The OECD has just released its report on unemployment. The rate was at 6.3% in September, stable since May 2016. Overall, 39.5 million people were affected, 9.5 million fewer than at the peak in January 2013, but still 6.8 million more than in April 2008, before the crisis began to affect the labor market.
The unemployment rate in the euro area was at 10.0% in September (stable since July), with the largest decreases observed in France (a decrease of 0.3 percentage points, to 10.2%), Ireland (a decrease of 0.3 percentage points, to 7.9%), and Belgium (a decrease of 0.2 percentage points, to 8.0%), and the biggest increase recorded in Italy (an increase of 0.2 percentage points, to 11.7%).
The unemployment rate rose by 0.1 percentage points in the United States (to 5.0%) and Mexico (to 3.9%), and by 0.2 percentage points in Korea (to 4.0%), while it decreased by 0.1 percentage points in Japan (to 3.0%) and remained stable in Canada (at 7.0%).
More recent data show that in October, the unemployment rate decreased by 0.1 percentage points in the United States (to 4.9%), while it remained stable in Canada for the second consecutive month.
The youth unemployment rate (aged 15-24) in the OECD area continued to decline in September (by 0.1 percentage points, to 12.7%), decreasing in nearly three out of four OECD countries. In the euro area, the youth unemployment rate (at 20.3%) decreased more rapidly (by 0.3 percentage points).
