The 10 Worst Job Markets In The World

Curious what the 10 worst job markets in the world are? High unemployment is one of the most drastic phenomena for a country to face. With the financial crisis, many people get laid off and as the unemployment rate increases, people become more pessimistic about finding a job. Gallup studied the views of the population of a variety of countries towards the job market and came out with some interesting discoveries in a report. While in the Americas, adults were more optimistic about finding a job last year, in Europe, affected by the crisis from the Euro zone, the situation is much worse.

Gallup’s research, which took place in 2012, involved interviewing about 1,000 people from each country, at least 15 years old.

Photo Credit: Arian Zwegers

As part of the poll, respondents from over 100 countries have been asked whether they consider that last year was a good or bad period to look for a job in the communities where they live. In this way, the percentage of adults from the American continents who considered the market favorable for looking for a new job amounted to 40%, while in Europe this figure represents only 17%. At the same time 75% of European respondents were pessimistic in 2012.

This phenomenon can be seen in one of our past analyses: the best job markets today on a country-by-country basis.

The crisis in Europe affected especially countries from the Euro zone, states which suffered the most being Greece, Spain and Italy. As a consequence, these countries show some of the highest levels of job pessimism, according to the Gallup’s findings. At the same time, Gallup showed that countries with emerging economies held top positions in terms of job optimism among residents.

We have picked ten countries from Gallup’s report where interviewed people mostly responded that 2012 was a bad year for finding a job. With some discouraging forecasts for the next years, the probability that the situation that will change is not too promising.

Let’s take a look at the list of the 10 worst job markets in the world:

No. 10 Slovenia


Photo Credit: Fred Jala

Bad Time: 88%
Good Time: 9%

No. 9 Portugal


Photo Credit: DAVID HOLT

Bad Time: 89%
Good Time: 7%

No. 8 Bosnia and Herzegovina


Photo Credit: Nigel’s Europe

Bad Time: 90%
Good Time: 5%

No.7 Croatia


Photo Credit: Francisco Antunes

Bad Time: 90%
Good Time: 5%

No. 6 Moldova


Photo Credit: Andrew_979

Bad Time: 90%
Good Time: 6%

No. 5 Ireland


Photo Credit: William Murphy

Bad Time: 92%
Good Time: 6%

No. 4 Serbia


Photo Credit: Dennis Jarvis

Bad Time: 93%
Good Time: 3%

No. 3 Spain


Photo Credit: Neil Thompson

Bad Time: 94%
Good Time: 5%

No. 2 Italy


Photo Credit: Chris Yunker

Bad Time: 95%
Good Time: 4%

No. 1 Greece


Photo Credit: Arian Zwegers

Bad Time: 98%
Good Time: 1%