OECD unemployment rate stable at 6.8% in August 2015 | WPN World People News

The OECD unemployment rate was stable at 6.8% in August 2015, 1.3 percentage point below the January 2013 high. Across the OECD area, 41.5 million people were unemployed, 7.5 million less than in January 2013, but still 6.9 million more than in July 2008, immediately before the crisis.

OECD Harmonised Unemployment Rates, s.a.

The unemployment rate was stable in August in the euro area (at 11.0%) and decreased by 0.2 percentage point in the United States to 5.1%. It increased in Japan (by 0.1 percentage point, to 3.4%) and Canada (by 0.2 percentage point, to 7.0%). More recent data show that the unemployment rate in the United States was stable in September 2015, while it continued to increase in Canada (by 0.1 percentage point, to 7.1%).

The OECD youth (15-24 year-old) unemployment rate fell for the second consecutive month by 0.3 percentage point, to 13.7% in August, its lowest level since October 2008. However, levels and developments are quite divergent across countries: the youth unemployment rate decreased by 0.7 percentage point in the United States (to 11.0%) but increased by 0.1 percentage point in the euro area (to 22.3%) and Japan (to 5.6%). Almost 10 million people aged 15-24 were unemployed in the OECD in August 2015, representing 23.9% of all OECD unemployed persons.

Source: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development