Unemployment rate rises in eurozone, eases in US: OECD

A total of 48.5 million people were unemployed in advanced countries in April, an increase of 200,000 from the March level, the OECD said today.
This worked out at a steady unemployment rate of 8.0 per cent, but in the eurozone the rate rose by 0.1 percentage points to a record 12.2 per cent.
In the United States, by contrast, the rate fell by 0.1 points to 7.5 per cent, the harmonised OECD data showed.
The latest figures showed that Germany, with the biggest economy in Europe and in the eurozone, has reduced its rate to below the level before the financial crisis five years ago.

As the world waits for convincing signs of strong economic recovery and worries that Europe is overhung by clouds of recession, the second-biggest eurozone economy, France, and third-biggest Italy, are now being hit by record unemployment rates.
Unemployment is mainly a lagging indicator, reflecting the effects of policies and events in the past.

The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development said that since July 2008, just before the full force of the financial crisis and then eurozone debt crisis hit home, the number of unemployed had risen by 13.7 million people.
The OECD, based in Paris, is a forum for analysis and policymaking for 34 advanced economies. The latest data appeared in its monthly review of unemployment among its members.

The rate of unemployment in the eurozone is now 1.3 percentage points higher than a previous peak reached in the mid 1990s, the OECD said.
"Trends in unemployment rate across OECD countries have diverged significantly since the beginning of the economic and financial crisis," the OECD said.
"In May 2013, unemployment rates were significantly below the peaks reached in the second half of 2009 in Canada and the United States."
In Canada the rate was 1.6 points below the previous high level and in the United States 2.4 points lower.
In April, the rate in Japan, steady at 4.1 per cent, was close to the pre-crisis level.

But in Germany, the rate, steady at 5.4 per cent, had fallen to 2.0 points below the level prevailing before the crisis.
By contrast, the unemployment rate reached record high levels in several European countries, for example 11.0 per cent in France, 12.0 per cent in Italy, 17.8 per cent in Portugal, 26.8 per cent in Spain and 27.0 per cent in Greece.
The rate across the European Union as a whole was 11.0 per cent.