In May this year, the unemployment rate of the 34 Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) member countries was stable at eight percent, unchanged for the third consecutive month, according to new figures published by the OECD.
In May, the unemployment rate for the euro area has hit record levels, rising by 0.1 percentage point month on month to 12.2 percent. The gap with the OECD average has considerably widened since the beginning of the global financial crisis, reaching more than four percentage points in May, as compared to 1.7 percentage points in July 2008.
In May, the unemployment rate in the US increased by 0.1 percentage point month on month to 7.6 percent, while it decreased by 0.1 percentage point in Canada to 7.1 percent and was stable at 4.1 percent in Japan. The OECD said that more recent data referring to the month of June show that the unemployment rate was stable in both the United States and Canada.