talking about a difference of 1-4 percent.

theptip 5y ago
Random Google-searched data source pulling from World Bank data says 8% in USA, 18% in EU in 2019: https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/youth_unemployment/#USA https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/youth_unemployment... https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/youth_unemployment/#Euro_area https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/youth_unemployment... Double-clicking in, looking at France, Germany, Italy, Spain: only Germany has sub-20% unemployment (better than the USA actually). This seems to contradict your point. Where are you getting 1-4% from? I'm not sure if there's a "definition of unemployment" difference going on here?
- standardUser 5y ago
  Those links are for youth unemployment rate. I don't know how those are calculated across different countries. The "regular" unemployment rate is supposed to have some level of reliability for cross-national comparisons, and I don't know if that holds true for other metrics. Looking at the overall unemployment rates, you'll see the variation is mostly in the 1-4% range.
  - theptip 5y ago
    Thanks, you're right. I got crossed wires as the GP was discussing youth unemployment in some places, but I see that there was another claim on general unemployment that you were referring to. For completeness the corrected 2019 stats from my data source would be USA 3.9% and EU 7.6% which is in the range you quoted. https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/Unemployment_rate/#USA https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/Unemployment_rate/... https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/Unemployment_rate/#Euro_area https://www.theglobaleconomy.com/rankings/Unemployment_rate/... Post-COVID (peri-COVID? 2020) numbers are US 8.3 vs. EU 8.2%, so it has narrowed recently.
viro 5y ago
what about the significantly higher homelessness rates?

theptip 5y ago

This is a spot on point, with respect to the OP. I was curious, and after a quick search it seems Gallup has a poll from 2019 that's more generic (across the whole population), and it points in the same direction: Summary: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/americans-are-some-most-stressed-out-people-world-reporting-negative-emotions-highest-rates-decade-180972047/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/americans-are-some... Original report press release: https://news.gallup.com/poll/249098/americans-stress-worry-anger-intensified-2018.aspx https://news.gallup.com/poll/249098/americans-stress-worry-a... I haven't taken the time to dig in to specific countries or demographic groups, I would be interested to compare, as you did, youth groups in US vs. FR for example.