It's amusing you post pre-COVID numbers for both regions. Best comparison would be April numbers for both EU and US. The US is around 20% now [1].

The US short-term unemployment numbers are way up, because the US didn't do enough to help small businesses weather the storm, so they laid off their workforce. In contrast the EU supported their businesses and workers and consequently people are taking leave instead of unemployment.

[1] https://www.marketwatch.com/story/millions-of-lost-jobs-may-...

This is an accounting gimmick. The US has clearer unemployment conditions and also has given relief. In countries in the EU (and it varies a lot) you would see they are still employed, but not working and taking a paycut. That's really the same as unemployed.

In any case my comment was about the meaning of having severance in contrast to having a job, not about crisis handling.

If you meant "these days" as specifically in response to the COVID-19 crisis, we don't have basis for a useful comparison. As another commenter pointed out, the US is delivering economic relief primarily in the form of expanded unemployment coverage whereas Europe is taking a myriad of business support measures. Whether one is better than the other is not obvious yet it's effectively what unemployment numbers would reflect.