OECD unemployment rate back to pre-crisis level in October 2017 | WPN World People News

The OECD unemployment rate fell by 0.1 percentage point in October 2017, to 5.6%, returning to its April 2008 pre-crisis rate. However, at 35.1 million, the total number of unemployed remains 2.5 million above April 2008 levels.

Within the euro area, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage point, to 8.8% in October, with the largest declines (by 0.2 percentage point) in Belgium (to 6.9%), Latvia (8.2%), Luxembourg (5.7%), the Netherlands (4.5%), the Slovak Republic (7.0%) and Slovenia (6.2%). The unemployment rate declined marginally in France (to 9.4%) and was stable in Germany (3.6%), Italy (11.1%), Portugal (8.5%) and Spain (16.7%).

The unemployment rate also fell marginally in the United States (to 4.1%) and Korea (3.6%) and was stable in Japan (2.8%) and Mexico (3.4%). The unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage point in Canada (to 6.3%), although more recent data for November show that it subsequently declined by 0.4 percentage point (to 5.9%). For the United States, more recent data show that the unemployment rate was stable in November.

In October, the OECD unemployment rate for youth (people aged 15 to 24) fell by 0.1 percentage point, to 11.8%. The youth unemployment rate continued to fall in the euro area (by 0.1 percentage point, to 18.6%), and is now 6.1 percentage points below its February 2013 peak. However, the youth unemployment rate remains above 30% in Greece (40.2% in August, the latest month available), Spain (38.2%) and Italy (34.7%).

Source: Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development