OECD unemployment rate stable at 6.2% in November 2016

The OECD unemployment rate was stable at 6.2% in November 2016. Across the OECD area, 38.5 million people were unemployed, 5.9 million more than in April 2008, before the crisis. Youth (people aged 15 to 24) unemployment remained high, especially in Southern Europe. A total of 9.3 million young people were counted as unemployed in OECD countries.

The November 2016 unemployment rate in the euro area was also stable at 9.8%. The largest falls in unemployment were recorded in France (down 0.2 percentage point, to 9.5%), Ireland (down 0.2 percentage point, to 7.3%) and the Slovak Republic (down 0.2 percentage point, to 9.0%). The unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage point in Finland (to 8.8%) and Italy (to 11.9%).

Unemployment declined by 0.2 percentage point in Canada (to 6.8%) and the United States (to 4.6%) in November but more recent data show that it subsequently increased by 0.1 percentage point in both countries in December (to 4.7% in the United States and to 6.9% in Canada). The November unemployment rate increased by 0.1 percentage point in Japan (to 3.1%) and Mexico (to 3.7%).

The OECD unemployment rate for youth declined by 0.1 percentage point to 12.8% in November. However, it increased further in the euro area (by 0.3 percentage point, to 21.2%), with rises in Italy (by 1.8 percentage point, to 39.4%) and in Portugal and Spain (by 0.6 percentage point, to 28.4% and 44.4%, respectively). The OECD unemployment rate for women (unchanged at 6.3%) remained slightly above that for men (which fell by 0.1 percentage point, to 6.1%).

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