The line graph compares unemployment rates in Spain, Germany and Japan over a twenty-year period from 2000 to 2020.
Overall, Spain had the highest and most volatile unemployment rate, while Japan's remained low and stable throughout. Germany's rate halved over the period, remaining just above Japan's rate of 3%.
Spain's rate stayed at 11% from 2000 to 2008. It then more than doubled to 25% in 2012, at the height of the economic crisis, before falling to 20% in 2016 and 16% in 2020. Even so, its final rate remained the highest of the three countries by a wide margin.
Germany's trend was quite different. Its rate rose slightly from 8% in 2000 to 10% in 2004, then returned to 8% in 2008. From then on it fell steadily, dropping to 5% in 2012 and 4% in 2016 and 2020. Japan consistently recorded the lowest rates. The figure was 5% in 2000 and 2004, and it eased to 4% in 2008 and 2012 before reaching 3% in 2016 and 2020.