How does unemployment change as the workforce becomes better educated?

The International Labour Organisation (ILO) has compiled this interactive chart highlighting the link between unemployment and tertiary (university-level) education.

Around the world, there are significant differences in the relationship between levels of education and levels of unemployment, and the graphic shows how this relationship changes over time.

The chart captures the situation in 2013, and plots the percentage of the population with advanced education against the unemployment rate of those with post-secondary education.

As the map highlights, Greece and Spain both have relatively high levels of unemployment among citizens with a post-secondary education, while in France and the UK the levels are much lower. Conversely, Indonesia and Brazil both have low levels of post-secondary education, and very few of those with this level of education are unemployed.

If we compare this to the situation 15 years ago, we see a very different story.

In 2000, we see generally lower levels of tertiary education, but coupled with this, unemployment levels sit between 5 and 10%, with the majority below 5%. Interestingly, Indonesia has seen unemployment levels decline significantly over the period, while developed European economies have actually seen them increase.

You can explore the full interactive chart here.

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Author: Joe Myers is a Digital Content Producer at Formative Content.

Image: Pedestrians walk through campus, as seen from atop Hoover Tower, at Stanford University in Stanford, California May 9, 2014. REUTERS/Beck Diefenbach