Data for 2016
Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4), 2016
2016, as ILO’s 2026 release gives it · stored as published, never rewritten
The unemployment rate counts only people who are actively looking for work and could start at once. This broader rate also counts people working fewer hours than they want and people who want a job but have stopped looking or cannot start yet — the International Labour Organization’s widest measure of work people want and do not have.
Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4), 2016 covers 67 countries on 3 measures. South Africa is highest, at 39.258; Thailand is lowest, at 1.738. The middle country reads 15.270. Against 2015, 60 values changed (20 up, 40 down), 7 countries joined, 2 left.
Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4) · Data for 2016
HighestSouth Africa
39.258
LowestThailand
1.738Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the lowest end.
01Position · derived
The table
Every country and every column of Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4), 2016, as published. ILO ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. “=” marks a shared position.
Showing 25 of 67 countries · select a heading to sort
| derived | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa | 39.258 | 44.056 | 35.09 | — |
| 2 |  ArmeniaARMWestern Asia | 38.009 | 41.071 | 34.97 | — |
| 3 |  Bosnia and HerzegovinaBIHSouthern Europe | 37.399 | 45.002 | 32.15 | — |
| 4 |  EswatiniSWZSouthern Africa | 36.661 | 40.121 | 33.01 | — |
| 5 |  AlbaniaALBSouthern Europe | 33.367 | 33.705 | 33.09 | — |
| 6 |  PalestinePSEWestern Asia | 32.583 | 54.274 | 26.00 | — |
| 7 |  GreeceGRCSouthern Europe | 31.738 | 38.012 | 26.56 | — |
| 8 |  North MacedoniaMKDSouthern Europe | 30.078 | 30.027 | 30.11 | — |
| 9 |  SerbiaSRBSouthern Europe | 30.069 | 32.070 | 28.41 | — |
| 10 |  SpainESPSouthern Europe | 29.683 | 35.136 | 24.77 | — |
| 11 |  SenegalSENWestern Africa | 29.032 | 40.208 | 17.81 | — |
| 12 |  Costa RicaCRICentral America | 27.380 | 36.982 | 20.08 | — |
| 13 |  CyprusCYPWestern Asia | 27.010 | 27.397 | 26.64 | — |
| 14 |  MontenegroMNESouthern Europe | 26.961 | 27.769 | 26.29 | — |
| 15 |  MaldivesMDVSouthern Asia | 26.128 | 36.132 | 18.34 | Break in series |
| 16 |  ItalyITASouthern Europe | 24.984 | 29.746 | 21.20 | — |
| 17 |  ChileCHLSouth America | 24.837 | 30.360 | 20.58 | — |
| 18 |  CroatiaHRVSouthern Europe | 23.950 | 26.416 | 21.68 | — |
| 19 |  PortugalPRTSouthern Europe | 22.256 | 23.564 | 21.00 | — |
| 20 |  FranceFRAWestern Europe | 20.960 | 23.177 | 18.89 | — |
| 21 |  BrazilBRASouth America | 20.756 | 25.188 | 17.25 | — |
| 22 |  SurinameSURSouth America | 20.747 | 23.935 | 18.51 | — |
| 23 |  Côte d’IvoireCIVWestern Africa | 20.483 | 25.892 | 16.00 | — |
| 24 |  FinlandFINNorthern Europe | 20.247 | 20.765 | 19.77 | — |
| 25 |  UruguayURYSouth America | 19.078 | 22.776 | 15.87 | — |
| 26 |  Dominican RepublicDOMCaribbean | 18.140 | 25.495 | 12.71 | — |
| 27 |  LatviaLVANorthern Europe | 17.306 | 16.431 | 18.19 | — |
| 28 |  ParaguayPRYSouth America | 17.118 | 21.781 | 12.86 | — |
| 29 |  ColombiaCOLSouth America | 16.011 | 21.165 | 12.11 | — |
| 30 |  NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe | 15.938 | 19.235 | 13.03 | — |
| 31 |  SloveniaSVNSouthern Europe | 15.682 | 17.516 | 14.07 | — |
| 32 |  DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe | 15.417 | 16.730 | 14.24 | — |
| 33 |  El SalvadorSLVCentral America | 15.408 | 15.713 | 15.19 | — |
| 34 |  IrelandIRLNorthern Europe | 15.270 | 15.115 | 15.40 | — |
| 35 |  LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe | 14.600 | 17.846 | 11.79 | — |
| 36 |  BulgariaBGREastern Europe | 14.271 | 13.499 | 14.94 | — |
| 37 |  AustriaAUTWestern Europe | 14.194 | 15.794 | 12.77 | — |
| 38 |  IndonesiaIDNSouth-eastern Asia | 14.030 | 18.200 | 11.17 | — |
| 39 |  BelgiumBELWestern Europe | 13.837 | 15.164 | 12.70 | — |
| 40 |  BarbadosBRBCaribbean | 13.757 | 14.364 | 13.16 | — |
| 41 |  SwedenSWENorthern Europe | 13.088 | 13.560 | 12.66 | — |
| 42 |  United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe | 12.868 | 14.582 | 11.35 | — |
| 43 |  EstoniaESTNorthern Europe | 12.845 | 12.800 | 12.89 | — |
| 44 |  SlovakiaSVKEastern Europe | 12.798 | 14.400 | 11.46 | — |
| 45 |  BelizeBLZCentral America | 12.408 | 19.053 | 8.06 | — |
| 46 |  Cook IslandsCOKPolynesia | 12.154 | 12.604 | 11.75 | Break in series |
| 47 |  RomaniaROUEastern Europe | 11.817 | 11.292 | 12.22 | — |
| 48 |  LithuaniaLTUNorthern Europe | 10.934 | 9.979 | 11.91 | — |
| 49 |  IcelandISLNorthern Europe | 10.672 | 12.598 | 8.94 | — |
| 50 |  MauritiusMUSEastern Africa | 10.608 | 15.272 | 7.56 | — |
| 51 |  NorwayNORNorthern Europe | 10.479 | 10.432 | 10.52 | — |
| 52 |  KyrgyzstanKGZCentral Asia | 10.428 | 12.990 | 8.70 | — |
| 53 |  PolandPOLEastern Europe | 10.227 | 11.401 | 9.25 | — |
| 54 |  GermanyDEUWestern Europe | 9.804 | 11.094 | 8.69 | — |
| 55 |  BoliviaBOLSouth America | 9.795 | 12.323 | 7.83 | Break in series |
| 56 |  PanamaPANCentral America | 9.735 | 11.144 | 8.76 | — |
| 57 |  CanadaCANNorthern America | 9.371 | 9.095 | 9.62 | — |
| 58 |  HungaryHUNEastern Europe | 9.015 | 9.542 | 8.57 | — |
| 59 |  MaltaMLTSouthern Europe | 8.448 | 10.037 | 7.39 | — |
| 60 |  SeychellesSYCEastern Africa | 8.088 | 8.141 | 8.04 | — |
| 61 |  GuatemalaGTMCentral America | 7.943 | 11.346 | 6.12 | — |
| 62 |  Sri LankaLKASouthern Asia | 7.940 | 12.270 | 5.45 | — |
| 63 |  United StatesUSANorthern America | 6.686 | 6.519 | 6.83 | — |
| 64 |  MoldovaMDAEastern Europe | 5.748 | 4.123 | 7.52 | — |
| 65 |  CzechiaCZEEastern Europe | 5.442 | 6.806 | 4.35 | — |
| 66 |  VietnamVNMSouth-eastern Asia | 4.021 | 4.066 | 3.98 | — |
| 67 | ThailandTHASouth-eastern Asia | 1.738 | 1.611 | 1.85 | — |
02In 2016
At either end
The 5 countries at each end of the headline, then the highest and lowest on each other measure.
Highest
- 1South Africa39.258
- 2Armenia38.009
- 3Bosnia and Herzegovina37.399
- 4Eswatini36.661
- 5Albania33.367
Lowest
- 67Thailand1.738
- 66Vietnam4.021
- 65Czechia5.442
- 64Moldova5.748
- 63United States6.686
A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 15.270. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.
Each measure’s ends
Women (%)
Highest
Palestine54.274Lowest
Thailand1.611Middle country: 16.730
Men (%)
Highest
South Africa35.09Lowest
Thailand1.85Middle country: 12.89
032015 → 2016
Since 2015
- +7 / −2countries joined / left
- 60values changed, of 60 in both
- 20 · 40rose · fell
- 0unchanged
Rose most
- Denmark10.655 → 15.417+4.762
- Brazil16.758 → 20.756+3.998
- Bolivia7.742 → 9.795+2.053
- Costa Rica25.798 → 27.380+1.582
- El Salvador13.881 → 15.408+1.527
+ Côte d’Ivoire+ Cook Islands+ Indonesia+ Maldives+ Senegal+ Suriname+ Eswatini
− Ghana
− Togo04Caveats
Read before you use
One year of the 2026 release
Every year in this series comes from ILO’s 2026 release, recalculated on one method, so a change from one year to the next is not a revision. It can differ from what was first published for 2016.
64 empty cells
An empty cell means the publisher gave no figure. It is never a zero.
Some readings carry a flag
ILO marks readings it considers estimates or provisional. The flags in this file: Break in series.
05The files
Download and cite
- .csv
For a spreadsheet or code
67 rows · 3.7 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download labour-underutilisation-2016-nations-inquiry.csv - ↗
The publisher’s original
ILO’s own file, on its own site.
https://rplumber.ilo.org/data/indicator/?id=LUU_XLU4_SEX_RT&format=.csv&channel=ilostat
What this site changed: Reshaped to one row per country, with its ISO code; no value recalculated, rescaled or rounded. In full
Licence: CC BY 4.0 · what it allows, in plain words
Cite this edition
International Labour Organization (ILO) (2016). Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4), 2016 [data set], describing 2016. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/labour-underutilisation/2016
0611 held
Other years
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Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4), 201562 countries
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Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4), 201777 countries
All of them
Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4): every year11 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country