OECD unemployment rate climbs to 8.8% in Oct

The jobless rate in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) region -- a grouping of developed and developing nations -- rose marginally to 9.8 per cent in October, indicating that the labour market is yet to shrug off recession blues.

The OECD, comprising 30 countries including the US, Germany and France, has been hit by the global financial turmoil.

In a statement today, OECD said the unemployment rate for the area was 8.8 per cent in October, 0.1 percentage point higher than the previous month. In September, the same stood at 8.7 per cent.

Many of the OECD members had slipped into recession -- generally defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth.

The euro zone -- a grouping of 16 nations sharing the common currency euro -- the jobless rate stood at 9.8 per cent in October. Euro area is also part of the OECD.

Japan saw an unemployment rate of 5.1 per cent in October.

Millions of jobs have evaporated worldwide since the financial crisis erupted in late 2008, as companies slashed their workforce, mainly to cut down on costs.

Nonetheless, latest data showed that jobless rate slipped to ten per cent in the US in November. In the previous month, the unemployment rate had touched a 26-year-high of 10.2 per cent.