In February this year, the unemployment rate of the 34 Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries decreased by 0.1 percentage point to 5.2 percent compared to January, according to new figures published by the OECD. The number of unemployed in the OECD region was 33.3 million people in the same month, decreasing by 800,000 month on month.
In February, the unemployment rate for the euro area was at 7.8 percent, also stable month on month. In the given month, the largest decline in the unemployment rate was observed in Portugal with a 0.2 percentage point decrease. Outside Europe, in February the unemployment rate fell by 0.7 percentage points to 3.7 percent in South Korea, month on month. It decreased by 0.2 percentage points in the US and in Japan to 3.8 percent and to 2.3 percent, respectively, month on month. Meanwhile, the unemployment rate remained stable in Canada and Mexio at 5.8 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively, compared to the previous month.