Help (Unemployment in Europe, 1993 - 2004)

What is to be seen?

This interactive element displays Eurostat data for 29 European countries, 3 European country sets (EU-25, EU-15, Euro zone) as well as for Japan and the United States, the latter included for benchmarking purposes. The visualisation is carried out by means of time series graphs, bar charts and boxplots. All graphs could be cut and exported to any other working document.

The applet allows an in-depth exploration of the data by using the different graphical tools mentioned above without having to do any programming.

How to use this interactive component?

View: The applet offers different views on the data. Via the "View" button you may switch from one perspective to another.

The option "Time series I" (default) enables you to compare the unemployment rates for three self-selected countries or country sets by means of time series graphs. The data refer to total unemployment figures and may be either hidden or displayed in tabular form.

The second option "Time series II" displays the time series graph for the total unemployment rates for only one user-selected country or country set but now with an additional breakdown by sex. Again, the data linked to the three graphs may be either hidden or shown.

Via "Bar charts" the unemployment figures for the 25 Member States are visualised for only one user-defined year by means of bars. The means EU-25 and Euro zone are displayed for reference purposes. One may identify the numerical values of each bar by locating the mouse on its upper part. The bars could be ordered in ascending or descending order.

The fourth option "Boxplots" also only makes use of the data for the 25 Member States. Here a boxplot is shown for each year. The boxplot referring to a user-selected year is highlighted. The data set belonging to the highlighted boxplot may be either hidden or shown. One may also identify the two countries providing the maximum xmax and the minimum xmin of the data set defining a boxplot by putting the mouse on the upper and lower parts of the boxplot.

Zoom: This button generates a second window which may be arbitrarily enlarged, compressed or stretched.

Notes: This button gives access to meta information such as abbreviations for countries or an explanation of graphical tools. You may print out the notes by using the right-hand mouse button or the print functionality of the Windows navigation frame.