Overview
Unemployment Rate provides annual unemployment data from the World Bank, based on ILO (International Labour Organization) modeled estimates. The data covers virtually every country in the world and is updated annually. Use this for economic analysis, country comparisons, and labor market research. With changes=true each reading is set against the country's own stored history: the direction of the move for every plan, and on paid plans the previous year and its rate, the change in percentage points over one and five years, and the highest, lowest and average rate over the five years ending at the reading.
Live Test Unemployment Rates Source →
Formula
One function covers the whole catalog: the first argument names the source, the next are its inputs, and the field after them says which single value lands in the cell. Formulas covers the grammar that applies to all of them.
=VERVE("unemployment", A2, "countryName")=VERVE.CALL("unemployment", A2, "countryName")A2 holds the country you are looking up. Drag the formula down and each row resolves on its own.
With literal values
Nothing has to come from a cell — typed values work the same way.
=VERVE("unemployment", "USA", "countryName")=VERVE.CALL("unemployment", "USA", "countryName")Inputs
Required inputs are positional, in the order below, followed by the field. Everything else is passed as a "name", value pair after that — the same shape as SUMIFS. Premium inputs are accepted on every plan but only take effect on plans that include them.
| Input | Type | Where it goes | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
countryRequired | string | argument 2 (A2) | ISO country code (2 or 3 letter). Examples: US, USA, DE, DEU, GB, GBR length 2–3 |
yearOptionalPremium | integer | "year", value | Specific year to retrieve data for (1991-present). Returns latest if not specified. range 1991–2030 |
changesOptional | boolean | "changes", value | Include the change against the previous year, the 5-year change and the 5-year high, low and average rate |
Passing an option
=VERVE("unemployment", A2, "countryName", "year", 2023)=VERVE.CALL("unemployment", A2, "countryName", "year", 2023)What lands in your sheet
The field — the argument after the inputs — is what makes the formula resolve to one cell. Its value is a dot-path from the table below, so swapping it is how you pull a different value — one formula per column.
Seeing everything at once
Leave the field out and the formula returns the whole response instead: two columns, field name on the left and value on the right, spilling from the cell you typed in.
=VERVE("unemployment", A2)=VERVE.CALL("unemployment", A2)The second row's table would land on top of the first's, and every cell after the first reads #REF! (#SPILL! in Excel). Keep one per sheet, or name a field, and leave the cells below and to the right empty.
Response fields
Paths are relative to data. Each one is exactly what the field argument accepts, so swapping it is how you pull a different value into a cell. On a plan without a Premium field the cell reads #PREMIUM(field) rather than a value, so a locked field never looks like a real answer.
| Use as the field | Type | Example cell value | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
country | string | USA | ISO code representing the country queried |
countryName | string | United States | Full official name of the country |
year | number | 2025 | Year of the unemployment data returned |
count | number | 1 | Number of historical records available |
historicalPremium | array[1] | Array of historical unemployment rates by year | |
historical.0.yearPremium | number | 2025 | Year for historical unemployment record |
historical.0.ratePremium | number | 4.2 | Unemployment rate as percentage of labor force |
previousYearPremium | number | 2024 | Year of the previous unemployment record, the year before the reading (with changes=true) |
changeDirection | string | up | Whether unemployment rose, fell or held against the previous year: up, down or unchanged (with changes=true) |
previousRatePremium | number | 4.02 | Unemployment rate for the previous year, as a percentage of the labor force (with changes=true) |
change1yPremium | number | 0.18 | Change in percentage points from the previous year's rate (with changes=true) |
change5yPremium | number | -3.85 | Change in percentage points from the rate five years earlier (with changes=true) |
high5yPremium | number | 5.35 | Highest annual rate in the five years ending at the reading; null unless all five are reported (with changes=true) |
low5yPremium | number | 3.64 | Lowest annual rate in the five years ending at the reading; null unless all five are reported (with changes=true) |
average5yPremium | number | 4.172 | Average annual rate over the five years ending at the reading; null unless all five are reported (with changes=true) |
Filling a whole column
Both platforms make one batched call for a column rather than one request per cell, and both cost the same — 2 credits per row looked up. How you write it differs, because the two runtimes batch at different points.
=VERVE("unemployment", A2:A100, "countryName")In Google Sheets, give the arguments ranges and the answers spill down from the cell you typed in. Custom functions there run synchronously and in isolation, so dragged cells cannot be coalesced — the range form is how a column becomes one call. The field is required here: a per-row two-column table has nowhere to spill. Use a full column per input (A2:A100, not A2) — a single-cell reference is read as row 1 only and the rest of the column comes back blank.
In Excel, type the formula once and fill down — no range form and none needed, because its runtime is asynchronous and the add-in coalesces the calls a fill produces into a single batched request. Do not hand VERVE.CALL a range: Excel flattens it into positional arguments, so A2:A100 arrives as a hundred separate arguments and the cell reads #ERR rather than filling.
Either way, column A holds your country values and the answers land beside them, one row each, blank rows skipped.
When a cell doesn't fill
A failed lookup returns readable text starting with #ERR rather than a spreadsheet error, because Excel cannot show a custom message on a real error — you would get a bare #VALUE! with no reason. The trade-off is that IFERROR() will not catch it; test with LEFT(cell, 4) = "#ERR" instead. Error handling covers the rest.
| Cell reads | What happened |
|---|---|
#ERR Not connected | No API key saved. Open the side panel and connect your account. |
#ERR Replace <name> with a cell or value | A preview formula was copied as-is. Swap the placeholder for a cell reference. |
#ERR No "x" in unemployment | An option name this source does not take. The message lists the ones it does. |
#ERR No data point "…" | The field path is not in the response. Check it against the table above. |
#PREMIUM(field) | The field exists but your plan does not include it. |
#ERR Out of credits | The cycle's credits are spent. Usage resets on your billing date. |
Before the formula works
The add-in reads the API key you saved once in the side panel — the key never goes in the formula, so a shared sheet does not leak it and a collaborator without access simply sees the last calculated values.
- Install the add-in for Google Sheets or Excel.
- Open the side panel and sign in, or paste a key from your dashboard.
- Type the formula above into any cell.
Use cases
- Economic Analysis
- Analyze unemployment trends to understand economic health and labor market conditions
- Country Comparison
- Compare unemployment rates across different countries and regions
- Historical Research
- Track unemployment changes over time to study economic cycles and policy impacts
- Investment Research
- Factor unemployment data into investment decisions and economic forecasting
Other ways to use Unemployment Rates
Set up Unemployment Rates on VerveSheets, or reach the same source a different way. Your VerveSheets account and credits work on all of them — one key, one balance.
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