[burger]

You probably also want to compare the levels before as well. For instance, Spain's unemployment rate was already ~14% when the virus hit. Meanwhile ours was <4%. There's a lot more room for movement when you're at a lower level.



I think Farm93 is also right that different labor market laws (and unionization rates and the like) explain a lot of it, too. We may also have been alone in using unemployment insurance as a way to pay workers to not work, while other places made other decisions.



Which isn't to say we've done well, we sure haven't. But it's not clear to me that this is a real apples-to-apples comparison.

Didn't many (most?) European countries give loans to companies to keep people on payroll, even if the business was closed?  This would explain the difference in unemployment rates.  I can't imagine that France and Spain are seeing enough retail activity to keep their unemployment rates in check.

[burger]

You probably also want to compare the levels before as well. For instance, Spain's unemployment rate was already ~14% when the virus hit. Meanwhile ours was <4%. There's a lot more room for movement when you're at a lower level.



I think Farm93 is also right that different labor market laws (and unionization rates and the like) explain a lot of it, too. We may also have been alone in using unemployment insurance as a way to pay workers to not work, while other places made other decisions.



Which isn't to say we've done well, we sure haven't. But it's not clear to me that this is a real apples-to-apples comparison.

Didn't many (most?) European countries give loans to companies to keep people on payroll, even if the business was closed?  This would explain the difference in unemployment rates.  I can't imagine that France and Spain are seeing enough retail activity to keep their unemployment rates in check.