OECD unemployment rate stable at 5.7% in September 2017
The OECD unemployment rate was stable at 5.7% in September 2017. Across the OECD area, 35.7 million people were unemployed, 3.0 million more than in April 2008.
Within the euro area, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point, to 8.9% in September, with the largest declines observed in Latvia (down 0.3 percentage point, to 7.9%), Belgium (down 0.2 percentage point, to 7.1%), Portugal (down 0.2 percentage point, to 8.6%), and the Slovak Republic (down 0.2 percentage point, to 7.2%).
The unemployment rate also decreased in the United States (by 0.2 percentage point, to 4.2%) and Korea (by 0.1 percentage point, to 3.7%) but was stable in Canada (at 6.2%), Japan (at 2.8%) and Mexico (at 3.3%). More recent data for October show that the unemployment rate continued to fall in the United States (by 0.1 percentage point, to 4.1%, its lowest level since December 2000) but increased (by 0.1 percentage point, to 6.3%) in Canada.
In September, the OECD unemployment rate for youth (people aged 15 to 24) was stable at 11.9%. The euro area youth unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point (to 18.7%) but increased significantly in Italy (by 0.6 percentage point) and Portugal (by 0.9 percentage point). The youth unemployment rate remained highest in Greece (42.8% in July, the latest month available), Spain (37.2%) and Italy (35.7%).
Source: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development
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