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After several decades during which the US unemployment rate was below the rates in most OECD countries, the US rate is now a little above the OECD average.

Unemployment was quicker to rise in the United States than in many OECD countries. Like their Irish and Spanish counterparts, US workers were hit early and hard by the recession, largely because all three economies were buffeted by the collapse of a bubble in home construction. Since the recession began in December 2007, payroll employment has dropped by 6.9 million in the US and the unemployment rate increased by 4.8 percentage points to reach a 25-year high of 9.7%. Unemployment has risen much less sharply in many other OECD countries, including large economies such as Germany, Italy and Japan, which were slower to feel the effects of the economic downturn.