In May this year, the unemployment rate of the 34 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries remained stable at 6.9 percent, with a cumulative decline of 1.2 percentage points since the peak reached in January 2013, according to new figures published by the OECD. The number of unemployed in the OECD region in May remained stable compared to the previous month at 42.2 million persons, while the figure was 6.7 million less than in January and 7.7 million higher compared to July 2008.
In May, on month-on-month basis, the unemployment rate for the euro area remained stable at 11.1 percent, with the largest fall recorded in Spain with a 0.2 percentage point decrease to 22.5 percent, while the largest increases were seen in Portugal, with a 0.4 percentage point rise to 13.2 percent, and in Austria, with a rise of 0.2 percentage points to six percent.
In May this year, the unemployment rate fell by 0.2 percentage point in the US to 5.3 percent and remained stable in Japan at 3.3 percent and in Canada at 6.8 percent, compared to April. Meanwhile, in May the unemployment rate in Mexico was up by 0.1 percentage point to 4.5 percent compared to April.