Now That's Unemployment!

Things feel pretty lousing here in the U.S., with a formal 9.6% unemployment rate and a 16.7% "alternative measurement" (adding folks who have given up looking or want full-time but can only find part-time work). But if the relative pain of others makes your suffering a bit more tolerable, here are some international unemployment statistics, generated by our lovely CIA (World Factbook, and summarized, in part below, in the September 30^th AOL Jobs) that might you feel better about our economic plight:

Zimbabwe: 95 percent in 2009, the CIA estimates. War, importing most of its food, hyperinflation and political instability caused some of its problems, although the Zimbabwe economy is growing for the first time in a decade.

Burkina Faso: 77% as of 2004, and here's an African country that redefines hopelessness.

Senegal: Which in 2007 – pre-economic crash – had a 48 percent unemployment rate. Africa has its disproportionate share of global unemployment, it seems.

South Africa: In 2009, the unemployment rate hit 24 percent.

Haiti: The situation is so dire that the CIA couldn't even provide a number, saying instead that this earthquake-shattered, hurricane-attacked island nation has "widespread unemployment and underemployment; more than two-thirds of the labor force do not have formal jobs."

Nepal: 46 percent in 2008. Almost a quarter of its population lives below the poverty line.

Bosnia and Herzegovina: 40 percent in 2009, although a gray economy may reduce it to 25-30 percent. The global financial meltdown hurt this region.

Gaza Strip: 40 percent in 2009, the CIA reports, with its neighbor the West Bank at 19 percent in 2009.

Kenya: 40 percent in 2008.

Macedonia: 32.2 percent in 2009. At least it has a stable economy and a sound financial system, according to the CIA.

Mauritania: 30 percent in 2008. Like many countries on this list, it's difficult to find on a map. It's near Senegal and Western Sahara, if that spurs anything from your high-school geography class.

Yemen: Even in 2003, with warring factions decimating this small country, the rate hit a very uncomfortable 35 percent rate.

Afghanistan: 35 percent in 2008. Decades of conflict have taken a toll.

Spain: 20.3 percent, pushing it just ahead of Latvia's 20.1 percent unemployment as the worst jobless rate in the European Union. A credit-fueled economy and a housing bust -- which should sound familiar to Americans -- are blamed for Spain's high unemployment.

I'm Peter Dekom, and for some strange reason, I don't really feel any better at all.