The employment rate of the 34 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries was up 0.1 percentage point quarter on quarter to 68.4 percent in the third quarter of 2018.
In the third quarter last year, employment rose by 0.2 percentage points in the euro area to 67.4 percent compared to the previous quarter. The highest quarter-on-quarter increases were observed in Belgium with one percentage point to 64.9 percent, Latvia with 0.8 percentage points to 72.6 percent, the Netherlands with 0.6 percentage points to 77.5 percent, the Slovak Republic with 0.5 percentage points to 67.8 percent and Lithuania with 0.5 percentage points to 72.4 percent. The only decline was recorded in Italy, with a drop of 0.2 percentage points to 58.6 percent.
In the given quarter, the employment rate rose by 0.2 percentage points in Canada to 73.8 percent, by 0.2 percentage points in Japan to 76.9 percent, by 0.3 percentage points in Turkey to 52.2 percent, and by 0.1 percentage point in the US to 70.7 percent, while it remained unchanged in Mexico at 61.6 percent, all on quarter-on-quarter basis. Employment declined in both Denmark and the UK by 0.2 percentage points, to 75.3 percent and 74.5 percent, respectively.