A ‘statistical recovery and a human recession’

The economy expanded at an annual rate of 5.7 percent in the fourth quarter, the second straight quarter of growth.  More details on this AP report. 

Mike Allen’s POLITICO Playbook daily update includes the following item:  

LARRY SUMMERS: ‘a human recession’ — WSJ’s ‘Davos Live’ blog, Neal Lipschutz: ‘Key Obama economic adviser Larry Summers coined a telling way to look at the current American economic state of play. He said the U.S. is experiencing a ‘statistical recovery and a human recession.’ It is a phrase that should resonate through much of the industrial world, where high and long-standing unemployment is increasingly becoming a huge domestic political issue. Speaking on a panel at the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Summers said one in five American men aged 25 to 54 are unemployed. He said given a ‘reasonable recovery,’ that rate could improve to one in seven or one in eight. That still contrasts with a 95% employment rate for that group in the mid-1960s. He said the U.S. can gain from increased global integration, but if it is to be politically sustainable it ‘has to work for people.’ That means job creation in the U.S. is a crucial issue.’

The question is what is the unemployment rate in other industrial nations?  The U.S. Central Intelligence Agency pops up as the first source on a Google search.  We know the unemployment reached 10% in the United States so I take these numbers to be the overall numbers for the year. I have marked significant countries in bold text.