ILO · Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4)
Labour underutilisation by country
What share of people who want work are without a job, working too few hours, or have given up looking?
Of the 76 countries compared in 2024, Thailand had the lowest reading, 1.495%, and Malawi had the highest reading, 49.816%. In the middle country the figure was 12.559%. Among the 43 countries measured in every edition since 2014, the middle one moved from 15.519% to 11.399%.
Part ofWork & Labour
Labour underutilisation · 2024
Context statistic
Lowest of 76Thailand
1.495%012024 · position · derived
Who leads
The three countries at the lowest end of 76 compared, the three at the other end, and the first on each continent.
1Photo: Unknown author · CC BY 3.0, greyscale
2Photo: Slaza : Sándor Laza · CC BY-SA 3.0, greyscale
3Photo: User:Zserghei derivative work: Jjtkk · Public domain, greyscale
Highest in 2024
Malawi49.816%
South Africa44.563%
Rwanda40.042%
Where a country sits says how it compares with the others measured, and nothing about why.
Lowest on each continent
- Africa
Seychelles6.186% - Americas
United States5.645% - AsiaThailand1.495%
- Europe
Moldova3.495% - Oceania
Fiji11.672%1 of 21 measured
- Every region
02Every measured country
Labour underutilisation on a map
Each country is shaded by its value, in five groups holding the same number of countries. Hover a country for its value, or select it to open its profile. Below the map, each continent’s middle country.
Darker is a lower value — the better end.
- 19.887–49.816%
- 14.427–18.811%
- 10.945–14.317%
- 7.598–10.911%
- 1.495–7.572%
- No reading in 2024 (54 measured in an earlier edition)
- Asia
7.798%
the middle country, of 13 measured · 52 members
Thailand1.495%
Palestine33.988%Lowest and highest reading in Asia.
- Europe
11.685%
the middle country, of 34 measured · 49 members
Moldova3.495%
Finland20.058%Lowest and highest reading in Europe.
- Americas
15.465%
the middle country, of 16 measured · 48 members
United States5.645%
Guatemala23.543%Lowest and highest reading in Americas.
- Africa
28.247%
the middle country, of 12 measured · 55 members
Seychelles6.186%Malawi49.816%Lowest and highest reading in Africa.
- Oceania
1 of 21 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji.
Fiji11.672%Lowest and highest reading in Oceania.
- Every region
17 sub-regions, lowest middle country first
- Eastern Europe
5.330%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 10 members
Moldova3.495%
Romania8.797%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Europe.
- South-eastern Asia
7.762%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 11 members
Thailand1.495%
Brunei10.318%Lowest and highest reading in South-eastern Asia.
- Western Europe
11.907%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 9 members
Germany7.077%
France17.981%Lowest and highest reading in Western Europe.
- Northern Europe
12.746%
the middle country, of 9 measured · 13 members
Lithuania10.413%Finland20.058%Lowest and highest reading in Northern Europe.
- Southern Europe
14.317%
the middle country, of 11 measured · 17 members
Malta7.176%
Spain19.887%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Europe.
- South America
16.114%
the middle country, of 7 measured · 12 members
Bolivia10.945%
Guyana22.160%Lowest and highest reading in South America.
- Eastern Africa
25.957%
the middle country, of 5 measured · 19 members
Seychelles6.186%Malawi49.816%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Africa.
- Caribbean
3 of 24 measured — too few for a middle: Bahamas, Barbados, Dominican Republic.
Dominican Republic12.240%
Bahamas22.781%Lowest and highest reading in Caribbean.
- Central America
4 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama.
El Salvador7.174%Guatemala23.543%Lowest and highest reading in Central America.
- Eastern Asia
1 of 8 measured — too few for a middle: Mongolia.
Mongolia7.572%Lowest and highest reading in Eastern Asia.
- Melanesia
1 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Fiji.
Fiji11.672%Lowest and highest reading in Melanesia.
- Middle Africa
1 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: Angola.
Angola30.537%Lowest and highest reading in Middle Africa.
- Northern America
2 of 4 measured — too few for a middle: Canada, United States.
United States5.645%
Canada8.287%Lowest and highest reading in Northern America.
- Southern Africa
2 of 5 measured — too few for a middle: Lesotho, South Africa.
Lesotho32.514%South Africa44.563%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Africa.
- Southern Asia
3 of 9 measured — too few for a middle: Bangladesh, Bhutan, Sri Lanka.
Bhutan5.056%
Bangladesh7.798%Lowest and highest reading in Southern Asia.
- Western Africa
4 of 16 measured — too few for a middle: Ghana, Mali, Nigeria, Senegal.
Mali8.462%
Senegal34.348%Lowest and highest reading in Western Africa.
- Western Asia
4 of 19 measured — too few for a middle: Cyprus, Georgia, Jordan, Palestine.
Cyprus10.589%Palestine33.988%Lowest and highest reading in Western Asia.
03The whole field at once
The spread
76 countries, one dot each, on one scale — further right is a higher value. Half the countries are above 12.559%; a quarter are above 18.173%, and a quarter below 8.267%. The bar in each row marks that continent’s middle country.
04All 130 ever measured
Every country
In order, highest value first — position 1 is the highest value, the way ILO’s own tables read. “=” marks a position shared with another country. International Labour Organization (ILO) ranks nobody on this measure; the position is derived here by ordering the published values. A low rate is not always good news: where there is no unemployment benefit, few people can afford to be without any work at all, so joblessness turns into short hours instead. Each year holds only the countries that ran a suitable survey, so a country’s place in one year and the next is not a like-for-like comparison.
Showing 25 of 130 countries
Values for 2024. The change column compares 2024 with 2023 only; the sparkline covers the recent editions.
052014–2024 · 11 reference years
Over time
Each point is one year of a labour force survey. Countries survey on different schedules, so a line can have gaps, and a “Break in series” flag in the data marks a change of survey that can move the level by itself.
- the middle country
- the middle half of countries
- the middle of the 43 countries measured every time
- each continent’s middle country
The same, year by year
| Year | Countries | Middle country | Middle half | Measured every time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024 | 76 | 12.559% | 8.267% – 18.173% | 11.399% |
| 2023 | 79 | 12.563% | 8.346% – 17.813% | 10.727% |
| 2022 | 75 | 12.485% | 8.413% – 18.664% | 10.960% |
| 2021 | 79 | 16.969% | 9.920% – 22.909% | 12.884% |
| 2020 | 69 | 16.056% | 10.164% – 24.157% | 12.656% |
| 2019 | 86 | 14.042% | 8.560% – 21.865% | 11.141% |
| 2018 | 73 | 12.507% | 8.735% – 21.542% | 11.865% |
| 2017 | 77 | 14.100% | 10.247% – 23.787% | 13.219% |
| 2016 | 67 | 15.270% | 10.544% – 24.394% | 15.270% |
| 2015 | 62 | 14.816% | 10.744% – 23.191% | 15.688% |
| 2014 | 66 | 15.534% | 11.922% – 25.854% | 15.519% |
062023 → 2024
Who rose and fell
The biggest changes in value between the two newest editions — reference years recalculated in one report, not two separate publications. Places are shown second, because they also move when other countries do.
Improved most
before → after
Honduras22.650% → 17.935% · 9th → 21st−4.715
Montenegro20.754% → 16.187% · 14th → 25th−4.567
Ghana22.197% → 18.752% · 11th → 18th−3.445
Sri Lanka10.068% → 7.598% · 56th → 61st−2.470- Brunei12.563% → 10.318% · 40th → 52nd−2.245
68 countries were measured in both 2023 and 2024. The field changed from 79 to 76 countries, so a place can move for reasons that have nothing to do with the country itself.
07Across every edition
Labour underutilisation in records
The extremes of the statistic. A record reached by more than one country names none of them.
Highest reading on record
49.965%
Composite rate of labour underutilisation, LU4 (% of the extended labour force)
Lowest reading on record
1.495%
Composite rate of labour underutilisation, LU4 (% of the extended labour force)
Biggest improvement between editions
−21.069
40.298% → 19.229%
Biggest decline between editions
+25.727
24.092% → 49.819%
Most improved since first measured
−29.727
42.892% → 13.165%
At the top most often
10 of 11
editions, alone at the first-listed end
08By sex
Inside the number
International Labour Organization (ILO) also publishes separate female and male readings. The gap between them, where both exist.
Of the 76 countries with both readings, the women reading is higher in 60, the men reading in 16. The widest gaps each way:
09The measure
About labour underutilisation
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.
What the number is: Composite rate of labour underutilisation, LU4 (% of the extended labour force).
What it does not measure
It counts people who want more work, not the quality of the work people have: low pay, informality and poor conditions do not show up here, and a survey taken in one year may be several years older than another country’s.
10Where it fits
Connections
Its part in the Country Index, the statistics whose values line up most closely with it across countries, and others on the same subject.
In the Country Index
Context, with no vote
This statistic is published in full under Work & Labour, but does not help decide any Country Index standing.
Moves with
Where labour underutilisation is higher, these tend to be higher too.
No statistic lines up this closely.
Moves against
Where labour underutilisation is higher, these tend to be lower.
No statistic lines up this closely.
Rank correlation (ρ, from −1 to 1) across countries, on each statistic’s newest edition, out of 0 statistics sharing at least 80 countries with this one. Two statistics that move together do not cause each other.
11Keep reading
Explore further
The subject
12Questions
Labour underutilisation: questions and answers
Which country has the lowest labour underutilisation?
Thailand, at 1.495%, among the 76 countries compared in 2024.
Which country has the highest labour underutilisation?
Malawi, at 49.816%, among the 76 countries compared in 2024.
How many countries does the Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4) cover?
76 in 2024, and 130 at least once across all editions. The number measured varies from 62 to 86 between editions.
What is the world average labour underutilisation?
This site does not calculate a world average, which would depend on how countries are weighted. In the middle country of the 76 compared in 2024, the figure was 12.559%.
Is this International Labour Organization (ILO)’s own ranking?
No. International Labour Organization (ILO) publishes the values but ranks nobody; the position on this page is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values, and equal values share a position.
How often is the Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4) published?
This site holds 11 reference years, 2014–2024, all recalculated in International Labour Organization (ILO)’s 2026 report on one method — not 11 separate publications.
Where does the data come from, and can I download it?
From International Labour Organization (ILO), under CC BY 4.0. Read from ILOSTAT directly, from national labour force surveys. The ILO’s modelled version of the same rate was not used: it holds regional and income-group totals only, and no country. Every edition is on this site’s Datasets pages as a full table, and downloads as a CSV file with every value unrounded.
13Method
Sources, method and citation
Source
Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4) — International Labour Organization (ILO)
Read from ILOSTAT directly, from national labour force surveys. The ILO’s modelled version of the same rate was not used: it holds regional and income-group totals only, and no country.
Newest edition
Report year 2024Data year 2024
Cite the source as: International Labour Organization. ILOSTAT. Geneva: ILO.
Licence: CC BY 4.0, checked 2026-09-29.
How this page reads the numbers
- International Labour Organization (ILO) ranks nobody on this measure. The position is derived by Nations Inquiry by ordering the published values; equal values share a position.
- Which end is better follows the publisher’s own reading of the measure.
- A country is named at an end only when it holds that value alone. Where several share it, the page says how many and names none first.
- Values are stored exactly as published and trimmed only for display. “The middle country” is the median of the countries measured, not a world average.
The file itself, column by column — where it came from, what each column holds, and every edition as a CSV — is on its dataset page.
Photographs
The countries at the top of this statistic, from their profiles: Wikimedia Commons, shown in greyscale, each used under the licence named.
- Thailand — Unknown author, CC BY 3.0
- Vietnam — Slaza : Sándor Laza, CC BY-SA 3.0
- Moldova — User:Zserghei derivative work: Jjtkk, Public domain
Cite this page
Nations Inquiry (2026). Labour underutilisation by country: Composite Rate of Labour Underutilisation (LU4), data from International Labour Organization (ILO). https://nationsinquiry.com/statistics/labour-underutilisation