You should use the unemployment rate, since the US are several times larger than Germany. Apart from that, I think that German unemployment is compiled by some

You should use the unemployment rate, since the US are several times larger than Germany. Apart from that, I think that German unemployment is compiled by some government office, who use the actual numbers of people who get unemployment benefits, while in the US telephone surveys used. http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=germany+vs+united+states+unemployment+rate http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=germany+vs+united+state...