Data for 2018
Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4), 2018
2018, 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), 2018 covers 73 countries on 3 measures. South Africa is highest, at 40.042; Thailand is lowest, at 1.844. The middle country reads 12.507. Against 2017, 64 values changed (15 up, 49 down), 9 countries joined, 13 left.
Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4) · Data for 2018
HighestSouth Africa
40.042
LowestThailand
1.844Shaded 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), 2018, 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 73 countries · select a heading to sort
| derived | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa | 40.042 | 44.613 | 36.000 | — |
| 2 |  RwandaRWAEastern Africa | 38.532 | 44.331 | 32.424 | — |
| 3 |  GuyanaGUYSouth America | 34.990 | 41.115 | 30.173 | Break in series |
| 4 |  PalestinePSEWestern Asia | 34.776 | 57.290 | 27.768 | — |
| 5 |  Bosnia and HerzegovinaBIHSouthern Europe | 29.671 | 34.752 | 26.224 | — |
| 6 |  HondurasHNDCentral America | 29.603 | 39.528 | 21.913 | Break in series |
| 7 |  North MacedoniaMKDSouthern Europe | 27.106 | 27.368 | 26.930 | — |
| 8 |  GreeceGRCSouthern Europe | 27.089 | 34.122 | 21.364 | — |
| 9 |  AlbaniaALBSouthern Europe | 26.364 | 28.872 | 24.272 | — |
| 10 |  MontenegroMNESouthern Europe | 25.609 | 27.917 | 23.693 | — |
| 11 |  Costa RicaCRICentral America | 25.425 | 33.217 | 19.736 | — |
| 12 |  ChileCHLSouth America | 24.568 | 29.436 | 20.777 | — |
| 13 |  SpainESPSouthern Europe | 24.496 | 30.150 | 19.434 | — |
| 14 |  BrazilBRASouth America | 24.118 | 28.824 | 20.290 | — |
| 15 |  New CaledoniaNCLMelanesia | 23.494 | 26.662 | 20.818 | — |
| 16 |  SerbiaSRBSouthern Europe | 23.403 | 24.507 | 22.501 | — |
| 17 |  JordanJORWestern Asia | 23.251 | 33.217 | 20.941 | — |
| 18 |  ItalyITASouthern Europe | 22.508 | 27.027 | 18.914 | — |
| 19 |  ZambiaZMBEastern Africa | 21.542 | 23.329 | 19.877 | Break in series |
| 20 |  GrenadaGRDCaribbean | 19.948 | 22.561 | 17.704 | — |
| 21 |  UruguayURYSouth America | 19.439 | 23.004 | 16.320 | — |
| 22 |  FranceFRAWestern Europe | 19.212 | 21.460 | 17.092 | — |
| 23 |  Burkina FasoBFAWestern Africa | 18.235 | 21.807 | 15.005 | — |
| 24 |  CyprusCYPWestern Asia | 18.032 | 19.345 | 16.819 | — |
| 25 |  FinlandFINNorthern Europe | 17.727 | 18.403 | 17.098 | — |
| 26 |  CroatiaHRVSouthern Europe | 16.618 | 19.699 | 13.764 | — |
| 27 |  IrelandIRLNorthern Europe | 16.079 | 17.784 | 14.614 | — |
| 28 |  PortugalPRTSouthern Europe | 16.066 | 17.614 | 14.565 | — |
| 29 |  ColombiaCOLSouth America | 15.859 | 20.773 | 12.184 | — |
| 30 |  BruneiBRNSouth-eastern Asia | 15.743 | 18.260 | 13.899 | — |
| 31 |  Dominican RepublicDOMCaribbean | 15.031 | 21.589 | 10.202 | — |
| 32 |  BarbadosBRBCaribbean | 14.476 | 15.035 | 13.941 | — |
| 33 |  IndonesiaIDNSouth-eastern Asia | 13.892 | 16.951 | 11.773 | — |
| 34 |  TongaTONPolynesia | 13.002 | 16.266 | 10.452 | Break in series |
| 35 |  El SalvadorSLVCentral America | 12.932 | 12.723 | 13.076 | — |
| 36 |  LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe | 12.820 | 14.876 | 11.008 | — |
| 37 |  LatviaLVANorthern Europe | 12.507 | 12.320 | 12.694 | — |
| 38 |  PhilippinesPHLSouth-eastern Asia | 12.186 | 12.066 | 12.260 | — |
| 39 |  SwedenSWENorthern Europe | 12.110 | 12.887 | 11.402 | — |
| 40 |  PanamaPANCentral America | 11.927 | 13.008 | 11.156 | — |
| 41 |  BelgiumBELWestern Europe | 11.865 | 12.592 | 11.230 | — |
| 42 |  Antigua and BarbudaATGCaribbean | 11.837 | 13.533 | 9.940 | — |
| 43 |  NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe | 11.824 | 13.960 | 9.935 | — |
| 44 |  AustriaAUTWestern Europe | 11.518 | 13.160 | 10.063 | — |
| 45 |  United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe | 11.289 | 12.838 | 9.908 | — |
| 46 |  EstoniaESTNorthern Europe | 11.141 | 11.521 | 10.777 | — |
| 47 |  SloveniaSVNSouthern Europe | 10.923 | 12.419 | 9.632 | — |
| 48 |  DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe | 10.591 | 11.692 | 9.611 | — |
| 49 |  MauritiusMUSEastern Africa | 10.169 | 12.644 | 8.537 | — |
| 50 |  NorwayNORNorthern Europe | 9.502 | 10.195 | 8.887 | — |
| 51 |  BulgariaBGREastern Europe | 9.443 | 9.142 | 9.704 | — |
| 52 |  SlovakiaSVKEastern Europe | 9.358 | 10.393 | 8.496 | — |
| 53 |  KyrgyzstanKGZCentral Asia | 9.076 | 11.120 | 7.788 | Break in series |
| 54 |  RomaniaROUEastern Europe | 8.981 | 8.755 | 9.152 | — |
| 55 |  IcelandISLNorthern Europe | 8.735 | 10.395 | 7.306 | — |
| 56 |  LithuaniaLTUNorthern Europe | 8.546 | 8.063 | 9.033 | — |
| 57 |  Sri LankaLKASouthern Asia | 8.447 | 12.983 | 5.971 | — |
| 58 |  VietnamVNMSouth-eastern Asia | 8.311 | 9.845 | 6.863 | — |
| 59 |  Sierra LeoneSLEWestern Africa | 8.287 | 7.928 | 8.679 | — |
| 60 |  GermanyDEUWestern Europe | 8.283 | 9.061 | 7.611 | — |
| 61 |  BoliviaBOLSouth America | 7.902 | 9.206 | 6.793 | — |
| 62 |  CanadaCANNorthern America | 7.899 | 8.027 | 7.784 | — |
| 63 |  BelarusBLREastern Europe | 7.736 | 6.796 | 8.650 | — |
| 64 |  GuatemalaGTMCentral America | 7.243 | 10.467 | 5.548 | — |
| 65 |  PolandPOLEastern Europe | 7.012 | 7.740 | 6.408 | — |
| 66 |  MaltaMLTSouthern Europe | 6.936 | 7.343 | 6.658 | — |
| 67 |  HungaryHUNEastern Europe | 6.695 | 7.467 | 6.056 | — |
| 68 |  United StatesUSANorthern America | 5.470 | 5.361 | 5.565 | — |
| 69 |  United Arab EmiratesAREWestern Asia | 4.026 | 11.911 | 2.005 | — |
| 70 |  MyanmarMMRSouth-eastern Asia | 3.576 | 4.360 | 2.982 | — |
| 71 |  CzechiaCZEEastern Europe | 3.367 | 4.446 | 2.493 | — |
| 72 |  MoldovaMDAEastern Europe | 3.064 | 2.460 | 3.742 | — |
| 73 | ThailandTHASouth-eastern Asia | 1.844 | 1.751 | 1.921 | — |
02In 2018
At either end
The 5 countries at each end of the headline, then the highest and lowest on each other measure.
Highest
- 1South Africa40.042
- 2Rwanda38.532
- 3Guyana34.990
- 4Palestine34.776
- 5Bosnia and Herzegovina29.671
Lowest
- 73Thailand1.844
- 72Moldova3.064
- 71Czechia3.367
- 70Myanmar3.576
- 69United Arab Emirates4.026
A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 12.507. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.
Each measure’s ends
Women (%)
Highest
Palestine57.290Lowest
Thailand1.751Middle country: 13.533
Men (%)
Highest
South Africa36.000Lowest
Thailand1.921Middle country: 11.230
032017 → 2018
Since 2017
- +9 / −13countries joined / left
- 64values changed, of 64 in both
- 15 · 49rose · fell
- 0unchanged
Rose most
- Vietnam3.972 → 8.311+4.339
- Zambia18.828 → 21.542+2.714
- Palestine32.892 → 34.776+1.884
- Kyrgyzstan7.424 → 9.076+1.652
- Panama10.840 → 11.927+1.087
Fell most
- Cyprus23.590 → 18.032−5.558
- New Caledonia27.112 → 23.494−3.618
- Slovenia14.182 → 10.923−3.259
- Croatia19.816 → 16.618−3.198
- Portugal19.195 → 16.066−3.129
+ United Arab Emirates+ Antigua and Barbuda+ Burkina Faso+ Grenada+ Guyana+ Honduras+ Myanmar+ Sierra Leone+ Tonga
− Afghanistan
− Armenia
− Bangladesh
− Belize
− Côte d’Ivoire
− Laos
− Liberia
− Mauritania
− Nepal
− Senegal
− Togo
− Uganda
− Samoa04Caveats
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 2018.
68 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
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73 rows · 3.9 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download labour-underutilisation-2018-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) (2018). Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4), 2018 [data set], describing 2018. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/labour-underutilisation/2018
0611 held
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Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4), 201777 countries
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Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4), 201986 countries
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Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4): every year11 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country