Data for 2022
Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4), 2022
2022, 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), 2022 covers 75 countries on 3 measures. South Africa is highest, at 46.547; Thailand is lowest, at 2.030. The middle country reads 12.485. Against 2021, 64 values changed (3 up, 61 down), 11 countries joined, 15 left.
Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4) · Data for 2022
HighestSouth Africa
46.547
LowestThailand
2.030Shaded 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), 2022, 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 75 countries · select a heading to sort
| derived | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa | 46.547 | 50.508 | 43.05 | — |
| 2 |  RwandaRWAEastern Africa | 36.647 | 42.008 | 31.13 | — |
| 3 |  HondurasHNDCentral America | 35.537 | 47.882 | 24.53 | — |
| 4 |  SenegalSENWestern Africa | 34.892 | 50.704 | 21.25 | — |
| 5 |  PalestinePSEWestern Asia | 31.029 | 52.980 | 24.26 | — |
| 6 |  AngolaAGOMiddle Africa | 30.182 | 30.957 | 29.35 | — |
| 7 |  NiueNIUPolynesia | 29.911 | 30.789 | 29.04 | — |
| 8 |  MontenegroMNESouthern Europe | 25.046 | 25.043 | 25.05 | — |
| 9 |  GeorgiaGEOWestern Asia | 24.949 | 25.814 | 24.13 | — |
| 10 |  ZimbabweZWEEastern Africa | 23.710 | 25.517 | 21.88 | — |
| 11 |  JordanJORWestern Asia | 22.627 | 34.023 | 20.20 | — |
| 12 |  SpainESPSouthern Europe | 22.618 | 28.166 | 17.58 | — |
| 13 |  North MacedoniaMKDSouthern Europe | 21.265 | 20.448 | 21.84 | — |
| 14 |  ZambiaZMBEastern Africa | 21.052 | 23.265 | 19.04 | — |
| 15 |  Costa RicaCRICentral America | 20.987 | 26.620 | 16.87 | — |
| 16 |  BrazilBRASouth America | 20.556 | 25.704 | 16.33 | — |
| 17 |  ChileCHLSouth America | 20.359 | 23.540 | 17.91 | — |
| 18 |  GreeceGRCSouthern Europe | 19.468 | 25.244 | 14.76 | — |
| 19 |  ItalyITASouthern Europe | 19.446 | 23.944 | 15.91 | — |
| 20 |  AlbaniaALBSouthern Europe | 17.882 | 18.954 | 16.95 | — |
| 21 |  UruguayURYSouth America | 17.823 | 20.739 | 15.30 | Break in series |
| 22 |  FranceFRAWestern Europe | 17.819 | 19.085 | 16.61 | — |
| 23 |  Bosnia and HerzegovinaBIHSouthern Europe | 17.097 | 20.927 | 14.33 | Break in series |
| 24 |  FinlandFINNorthern Europe | 16.682 | 16.996 | 16.39 | — |
| 25 |  SudanSDNNorthern Africa | 16.575 | 22.976 | 15.06 | Break in series |
| 26 |  ColombiaCOLSouth America | 16.455 | 20.906 | 13.19 | Break in series |
| 27 |  NigeriaNGAWestern Africa | 15.846 | 20.912 | 10.98 | — |
| 28 |  SwedenSWENorthern Europe | 15.805 | 17.312 | 14.45 | — |
| 29 |  BarbadosBRBCaribbean | 14.925 | 15.826 | 14.06 | — |
| 30 |  CyprusCYPWestern Asia | 14.714 | 16.262 | 13.29 | — |
| 31 |  PortugalPRTSouthern Europe | 14.119 | 14.500 | 13.75 | — |
| 32 |  Dominican RepublicDOMCaribbean | 13.825 | 20.138 | 8.78 | — |
| 33 |  MadagascarMDGEastern Africa | 13.758 | 15.176 | 12.45 | Break in series |
| 34 |  TuvaluTUVPolynesia | 13.388 | 15.774 | 11.79 | — |
| 35 |  IrelandIRLNorthern Europe | 12.780 | 13.751 | 11.92 | — |
| 36 |  CroatiaHRVSouthern Europe | 12.602 | 14.048 | 11.31 | — |
| 37 |  PhilippinesPHLSouth-eastern Asia | 12.497 | 12.392 | 12.57 | — |
| 38 |  LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe | 12.485 | 14.520 | 10.68 | — |
| 39 |  NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe | 12.020 | 13.741 | 10.48 | — |
| 40 |  LatviaLVANorthern Europe | 11.697 | 11.092 | 12.30 | — |
| 41 |  SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe | 11.320 | 14.281 | 8.66 | — |
| 42 |  BelgiumBELWestern Europe | 10.960 | 11.924 | 10.10 | — |
| 43 |  BoliviaBOLSouth America | 10.751 | 12.857 | 8.86 | — |
| 44 |  BruneiBRNSouth-eastern Asia | 10.376 | 12.290 | 9.10 | — |
| 45 |  EstoniaESTNorthern Europe | 10.181 | 10.369 | 10.00 | — |
| 46 |  United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe | 10.165 | 11.421 | 9.02 | — |
| 47 |  AustriaAUTWestern Europe | 9.983 | 10.908 | 9.16 | — |
| 48 |  NorwayNORNorthern Europe | 9.918 | 10.748 | 9.18 | — |
| 49 |  IcelandISLNorthern Europe | 9.863 | 10.166 | 9.60 | — |
| 50 |  LithuaniaLTUNorthern Europe | 9.363 | 9.278 | 9.45 | — |
| 51 |  MongoliaMNGEastern Asia | 9.307 | 8.326 | 10.14 | — |
| 52 |  DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe | 9.254 | 9.759 | 8.80 | — |
| 53 |  RomaniaROUEastern Europe | 9.045 | 8.738 | 9.27 | — |
| 54 |  BangladeshBGDSouthern Asia | 8.683 | 10.136 | 7.88 | — |
| 55 |  Sri LankaLKASouthern Asia | 8.626 | 12.316 | 6.62 | — |
| 56 |  SloveniaSVNSouthern Europe | 8.421 | 9.408 | 7.58 | — |
| 57 |  SingaporeSGPSouth-eastern Asia | 8.405 | 9.658 | 7.30 | — |
| 58 |  MaliMLIWestern Africa | 8.134 | 10.041 | 6.73 | — |
| 59 |  SlovakiaSVKEastern Europe | 7.846 | 8.178 | 7.55 | — |
| 60 |  BulgariaBGREastern Europe | 7.390 | 7.475 | 7.31 | — |
| 61 |  El SalvadorSLVCentral America | 7.218 | 7.826 | 6.78 | — |
| 62 |  KyrgyzstanKGZCentral Asia | 7.179 | 8.806 | 6.13 | — |
| 63 |  MaltaMLTSouthern Europe | 6.982 | 7.016 | 6.96 | — |
| 64 |  GermanyDEUWestern Europe | 6.796 | 7.132 | 6.50 | — |
| 65 |  CanadaCANNorthern America | 6.745 | 6.827 | 6.67 | — |
| 66 |  SamoaWSMPolynesia | 6.661 | 9.851 | 4.82 | Break in series |
| 67 |  BelarusBLREastern Europe | 6.076 | 5.474 | 6.68 | — |
| 68 |  HungaryHUNEastern Europe | 5.766 | 5.908 | 5.64 | — |
| 69 |  United StatesUSANorthern America | 5.232 | 5.115 | 5.34 | — |
| 70 |  PolandPOLEastern Europe | 5.194 | 5.630 | 4.83 | — |
| 71 |  LaosLAOSouth-eastern Asia | 3.933 | 3.409 | 4.41 | Break in series |
| 72 |  CzechiaCZEEastern Europe | 3.865 | 4.994 | 2.96 | — |
| 73 |  VietnamVNMSouth-eastern Asia | 3.822 | 3.651 | 3.98 | — |
| 74 |  MoldovaMDAEastern Europe | 2.349 | 1.894 | 2.85 | — |
| 75 | ThailandTHASouth-eastern Asia | 2.030 | 2.007 | 2.05 | — |
02In 2022
At either end
The 5 countries at each end of the headline, then the highest and lowest on each other measure.
Highest
- 1South Africa46.547
- 2Rwanda36.647
- 3Honduras35.537
- 4Senegal34.892
- 5Palestine31.029
A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 12.485. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.
Each measure’s ends
Women (%)
Highest
Palestine52.980Lowest
Moldova1.894Middle country: 13.751
Men (%)
Highest
South Africa43.05Lowest
Thailand2.05Middle country: 10.68
032021 → 2022
Since 2021
- +11 / −15countries joined / left
- 64values changed, of 64 in both
- 3 · 61rose · fell
- 0unchanged
Rose most
- Zambia18.915 → 21.052+2.137
- Kyrgyzstan6.885 → 7.179+0.294
- Moldova2.341 → 2.349+0.008
Fell most
- Honduras46.431 → 35.537−10.894
- Brazil27.002 → 20.556−6.446
- Montenegro31.190 → 25.046−6.144
- Costa Rica27.080 → 20.987−6.093
- Barbados20.748 → 14.925−5.823
+ Bangladesh+ Switzerland+ Laos+ Madagascar+ Mali+ Nigeria+ Niue+ Sudan+ Senegal+ Tuvalu+ Samoa
− Afghanistan
− Comoros
− Ethiopia
− Grenada
− Guatemala
− Guyana
− Indonesia
− Iraq
− Kenya
− Pakistan
− Panama
− Eswatini
− Timor-Leste
− Tonga
− Uganda04Caveats
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 2022.
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
For a spreadsheet or code
75 rows · 4.0 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download labour-underutilisation-2022-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) (2022). Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4), 2022 [data set], describing 2022. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/labour-underutilisation/2022
0611 held
Other years
‹ The year before
Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4), 202179 countries
The year after ›
Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4), 202379 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